The Classics of literature have frequently been inspiration for songwriters. Sometimes they put a tune to established verse and sometimes the literary piece only serves as inspiration for a new piece of music. This week on the Sing Out! Radio Magazine we’ll hear music inspired by great literature all intended to tell me a story.

LISTEN:

Artist / “Title” / CD / Label

Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer” / Songs Of Hope And Struggle /
        Smithsonian-Folkways

Jacqueline Schwab / “Medley of Traditional Hornpipes” / Mark Twain’s
         America / Dorian
Jimmy Buffett-Garrison Keillor-Clint Eastwood-Andy Leftwich / “Hello
         yourself and see and see how you like it…” / Mark Twain Words & Music / Mark Twain Foundation
Emmylou Harris / “When Halley Came to Jackson” / Mark Twain Words &
         Music / Mark Twain Foundation
Megan MacArthur / “Aunt Shaw’s Pet Jug” / MacArthur Road / Front Hall

Anne Hills / “Little Orphant Annie” / Ef You Don’t Watch Out /
        Collective Works
James Bryan & Carl Jones / “Tale of the Airl’y Days” / Two
        Pictures / Martin
Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen / “The Road Through the Woods” /
        Being There / Compass Rose
Glenn Ohrlin / “Shorty’s Saloon” / A Cowboy’s Life / Rounder
Jacqueline Schwab / “Medley of Traditional Hornpipes” / Mark Twain’s
         America / Dorian

Norman Blake / “Ol’ Bill Miner (The Gentleman Bandit)” /
        Chattanooga Sugar Babe / Shanachie
Kate MacLeod / “A Pilgrim’s Progress” / At Ken Sanders Rare
         Books / Waterbug
Kyle Alden / “The Cap and Bells” / Songs from Yeats’ Bee-Loud
        Glade / Self Produced

Chris Sanders / “A Stone, A Leaf” / Rare Bird / Desert Night
David Mallett / “Supplies” / The Fable True / North Road
Kevin Conway / “Advice For Arrival in Heaven” / Mark Twain-A Film
        Directed by Ken Burns / Columbia
Malcolm Dalglish and the Ooolites / “A Psalm of Life” / Pleasure / Ooolitic

Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer” / Songs of Hope and Struggle /
        Smithsonian-Folkways