Tag Archives: folk music

Tom Lehrer’s The Remains of Tom Lehrer

I have been waiting for this CD box for many years, in fact ever since I bought a CD player in 1987. It took 13 years but it was worth the wait. For those of you who are not aquainted … Continue reading

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Jeff Black’s Tin Lily

Jeff Black‘s fourth CD begins with a sort of retro-folk song, acoustic guitar and harmonica with Black’s rough-hewn vocals singing, “take it easy on me, take it easy on me now.” You might get the idea that he’s aiming for … Continue reading

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Jeff Black’s B-sides and Confessions Volume One

I am reliably told that Jeff Black is one of the finest Nashville songwriters working today. My friend Wayne Marshall (record producer and songwriter) saw Black play in a little club near Music Row, and was held spellbound. On this, … Continue reading

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Dick Gaughan’s Lucky For Some

Dick Gaughan comes with a huge reputation and following as a traditional singer and songwriter, so I was quite excited and expected to hear something good. Unfortunately, I can’t say this album set my pants on fire. Quite the opposite … Continue reading

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Slavyanochka Ensemble’s Molodoi Tud Wedding, and Vereya’s Soitua Maa

Here are two recent recordings by women’s vocal ensembles from different regions of Russia. In these reviews I compare them to other Eastern European women’s vocal groups. I offer the comparisons only as an aid for Western listeners. The comparisons … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Deep River of Song: Virginia and the Piedmont

Big Earl Sellar wrote this review. Another disc in the Alan Lomax series Deep River of Song, Virginia and the Piedmont has the fitting subtitle of “Minstrelsy, Work Songs, and Blues.” These great archival recordings are just the thing for … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Deep River of Song: Black Appalachia

Brendan Foreman wrote this for Folk Tales. In 1978 Alan Lomax, looking back at a decades-long career of field-recording, began to review the huge library of music that he and his father, John Lomax, had compiled in the 1930s and … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Deep River of Song: Big Brazos: Texas Prison Recordings, 1933 and 1934

Big Earl Sellar wrote this review. Another set of field recordings made by the Lomaxes, Big Brazos focuses on the songs of the black work gangs in the early 1930s. It’s an interesting disc, another one of those brief moments … Continue reading

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Väsen and Hawktail in concert

OK, so I haven’t been paying close attention, but I signed on to go see Väsen and Hawktail on a damp February night in Oregon. Because I’ll pretty much always go see the contemporary Swedish roots musicians of Väsen when … Continue reading

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Hajda Banda’s Hajda!

Hajda!, the debut album by Hajda Banda (Гайда Банда) is a captivating journey into the rich musical traditions of the Podlasie region in eastern Poland, the western parts of Belarus, and Polesye on the Polish-Ukrainian-Belarusian border. The album showcases the … Continue reading

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