There has been a resurgence of interest in maritime songs and shanties since social media videos have spread them out into the world. In a nod to popular taste, this week we begin a two-part feature focusing on maritime songs … Continue reading →
No folk musician developed his style in a vacuum. They were always influenced by a past master. Whether they learned the master’s style by listening to recording, watching film or by sitting knee to knee until the information was passed … Continue reading →
& WFDU-FM’s TRADITIONS Playlist for June 26, 2016 Justin Timberlake, who earned dubious street cred in the folk community for his role as a folksinger in the Coen Brothers film Inside Llweyn Davis, found himself in deeper hot water last … Continue reading →
Introduction – “The Cruel Ship’s Captain” Today’s ballad is notable both for its brevity and for the depravity it depicts. The brevity is mostly a product of the Anglophone seamen and laborers who worked the song over time to a fine edge like a … Continue reading →
The power and influence of a poet A kind of madness breaks out in unexpected places across the world on the 25th of January. People gather in Edinburgh, London, Moscow, and Washington D.C., among other places, to eat, drink, and … Continue reading →
Preview of a new 2-CD set honoring Ewan MacColl and WFDU-FM’s TRADITIONS Playlist for September 13, 2015 This week’s show featured a spotlight on a new CD collection that celebrates one of the folk revival’s most influential artists in … Continue reading →
Ronald D. Cohen and Rachel Clare Robinson Roots of the Revival: American and British Folk Music in the 1950s University of Illinois Press 978-0-252-08012-8 www.press.uillinois.edu From chain-gang work songs and the skiffle music of Lonnie … Continue reading →
detail from Twa Sisters – quilt by Dan Willig Six months ago, my first post for this blog dealt with the ancient murder ballad “Two Sisters“, also known as “Wind and Rain” as well as several other names. I’m happy with the … Continue reading →
Here we have Ewan MacColl’s version of Child #73, from his Classic Scots Ballads. Thanks, Pat, for mentioning it. The song is sung in Scots, and there are a few passages which I have yet to understand clearly, but the … Continue reading →
