Ship in the Clouds: Old Time Instrumental Music

Andy Cahan, Laura Fishleder and Lisa Ornstein

Folkways Records – FTS 31062

Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: United States
Released: 1978
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, & Old Time
[Tracklist]
A01 Ship in the Clouds (01:49)
A02 Rolling River (01:52)
A03 Molly Put the Kettle On (02:21)
A04 Liquor Seller (01:41)
A05 Elkhorn Ridge (02:46)
A06 Jimmy Johnson Pass the Jug Around the Hill (02:21)
A07 Tildy Moore (02:11)
A08 Prettiest Girl in the County (02:03)
A09 Great Big Taters in Sandy Land (03:19)
A10 There's a Brown Skin Gal Down the Road Somewheres (02:02)
B01 Coal Creek March (01:54)
B02 Greasy Coat (02:41)
B03 Hellbound For Alabama (02:32)
B04 Sally Ann Johnson (02:51)
B05 Fort Smith (02:04)
B06 Old Mother Lobos (01:55)
B07 Polly Put the Kettle On (01:57)
B08 Silly Bill (02:04)
B09 Lost Indian (02:13)
B10 Big Scioty (02:26)
[Credits]
Laura Fishleder (guitar) Andy Cahan (banjo/vocals) Lisa Ornstein (fiddle)
Producer: Kerry Blech, Notes: Andy Cahan, Engineer: Chuck Ruby, Designer: Ronald Clyne
[Notes]
Musicians Andy Cahan on banjo, Laura Fishleder on guitar, and Lisa Ornstein on fiddle collaborate to offer a fine collection of almost entirely instrumental interpretations of old-time music. The performers present music rooted primarily in rural areas across the United States. One track features vocals: "Elkhorn Ridge," sung by Cahan. Interestingly, in addition to the well-known traditional folk song "Polly Put the Kettle On," a similarly titled track, “Molly Put the Kettle On," is also included. However, as Cahan makes clear in the liner notes, the two songs "have nothing to do with [each other]." The liner notes from this 1978 recording provide brief descriptions of the origins of each of the tracks and short biographies of the three musicians.

Ruth Rubin: Jewish Folk Songs

Musical Settings by Richrd Neumann

Folkways Records – FW 8740

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: United States
Released: 1959
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, & Judaica
[Tracklist]
A1 Gitare / Sheltn, Shelt Ich Dem Tog (03:53)
A2 Papir Iz Doch Vays (02:45)
A3 Fishelech Koyfn (01:42)
A4 Beker Lid (02:32)
A5 Dortn, Dortn Ibern Vasserl (02:38)
A6 Bay Dem Shtetl (01:23)
A7 Ale Vasserlech (02:17)
A8 Tonts, Tonts Antkegn Mir (01:09)
B1 Molad'ti (01:36)
B2 Shir Ha-Hagana (02:55)
B3 Viglid (03:32)
B4 Yafim Halelot (02:24)
B5 Zemer Lach (02:16)
B6 Se Ug'di (00:58)
B7 Zirmu Galim (03:17)
B8 Shir Ha-Avoda (02:24)
[Credits] Ruth Rubin (vocals)
Cover Artwork: Joe Weitz
[Notes]
Ruth Rubin (1906–2000), a preeminent authority on Yiddish folk song, was successful as an author, concert singer, and folk song collector, with four albums in the Folkways catalogue. Although she recorded Hebrew songs also, most often she sang in Yiddish, the primary secular language formerly spoken by the Jews of Eastern Europe. On this recording, she presents a sampling of Yiddish songs as well as songs in Hebrew from early Jewish pioneers in Palestine and the period when the modern State of Israel was being established. Liner notes provide information about each song, as well as the lyrics in Yiddish or Hebrew, with English translation.

