On The Banks Of The Old Tennessee: Mr. & Mrs. J.W.Baker

Victor 20863-A

Recorded on August 3rd, 1927. Bristol, Tennessee (Bristol Sessions)
Flora Harris Baker (autoharp/vocals) J.W.Baker (guitar) J.E.Green (fiddle) J.H.Holbrook (banjo)

I Wasn't Born To Rock'n Roll: Roland White 1976

Tompkins Square TSQ-2400

Format: CD, Reissue, Album
Country: US
Released: 2010
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Bluegrass
[Tracklist]
01 Kansas City Railroad Blues (1:37)
02 The Storms Are On The Ocean (3:40)
03 I'm Head Over Heels In Love With You (2:47)
04 Door Step Of Trouble (3:17)
05 If I Should Wander Back Tonight (2:47)
06 Texas Gales (1:28)
07 I Saw Your Face In The Moon (2:56)
08 Prisoner's Song (3:44)
09 Marathon (7:38)
     Love Come Home
     Nine Pound Hammer
     Shackles And Chains
     Live And Let Live
     Doin' My Time
     Sitting On Top Of The World
10 Same Old Blues Again (2:45)
11 Powder Creek (2:30)
12 Can't You Hear Me Calling (2:56)
13 She's Her Own Special Baby 2:22)
[Credits]
Roland White (mandolin/vocals) Alan Munde (banjo/guitar) Kenny Wertz (guitar/vocals) Dave Ferguson (fiddle) Roger Bush (bass)
[Notes]
Mandolinist Roland White is a bluegrass lifer. As a youth, he rounded up his siblings, including younger brother Clarence, to start the Kentucky Colonels, who helped spearhead the West Coast bluegrass revival in the ‘60s. Guitar hero Clarence went on to make country-rock with the Byrds, while Roland played with legends like Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt, as well as Country Gazette and the Nashville Bluegrass Band. But while White has released a few latter-day solo albums, his 1976 outing, I Wasn't Born to Rock ‘n Roll, remained in the shadowy world of lost vinyl for 34 years before finally being reissued. It's a solidly old-school effort, where White takes on tunes like Flatt & Scruggs' "If I Should Wander Back Tonight" and the Carter Family's "The Storms Are on the Ocean," as well as an epic-length (for bluegrass, anyway) medley entitled "Marathon," which includes pieces of everything from Jimmie Davis' "Shackles & Chains" to Merle Travis' "Nine Pound Hammer." There's a fresh, spontaneous feel to it all that's absent from too much 21st century bluegrass; while White never goes for any showy licks, he sings and plays with what sounds like every ounce of his heart and soul. He was on the front lines alongside some of the men who invented bluegrass, and he doesn't treat these trad tunes like museum pieces, but rather like urgent messages about the raw emotions at the center of American roots music. Of course, he probably felt closest to the lone original tune here, the minor-key instrumental "Powder Creek," written in the ‘60s with Clarence, who was killed when both brothers were hit by a car in 1973. -- AllMusic Review by James Allen

Pack Up Your Sorrows: The Bergerfolk

Folkways Records FTS-32420

Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: 1978
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk
[Tracklist]
A1 Pack Up Your Sorrows (2:20)
A2 Until It's Time For You To Go (3:25)
A3 Times Are Gettin' Hard Boys (2:20)
A4 Handsome Molly (2:00)
A5 Loving Hannah (3:00)
A6 Jesse James (2:01)
A7 Roll On Columbia (2:30)
A8 The Rivers Of Texas (3:10)
B1 Banks Of The Ohio (4:00)
B2 Ode To America (1:40)
B3 Universal Soldier (2:35)
B4 Fair Beauty Bride (2:00)
B5 Three White Gulls (2:25)
B6 This Land Is Your Land (3:05)
B7 The Old Man´s Courtship (2:00)
B8 Amazing Grace (3:12)
[Credits]
Steve (banjo), Phoebe, Claudia, Jennifer Anne, Margaret Louise, Jonathan Glenn and Emily-Kate Berger
[Notes]
In 1978, the folk singing family band The Bergerfolk recorded their fourth and final album for Folkways. Steve and Phoebe Berger, along with four of their children, perform their interpretation of 16 traditional and modern folk songs. The Bergerfolk open with Richard Farina’s "Pack Up Your Sorrows" and close with the 18th-century hymn "Amazing Grace." In between are traditional folk songs such as "Banks of the Ohio" and "Jessie James," and songs written by Woody Guthrie ("Roll On, Columbia" and "This Land Is Your Land") and by Buffy Sainte-Marie ("Until It’s Time for You to Go" and "Universal Soldier"). Lyrics, songwriting credits, and instrumentation for all tracks are included in the liner notes.

