Aaron – Page 5 – Field Trip South

David Massengill at SFC September 15

Please join us at Southern Foklife Collection for a very special performance by Folk singer, songwriter, and storyteller David Massengill on September 15, 6-7 p.m., in the Pleasants Family Assembly Room at UNC’s Wilson Special Collections Library. The event is free and open to the public.

Massengill creates “story songs” deeply rooted in folk traditions, while incorporating keen observations of modern American life. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in the mid-1970s and moved to New York shortly after for Greenwich Village’s notable folk scene. Massengill’s songs have been covered and recorded by Joan Baez, The Roches, Nanci Griffith, and Dave Van Ronk.
In preparation for Massengill’s visit, we have been revisiting some of his performances recorded and distributed via Fast Folk Musical Magazine, a remarkable monthly publication featuring a complete LP of live recordings by artists from the Folk City and Songwriter’s Exchange scenes in New York in the early 1980s. Enjoy a couple of clips from one of our favorite Massengill compositions, “My Name Joe” and an early piece off one of the earliest Fast Folk releases, “Down Derry Down”
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Please join us tomorrown night!

Lacquer disc of the week: Dorothea Joan Moser, "Swannanoa Tunnel"

Excited to walk into the John M. Rivers recording studio at the Southern Folklife Collection this afternoon and observe the transfer of lacquer disc, FD-20005/537 from the Artus Moser Papers (20005). Possibly recorded to provide supplementary materials for folklorist Dorothea Joan Moser’s Fulbright scholarship application, we were excited to hear Moser perform an acapella version of “Swannanoa Tunnel,” a tune we were only familiar with as performed by Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Moser’s version may be closer to that sung by African American convicts that were conscripted to perform the dangerous work of digging the tunnel. By the tunnel’s completion in 1879, 125 men had lost their lives to cave-ins, mudslides, and mistreatment.
20025_FD537_Dorothea Joan Moser_Artus Moser Papers_Swannanoa Tunnel_

Dr. Ralph Stanley, 1927-2016

Today we are mourning the loss of another one of the greats, Dr. Ralph Stanley. There are a number of excellent obituaries and remembrances of Stanley across the news today and we would encourage you to read about Stanley’s remarkable life and career. Considering the mark he left on the world of traditional music and popular culture, It is no surprise that Stanley is such a prominent figure in the Southern Folklife Collection and we wanted to share a few of those items with you today in tribute. The photos above are from the Mike Seeger Collection (20009), featuring the Carters and the Clinch Mountain Boys at Valley View country music park in Hellam, PA in 1956. Another favorite from the Seeger Collection features the Carters with Roscoe Holcomb on tour in Bremen, Germany in 1966.
I couldn’t help but pull out some of the Rich-R-Tone 78 rpm discs from the SFC sound recordings. Recorded in 1947, these Stanley Brothers recordings, their first commercial recordings as a group, remain some of my favorite bluegrass of all time. Listen to “The Jealous Lover,” from 78-16252, and the classic “Little Maggie,” from 78-16253, here:78_16252_Jealous Lover_Stanley Brothers with the Clinch Mountain Boys_Southern Folklife Collection_UNC 78_16253_little maggie_Stanley Brothers with the Clinch Mountain Boys_Southern Folklife Collection_UNCStanley Brothers with the Clinch Mountain Boys_Southern Folklife Collection_UNC
You can listen to live performances throughout Stanley’s career, from country music parks, to radio performances, clubs like the Ash Grove, college tours, and more from recordings i in the Mike Seeger Collection (20009) and the Eugene Earle Collection (20376) in particular, but there are numerous recordings across the SFC collections. If you would like to hear more, please contact or visit us at the SFC. We were very lucky to welcome Ralph Stanley to The Wilson Library in 2006 for an extra special conversation and concert. Sitting 10 feet away from a legend in a special collections reading room as he sings acapella is something that we will never forget. Rest in peace, Ralph, I’m sure you and Carter’s harmonies sound even sweeter now.