Raíces Latinas: Smithsonian Folkways Latino Roots Collection

Smithsonian Folkways – SFW CD 40470

Format: CD, Compilation
Country: United States, & Others
Released: 2002
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, World, & Latin
[Tracklist]
01 Un gigante que despierta (An awakening giant): Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy (04:03)
02 Bailecitos (Little dances): Segundo Castro and His Trovadores de Angaco (03:10)
03 Apágame la vela (Put out my candle): Nicolá Gutierres, Porfirio Rosario Santo Peña (04:47)
04 Brisas del Pamplonita (Breezes of the Pamplonita): Los Gavilanes (02:10)
05 Seis Mapeyé: Cuerdas de Borínquen (06:18)
06 Canção do Orpheo (Song of Orpheus): Luiz Bonfá (02:26)
07 Los arrieros (The muleteers): Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano (04:44)
08 Danza de los Negros (The Dance of the Blacks): Banda "Señor Cautivo" (02:05)
09 Yo canto en el llano (I sing on the plain): Cuarteto Patria y Compay Segundo (05:02)
10 Pipil Polka: Francisco Tepas (01:45)
11 Las naranjas (The oranges): Rolando Alarcón (02:52)
12 Two marimbas playing in front of the church: Two-marimba ensemble of San Mateo Ixtatán (02:18)
13 La sicodélica polka (The pschedelic polka): Ernesto Guerra y su Conjunto (02:43)
14 Adiós, Berejú: Marimba musicians of Buenaventura, Colombia (03:06)
15 Paranaê: Grupo de Capoeira Angola Pelourinho (03:15)
16 El paseadito (The little stroll): Los Reyes de Albuquerque (02:20)
17 La pájara pinta (The spotted bird): Suni Paz (00:55)
18 Corrido de Joaquín Murrieta: Luis Méndez and Guadalupe Bracamonte (04:32)
19 El Choclo (The ear of corn): René Marino Rivero (01:53)
20 Las leyendas de Grecia (The legends of Greece): Grupo Afrocuba (07:16)
[Credits]
Compiler, Liner Notes Editor & Liner Notes: Daniel E. Sheehy, Designer: BAD Studio, Atlanta, GA, Mastering Engineer: Pete Reiniger, Partner Organization: Latino Initiatives Fund
{Notes}
Featuring some of the finest Latino roots music the Smithsonian Folkways archive has to offer from such artists as Nati Cano’s Los Camperos, Luiz Bonfa, and Cuarteto Patria and Compay Segundo (Buena Vista Social Club), this specially priced CD brings you a collection of Latino sounds beyond the conventional! Much like rock 'n' roll, Latino music evolved from folk traditions. Raíces Latinas is a celebration of these Amerindian, African, and European influences in music of Latino heritage and a representation of the lively creativity that gives birth to the music of the Americas. Including Latino roots music from the Caribbean to the Andes and from Brazil to the American Southwest, Raíces Latinas invites you to discover the music behind la música!

Music of Guatemala

Recorded and Edited by Jacques Jangoux

Asch Mankind Series – AHM 4212

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: Guatemala
Released: 1969
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, World, & Indigenous
[Tracklist]
A01 Chirimia and Drum: Two Quiché Indians (02:33)
A02 Chirimia and Drum: Two Quiché Indians (01:24)
A03 Chirimia and Drum: Two Quiché Indians (01:21)
A04 Marimba and Clarinet: Tzutuzil Indians (02:02)
A05 Marimba and Clarinet: Chorti Indians (02:31)
A06 Chirimia and Drum: Tzutuzil Indians (01:34)
A07 Chirimia and Drum: Tzutuzil Indians (01:40)
A08 Small Marimba: Tzutuzil Indians (03:33)
A09 Whistling: Ana Ramirez (02:02)
A10 Spanish Children's Song: Juan Ramirez (00:54)
A11 Spanish Children's Song: Juan Ramirez (00:59)
A12 Spanish Children's Song: Juan Ramirez (00:40)
B01 Humming: Ana Ramirez (05:03)
B02 Marimba: Esteban Ramirez, Ana Ramirez, and Juan Ramirez (01:06)
B03 Marimba: Esteban Ramirez, Ana Ramirez, and Juan Ramirez (02:22)
B04 Marimba: Esteban Ramirez, Ana Ramirez, and Juan Ramirez (02:03)
B05 Marimba: Esteban Ramirez, Ana Ramirez, and Juan Ramirez (05:10)
B06 Los Almendras: Esteban Ramirez, Ana Ramirez, and Juan Ramirez (01:25)
B07 Adios Juanita: Esteban Ramirez, Ana Ramirez, and Juan Ramirez (02:41)
B08 Indian Song: Esteban Ramirez, Ana Ramirez, and Juan Ramirez (01:49)
B09 Indian Song: Esteban Ramirez, Ana Ramirez, and Juan Ramirez (01:18)
[Credits]
Producer, Recorder and Photographer: Jacques Jangoux, Designer: Ronald Clyne
[Notes]
"The music presented in this album is typical of rural Guatemala. Most of the inhabitants of this area are Indians of Mayan descent, but almost everywhere in the Guatemalan countryside one can also find Ladinos: persons, of whatever descent, who speak Spanish in their homes and have adopted the Ladino way of life, which is mostly Spanish. It is not completely Spanish, however, because both the cultures of rural Guatemala are the result of the confrontation over several centuries of two very different civilizations, the indigenous Mayan, and the Western, introduced by the Spanish in the 16th century. Both cultures have borrowed traits from the other, and this is nowhere more evident than in their music, which is a mixture of European, Indian, and perhaps also African elements..." Jacques Jangoux