When the Work's All Done This Fall: Ernest V. Stoneman 1926

Edison Blue Amberol: 5188 / Edison Record: 11054

Dubbed from Edison Diamond Disc matrix 11054.
Year of release from Blue Amberol records: a discography, 1912-1929 / Allan Sutton, 2005.
Special Coll., Performing Arts Cylinder 8115
Durable URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/OBJID/Cylinder8115

Ron Turner

Folkways Records FW-33583

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1973
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk
[Tracklist]
A1 Rollin' to the Border (3:17)
A2 The Bold Desperado (3:50)
A3 Leavin' You Behind (2:31)
A4 The Lily of the West (2:55)
A5 The Katy (3:31)
B1 Meet Me in the Roadhouse (Tonight) (2:59)
B2 Darlin' Billie (3:00)
B3 The Hills of Tennessee (3:36)
B4 Foggy Mountain Blues (2:36)
B5 Annie's Alley (2:19)
B6 The Ballad of Bill Guthrie (4:52)
[Credits]
Ron Turner (guitar/vocals)
Photographer: Jolly Robinson, Designer: Ronald Clyne
[Notes]
Modern country troubadour Ron Turner recorded his only album in 1973. These 11 original songs tinged with a western music flavor range in subject matter from traveling ("Rollin' to the Border" and "The Hills of Tennessee") and bad men ("The Bold Desperado") to trains ("The Katy") and the trials of romance ("Leavin' You Behind" and "Meet Me at the Roadhouse"). Turner closes with "The Ballad of Bill Guthrie," a song about Woody Guthrie's oldest son. The liner notes consist of a short story, but no recording information.

Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings SFW-40235

Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: May 29, 2020
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, Old Time
[Tracklist]
01 Double File (1:26)
02 Handsome Molly (2:08)
03 He's Coming to Us Dead (2:50)
04 Corrina (2:26)
05 Brown's Dream (1:44)
06 Groundhog (Blind Lemon's version) (2:40)
07 My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains (2:30)
08 Bonaparte's Retreat (1:53)
09 Willie Moore (3:57)
10 The Blue Ridge Mountain Blues (2:58)
11 Goin' Back to Jericho (2:09)
12 Billy in the Low Ground (1:35)
13 Reuben's Train (2:37)
14 The Dream of the Miner's Child (3:23)
15 Groundhog (F.O.T.M. version) (2:09)
[Credits]
Doc Watson (guitar/vocals) Gaither Carlton (fiddle/banjo)
[Notes]
Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton is a new album of old-time music produced from archival recordings by two legendary musicians. These largely unheard tapes were recorded at Doc Watson's two earliest concerts, presented at Blind Lemon's, Greenwich Village, New York City on October 12th and 18th in 1962. Those shows were among the rare appearances Doc's father-in-law, fiddler Gaither Carlton, made outside of North Carolina. The instrumental pieces, including Gaither's signature tune "Double File," include intricate musical interactions developed through years of family music-making. On the songs and ballads, Doc's instantly recognizable baritone voice is accompanied by his own guitar and Gaither's fiddle, or by the traditional combination of fiddle and banjo. Shortly after these recordings were made, Doc Watson embarked on a career as one of America's premier acoustic guitarists, earning the National Medal of Arts and eight Grammy Awards.

The Wild and Reckless Hobo: Cowan Powers 1926

Edison Blue Amberol: 5131 / Edison Record: 10624

Dubbed from Edison Diamond Disc matrix 10624.
Special Coll., Performing Arts Cylinder 1395
Durable URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/OBJID/Cylinder1395
Photo (L-R) Charlie, Ada, Opha Lou, and father Fiddlin' Cowan Powers.