Ralph Stanley and His Clinch Mountain Boys, P1545 and P1548, in the John Edwards Memorial Foundation Records (20001), southern folklife Collection, UNC Chapel HIll

SFC videos of the week: Bertie Dickens and Enoch Rutherford

You read the title correctly, “SFC videos of the week.” We have been slowly rolling out streaming archival videos held in the Southern Folklife Collection, but now there are just too many not to share widely. These first two videos, Videotape VT-20113/5 featuring Bert Dickens (above) and Videotape VT-20113/8 Enoch Rutherford (below) are part of the Nancy Kalow Collection (20113). To go directly to the streaming video click on the images in this post or visit the finding aid for the finding aid for the Nancy Kalow Collection (20113) here.
The Nancy Kalow Collecion collection comprises 29 videotapes of various aspects of North Carolina folklife recorded by Kalow between 1987 and 1991. These two tapes, Videotape VT-20113/5 are part of a series documenting traditional North Carolina musicians that Kalow made in association with musician and founder of The Old-Time Herald Alice Gerrard as part of a project for the North Carolina Arts Council. Originally recorded on Hi-8 video, digitization and streaming of these videos and others is made possible through support from a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Old-time banjo player and North Carolina Heritage Award recipient, Bertie (Bert) Caudill Dickens spent most of her life the community of Ennice in Alleghany County, North Carolina. The video was recorded in her home on Jan 31, 1987.
Recordings of Enoch Rutherford were also made on January 31, 1987 at his home in Independence, Virginia (for an excellent article on Enoch Rutherford, see this remembrance written by musician Martha Spencer in 2013 from Mountain Music Magazine). Accompanied by Alice Gerrard and Andy Cahan, Rutherford’s hard-driving clawhammer style is in full force. The versions of “Sugar Hill” and “Whoa, Mule” on this tape are spectacular (as noted by an enthusiastic audience member off camera hollering support).
Other musicians documented in the collection include Thomas Burt, Calvin Cole, Walter Raleigh Babson, Joe and Odell Thompson, Piedmont blues musicians George Higgs and James Bud Powell, and John Rector. There are also tapes documenting a 1987 performance at the UNC Forest Theatre by storyteller Steven Henegar and Uncle Eli’s Quilting Bee, an annual event that has taken place in Alamance County since 1931 and which Kalow recorded on 7 April 1988 at Eli Whitney Recreation Center.
Stay tuned to Field Trip South for more streaming media updates or browse our collections and finding aids through our website here.

Record of the week: Red Clay Ramblers with Fiddlin' Al McCanless

left photo, April 1974, Chapel Hill, NC, by Chuck Lewis, l to R: Jim Watson, tommy Thompson, Mike Craver, Bill HIcks; right photo, March 1973, Durham, NC, by John Menapace, L to R: Tommy Thompson, Al McCanless, Jim Watson, Bill Hicks

Thinking about this record this morning, the Red Clay Ramblers’ first, with the Fiddlin’ Al McCanless released in 1974 on Folkways records, FC1581 in the Southern Folklife Collection. Growing out of the Durham old-time music scene previously dominated by the instrumental dance music of the Hollow Rock and Fuzzy Mountain string bands, the early Red Clay Ramblers–Jim Watson, Tommy Thompson, Al McCanless,Bill Hicks, and Mike Craver–looked to experiment more with style, instrumentation and song selection than their predecessors and forged their own “old-timey” sound based on what they wanted to hear.