Black American History in Ballad Song & Prose

Compiled and Edited by Charles T. Averett

Folkways Records – FH 5804

Format: 3 x Vinyl, LP, Mono
Country: United States
Released: 1977
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, African American, & Struggle
[Tracklist]
A1 Blacks with the Spanish Explorers: Langston Hughes (02:07)
A2 Black Valor: Jean Marilyn Brannon (03:11)
A3 Black Sailors: Jean Marilyn Brannon (01:37)
A4 Black Archives: Clark Morgan (01:50)
A5 Ballad of Benjamin Banneker: Langston Hughes (02:44)
B1 African Chants/Oh Freedom: Hermes Nye (05:35)
B2 Go Down Moses/John Brown's Body/Legacy: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (03:42)
B3 John Brown's Body: Hermes Nye
B4 Brown's Legacy: Ossie Davis
B5 Election of Lincoln/Lincoln and Libery: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (02:04)
C1 Secession of the South/Bonnie Blue Flag: Ossie Davis (02:34)
C2 Civil War: Ossie Davis (02:50)
C3 Emancipation Proclamation: Ossie Davis (01:35)
C4 Negro Troops: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (01:49)
C5 In Charleston Jail/Douglass Meets Lincoln: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (04:51)
C6 Death of Lincoln/Freedom and Equality: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (04:21)
C7 Old Rebel/14th and 15th Amendments: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (05:05)
D1 Ballad of Sojourner Truth: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (04:00)
D2 Ballad of Harriet Tubman: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (02:50)
D3 Francis Watkins Harper: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (02:29)
D4 Ida B. Wells Barnett: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (02:13)
D5 Eleanor Holmes Norton: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (03:49)
D6 Shirley Chisholm: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (02:59)
E1 Ballad of Frederick Douglass: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (03:49)
E2 Booker T Washington/George Washington Carver: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (05:42)
E3 Let's Move It/W.E.B. DuBois: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (03:48)
E4 If We Must Die: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (01:35)
E5 Ballad of the Deacons: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (05:42)
F1 The Negro Voter/The State of Arkansas: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (01:54)
F2 President Kennedy's Press Conference: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (01:07)
F3 Rev. Ralph Abernathy: Hermes Nye and Ossie Davis (02:17)
F4 Martin Luther King/Ballad of Dr. King/We Shall Overcome (13:30)
[Credits]
Producer: Charles T. Averet, Photographer: Allen Morgan, Designer: Ronald Clyne
[Notes]
Performed by Langston Hughes, Ossie Davis, Jean Brannon, W.E.B. DuBois, and Pete Seeger, this collection of spoken word, oral history, speech and song represents a comprehensive sociopolitical history of black America. Beginning with America's rediscovery in 1492 and Columbus's supposedly black pilot, Pedro Alonso Niño, the collection covers the colonial period, the slave experience, the Civil war, notable African-American women, nineteenth-century black intellectuals, the Jim Crow years and the struggle for civil rights, ending with the late Martin Luther King Jr.

John Jacob Niles Sings Folk Songs

Folkways Records – FA 2373

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: United States
Released: 1964
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, & Old Time
[Traclist]
A1 Frog Went A-Courting (02:10)
A2 I'm So Glad Trouble Don't Last Always (02:09)
A3 Who Killed Cock Robin? (03:33)
A4 John Henry (02:14)
A5 Go Find My True Love (02:34)
A6 I Had a Cat (02:22)
B1 The Frog in the Spring (01:13)
B2 Posheen, Posheen, Posho (01:17)
B3 The Lass From the Low Country (02:25)
B4 Jack O' Diamonds (01:59)
B5 I Wonder As I Wander (02:05)
B6 Go 'Way from My Window (02:09)
[Credits]
John Jacob Niles (dulcimer/vocals)
Recorder: Moses Asch, Photographer: David Gah, Designer: Ronald Clyne
[Notes]
Born in Jefferson County, Kentucky in 1892, John Jacob Niles was one of the most prolific private collectors of Anglo-American folk songs. His work predates Cecil Sharp's by nearly a decade, and this record—a reissue of Niles' 78rpm discs—celebrates his achievements.

