Songs of Our Native Daughters

Smithsonian Folkways SFW40232

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 22 Feb 2019
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk
[Tracklist]
A1 Black Myself (3:56)
A2 Moon Meets The Sun (4:08)
A3 Barbados (5:52)
A4 Quasheba, Quasheba (4:43)
A5 I Knew I Could Fly (3:42)
A6 Mama's Cryin' Long (2:11)
B1 Slave Driver (4:42)
B2 Polly Ann's Hammer (3:00)
B3 Lavi Difisil (2:30)
B4 Blood And Bones (4:45)
B5 Music And Joy (3:19)
B6 You're Not Alone (5:36)
[Credits]
Rhiannon Giddens (banjo/handclaps/vocals) Amythyst Kiah (guitar/banjo/vocals) Leyla McCalla (guitar/banjo/cello/vocals) Allison Russell (guitar/banjo/vocals) Dirk Powell (guitar/banjo/fiddle)
[Notes]
Songs of Our Native Daughters shines new light on African-American women's stories of struggle, resistance, and hope. Pulling from and inspired by 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century sources, including slave narratives and early minstrelsy, kindred banjo players Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell reinterpret and create new works from old ones. With unflinching, razor-sharp honesty, they confront sanitized views about America’s history of slavery, racism, and misogyny from a powerful, black female perspective. These songs call on the persistent spirits of the daughters, mothers, and grandmothers who have fought for justice – in large, public ways – only now being recognized, and in countless domestic ways that will most likely never be acknowledged. 52 minutes, 36-page booklet with lyrics. Note: LP versions omit the track "Better Git Yer Learnin."

Home: Billy Strings

Rounder Records 1166100637

Format: 2×Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 27 Sep 2019
Genre: Jazz, Blues, Folk, World, & Country
Style: Bluegrass
[Tracklist]
A1 Taking Water (4:08)
A2 Must Be Seven (3:28)
A3 Running (2:57)
A4 Away From the Mire (7:43)
B1 Home (7:36)
B2 Watch It Fall (4:37)
B3 Long Forgotten Dream (4:29)
C1 Highway Hypnosis (5:08)
C2 Enough to Leave (3:45)
C3 Hollow Heart (2:35)
C4 Love Like Me (2:53)
D1 Everything's the Same (2:54)
D2 Guitar Peace (4:16)
D3 Freedom (2:34)
[Credits]
Billy Strings (guitar/banjo/vocals) Billy Failing (banjo/vocals) Royal Masat (bass/vocals) Jarrod Walker (mandolin/vocals) Molly Tuttle (vocals)
Cover Artist: Sean Williams, Designer: Bill Orner, Photographer: Jesse Faatz
[Notes]
Home begins with 30 seconds of down-tempo guitar arpeggio and fiddle birdsong. It ends with the full quartet — Billy Strings (guitar), Billy Failing (banjo), Royal Massat (upright bass), and Jarrod Walker (mandolin) — crashing through a cover of Bill Monroe's "Big Sandy River." In between, there’s an hour of bluegrass played with a 27-year-old's intensity, a hearty dose of psychedelia, and undeniable star appeal. Born William Apostol, Strings has it all: incomparable chops, powerful vocals, and songwriting smarts.

Memories And Moments: Tim O'Brien And Darrell Scott

Full Skies Records

Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 2013
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, Country
[Tracklist]
01 Time To Talk To Joseph (4:13)
02 It All Comes Down To Love (3:29)
03 Keep Your Dirty Lights On (3:26)
04 Brother Wind (5:00)
05 Memories And Moments (3:36)
06 Paradise (4:52)
07 Just One More (2:16)
08 Fiddler Jones (5:01)
09 The Well (3:23)
10 Alone And Forsaken (4:05)
11 You Don't Own Me (3:48)
12 Angel's Blue Eyes (3:31)
13 Free Again (4:30)
14 On Life's Other Side (4:01)
[Notes]
Tim O'Brien and Darrell Scott have teamed up again for their first collaboration since Real Time (2000). And what good news that is, because their new album, Memories and Moments, oozes class. It is country/bluegrass/Americana – file it as you like – of the finest order, and the pair contribute five original songs. They also offer some stimulating covers, not least of Hank Williams's Alone and Forsaken. Scott (from Kentucky) and O'Brien (from West Virginia) are both skillful multi-instrumentalists and their voices and playing gel naturally, with nuance and feeling. The album sounds fresh – it was recorded in only three days – and includes the powerful environmental song Keep Your Dirty Lights On, the album's sole joint composition. To complement that track, they also offer a moving version of Paradise, John Prine's magnificent song about strip-mining ("the coal company come with the world's largest shovel") which features the peerless Prine on vocals and guitar. They also cover Just One More, the mournful drinking song by George Jones, who was himself an alcoholic.

Songs of the Suffragettes: Elizabeth Knight

Folkways Records‎– FH 5281

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1958
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk
[Tracklist]
A1 Columbia's Daughters (2:31)
A2 Uncle Sam's Wedding (1:24)
A3 Keep Woman in Her Sphere (2:17)
A4 Let Us All Speak Our Minds (1:35)
A5 The Taxation Tyranny (1:46)
A6 The Promised Land (2:45)
A7 The Suffrage Flag (1:49)
A8 Winning The Vote (2:56)
B1 Give the Ballot to the Mothers (1:13)
B2 Song of Wyoming (2:25)
B3 Going to the Polls (0:55)
B4 Where Are Your Boys Today! (4:38)
B5 The Yellow Ribbon (1:32)
B6 Hallelujah Song (2:24)
B7 Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be! (1:58)
B8 The New America (1:50)
[Credits]
Elizabeth Knight (piano/vocals) Sol Julty (guitar)
Artwork: Ronald Clyne, Liner Notes: Irwin Silber
[Notes]
It is hard to believe in modern times that the issue of women's suffrage once wracked the nation. Riots, demonstrations, and indignant editorials highlight the history of this long battle that finally ended in 1920 with the 19th Amendment. Liner notes by Irwin Silber include a brief history of the suffrage movement, lyrics and background on the 16 tracks, and black-and-white political cartoons.