I have often written on how good the Folk Å Rock record store in Malmö is. I went there yesterday with a pal of mine to buy tickets for the Will Kimbraugh concert at the end of March, which I am super stoked for.
Any way, I don't get to go to Malmö that often, so I browsed through the country/folk/bluegrass section and found this Lunsford record, which I bought. To be honest, I hadn't heard Lunsford before, but the fact that this record is released on the Smithsonian/Folkways label is enough to know that it's good.
Fans of more contemporary country music must forgive me for writing so much on banjo pickers of the 30's, but I really enjoy that kind of music and would like to see it gaining in popularity, so I do my bit for spreading the word.
Well, well, what you get here is perhaps not the best singing voice in the world, but Bascom makes up for that with his superb banjo skills. The totality of the music is just pure dead brilliant.
The full title, Ballads, banjo tunes and sacred songs of western north Carolina, says it all. On this record, you get 18 top tunes of that description. As a practicing Christian (Evangelical Lutheran), I could have settled for some more spiritual tunes, but I'm quite content. The secular songs are top notch. It would be a shame to complain when you get such a brill record for your money's worth.
People have often spoken loads of the Irish roots of American folk and I agree to some extent, though I would rather like to call the influence "Gaelic", as some of the tunes, most notably Bonny George Campbell, with it's fiddle and it's unaccompanied singing, sound really Scottish to me. I'm not an expert on Scottish (nor American, really) folk, but I think there are clear similarities.
If you like old American folk, you'll definitely like this. It's not the holy Grail of American folk, but it's still pretty good.
A record as good as this gets 77,3% in rate of satisfaction.
Showing posts with label Smithsonian Folkways Records. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Smithsonian Folkways Records. Show all posts
Friday, 2 March 2012
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Dock Boggs - "His folkways years 1963-1968"
I had no clue who Dock Boggs was yesterday, I must admit. I came into the best record store in southern Sweden, or at least the record store with the best selection of american music, looking for the latest Merle Haggard album and when they didn't have that, I asked for the new best of Bluegrass album Country Music People reviewed in the latest issue.
Now, Folk å Rock (the record store in Malmö town I went to) had neither, but the shop clerk recommended me this record, as well as a record by Earl Scruggs. I was completely blown away by both, but the Dock Boggs album struck me that hard I've been listening to it non stop since I got out of bed this morning.
Dock Boggs is truly folk. Musically, it's bluesy American folk with a unique sound. He sometimes remind me of another great white American singer, who was influenced by blues as well, Nathan Abshire, though Abshire sang in french. But to be fair, Boggs is both better than Abshire, as well as having more influences than blues, there is European influences as well in his blend of folk music.
The record comes with a booklet full of info on mr Boggs and if half of it is true, he seems to have had a truly interesting life. A coal mine worker and a bootlegger of corn whiskey in and out of trouble, the kind of life you'd expect from an oi! singer, not a folk singer. However, what I, as a Christian labour man appreciate is Boggs foundation in faith, as well as in the trade union movement.
The music is so good that Boggs could do instrumental numbers only, but the lyrics really stand out as well, covering the life of poor people in the American south.
Boggs started recording in the 1920's, but gave it up and didn't record again for almost 35 years. This could give Boggs music a bit of a dated feeling and to be true, yes, it's old time fashioned bluesy folk, but it's still relevant. What one, however, can say about it is that one can hear which influences bluegrass, country and folk had in the 1940's-60's. Boggs was one of their sources of influence no doubt. The fact that his music continued to be popular between 1929 and 1963 despite the man not doing any recordings then says it all.
This is a brilliant piece of work and truly a milestone in folk, yet it leaves some to wish for, so I won't give it a totally flawless stamp of approval, but almost. I give it 95,9% in rate of satisfaction.
Now, Folk å Rock (the record store in Malmö town I went to) had neither, but the shop clerk recommended me this record, as well as a record by Earl Scruggs. I was completely blown away by both, but the Dock Boggs album struck me that hard I've been listening to it non stop since I got out of bed this morning.
Dock Boggs is truly folk. Musically, it's bluesy American folk with a unique sound. He sometimes remind me of another great white American singer, who was influenced by blues as well, Nathan Abshire, though Abshire sang in french. But to be fair, Boggs is both better than Abshire, as well as having more influences than blues, there is European influences as well in his blend of folk music.
The record comes with a booklet full of info on mr Boggs and if half of it is true, he seems to have had a truly interesting life. A coal mine worker and a bootlegger of corn whiskey in and out of trouble, the kind of life you'd expect from an oi! singer, not a folk singer. However, what I, as a Christian labour man appreciate is Boggs foundation in faith, as well as in the trade union movement.
The music is so good that Boggs could do instrumental numbers only, but the lyrics really stand out as well, covering the life of poor people in the American south.
Boggs started recording in the 1920's, but gave it up and didn't record again for almost 35 years. This could give Boggs music a bit of a dated feeling and to be true, yes, it's old time fashioned bluesy folk, but it's still relevant. What one, however, can say about it is that one can hear which influences bluegrass, country and folk had in the 1940's-60's. Boggs was one of their sources of influence no doubt. The fact that his music continued to be popular between 1929 and 1963 despite the man not doing any recordings then says it all.
This is a brilliant piece of work and truly a milestone in folk, yet it leaves some to wish for, so I won't give it a totally flawless stamp of approval, but almost. I give it 95,9% in rate of satisfaction.
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