The Mississippi River of Song

A Musical Journey Down the Mississippi

Smithsonian Folkways – SFW 40086

Format: 2 x CD, Album
Country: United States
Released: 1998
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, Indigenous, Blues, Cajun & Zydeco
[Tracklist]
1-01 Pow Wow Song: Chippewa Nation (02:50)
1-02 22: Babes in Toyland (03:20)
1-03 Sail Away Ladies: Spider John Koerner (03:30)
1-04 I Did My Best: Soul Asylum (03:58)
1-05 Red-Headed Swede: The Skål Club Spelmanslag (03:23)
1-06 The Singing Leaf: Wang Chong Lor (02:28)
1-07 I'll Open My Heart to the Lord / I'll Be Ready: Sounds of Blackness (01:56)
1-08 Kim Marie: Karl Hartwich (03:01)
1-09 Jazz Me Blues: Manny Lopez (04:32)
1-10 La Unica Estrella: La Otra Mitad (05:26)
1-11 Flat Stuff: Greg Brown (03:43)
1-12 Miss Ferris: John Hartford (03:55)
1-13 Born to Be with You: The Bob Lewis Family (02:17)
1-14 Milestone: Eugene Redmond and Sylvester "Sunshine" Lee (02:46)
1-15 I'm So Grateful: Fontella and Martha Bass (04:20)
1-16 Stop Breaking Down: Oliver Sain (05:10)
1-17 Get Down River: The Bottle Rockets (03:05)
1-18 La Guignolée: The Ste. Genevieve Guignolée Singers (03:43)
2-01 The Sweetest Song I Know: The Boundless Love Quartet (02:30)
2-02 Blue Yodel #1 (T for Texas): Sonny Burgess (03:54)
2-03 St. Louis Blues: Ann Peebles and the Memphis Horns (05:49)
2-04 Going Back to Memphis: Levon Helm and James Cotton (04:41)
2-05 Take a Little Walk with Me: Robert Lockwood, Jr. (02:50)
2-06 Catfish: Big Jack Johnson (03:31)
2-07 Shake Your Moneymaker: Big Jack Johnson with Frank Frost & the Jelly Roll Kings (03:06)
2-08 Grits Ain't Groceries: Little Milton (04:23)
2-09 We Praise Your Holy Name: The Mississippi Mass Choir (05:52)
2-10 Taters and Gravy and Chicken Fried Steak: Kenny Bill Stinson (02:52)
2-11 The Back Door (La Porte d'en Arrière): D.L. Menard (03:49)
2-12 Bon Chien: Geno Delafose (02:49)
2-13 Marie Lavaux: David & Roselyn (03:28)
2-14 Basin Street Blues: Henry Butler (03:58)
2-15 Time is on My Side: Irma Thomas (02:47)
2-16 Check Your Bucket: Eddie Bo and Henry Butler (04:39)
2-17 Let Your Mind Be Free: The Soul Rebels (02:56)
2-18 La Vida de un Jaibero (The Crab Fisherman's Song): Irvan Perez (02:49)
[Credits]
Compiler, Liner Notes & Producer: Elijah Wald, Producer: John Junkerman & Toshio Murayama, Photographer: Theo Pelletier, Mastering Engineer: Charlie Pilzer
[Notes]
This two-hour, 36 track, musical journey down the Mississippi from the headwaters to the delta captures the power and diversity of American music in the late 20th century. The music, recorded between 1995 and 1997 in small towns and large cities along the river, reflects centuries of interaction and experimentation along America’s great waterway. 48-page booklet.

Birmingham, Alabama, 1963: Mass Meeting

Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, and the Birmingham Choir

Folkways Records – FD 5487

Series: Lest We Forget– Volume 2
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: United States
Released: 1980
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, Struggle & Protest
[Tracklist]
A1 Swing Down Sweet Chariot Melody: Cleo Kennedy and Choir (07:37)
A2 Ralph Abernathy speaking: Ralph Abernathy (13:18)
A3 I'm On My Way: Mamie Brown and Choir (03:30)
B1 City Called Heaven: Cleo Kennedy, Carlton Reese (09:37)
B2 Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking: Martin Luther King, Jr. (10:51)
B3 99 1/2 Won't Do: Carlton Reese and Choir (02:18)
B4 Ralph Abernathy speaking: Ralph Abernathy (02:46)
[Credits]
Liner Notes: Wyatt Tee Walker, Recorder: Candie Carawan and Guy Carawan, Photographer: Charles Moore
[Notes]
Songs played a large role in the movement to close the racial divide in America during the 1960s, and prayers, chants, sermons, and shouts were also fundamental to this task. Guy and Candie Carawan recorded Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Albernathy speaking just after they were arrested for attempting to, as Caucasians, sing in a black church. Armed with only one microphone, they were fortunate enough to be released just in time to record the historic event heard here.