FC1581_Al McCanless and Jim Watson_Southern Folklife Collection_left photo, April 1974, by Chuck Lewis; right photo, March 1973, Durham, NC, by John Menapace Recorded over 40 years ago, the Ramblers approach to old-time music on this first record still sounds remarkably subversive to me. Not many groups have been able to walk the line between innovation and creative imitation and come out with something that sounds completely their own. We are lucky to have a rare opportunity to hear two of these performers tonight in Chapel Hill. Al McCanless and Jim Watson will be joining together for a set at the same physical location where the photo of the left of the record above was taken, the Nightlight, formerly Cats Cradle.
Watson and McCanless will be followed by the Down Hill Strugglers, an active band based in Brooklyn who are comitted to a similar aesthetic and approach to performance as the early Red Clay Ramblers, and perhaps a more direct influence, the New Lost City Ramblers (the Down Hill Strugglers have performed and recorded with NLCR founder John Cohen).
Show starts at 8PM tonight at Nightlight. 405 1/2 West Rosemary, Chapel Hill. Fans of old-time music will not want to miss.

In memory of Eddie Watkins

Last week the news of Eddie Watkins’ sudden passing circulated through the Triangle music community and beyond. We have lost many musical giants in 2016; here’s hoping Bowie, Merle, Phife, Billy Paul, Papa Wemba, Steve Young, and Prince are all enjoying a big pancake party right now. There will be room at the table for Eddie Watkins as well.
A lifelong musician, first with local legends (as much as that descriptor might confound them) Polvo and later with Dr. Powerful and Strangers in the Valley of the Kings, Watkins touched as many lives in his roles as a chef, librarian, friend and father as detailed in a recent article by Danny Hooley in the Indy and celebrated on WXYC Chapel Hill 89.3FM “Thursday Night Feature” on April 28. Watkins may not be as famous as those listed above, but his absence cuts as deep and his impact on the expressive culture of the Triangle community is equally profound.
Parts of Polvo’s early career and the musical communities and scenes where they operated are documented in the Southern Folklife Collection. These early Polvo posters made by Ron Liberti, whose band Pipe played the CD relase for the stunning 1994 EP Celebrate the New Dark Age (Merge) at Cats Cradle (then located on Franklin St. in Chapel Hill), call numbers OP-20398/63 and OP/20398/70 in the Ron Liberti Collection (20398). Also on the bill that night, Shiny Beast, whose drummer, artist Brian Walsby, would later replace Watkins in Polvo for a short time. Considering three of the four original members of Polvo formed at UNC, the basketball imagery is no surprise (guitarist Dave Brylawski has spoken about his love for basketball before) and reflects Polvo’s grounding with a particular sense of place even when their music demonstrated far ranging global influences.
Part of the Merge Records roster since their “El Cid” split 7″ with Erectus Monotone in 1992 (that included the track “Anything’s Fine” by Erectus Polvotone), Polvo can also be found in the Merge Records Collection (20473). Besides master tapes, test pressings, and videos (including VT20479/162, Superchunk, Polvo, Taintskins, Grifters: Live at the Antenna Club, Memphis, Tenn., 5 September 1992) there are documents detailing the artwork change for Today’s Active Lifestyles (Merge, 1993), artwork samples for other releases, correspondence, tour documentation, and even a mastering note from the Southern Folklife Collection’s own Brian Paulson in Folder 50. Anyone interested to see more from the Merge or Ron Libarti collections or other materials about our vibrant musical communities, please visit the Southern Folklife Collection or contact us at The Wilson Library. We offer our sincerest condolences to Eddie Watkin’s loved ones, family, and friends.

78 of the week: Arthur Smith and His Dixie Liners

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A side from SFC 78 call no. 78-17489 for a rainy Saturday.
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New streaming audio!

The Southern Folklife Collection now has well over 5000 streaming audio files of digitized archival recordings. Recent additions have been made possible through support from a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. We’ve shared streaming recordings from the William R. Ferris Collection (20367), Goldband Recording Corporation Collection (20245) and the Mike Seeger Collection (20009) in the past, but we have since more than doubled the amount of streaming content. We’d love to hear your favorites, but as an introduction, we pulled a few that we found particularly fascinating from the most recent additions. Click on the link to go directly to a streaming audio file:

I am particularly pleased to share the first (of many to come) streaming recording in the Alice Gerrard Collection (20006), featuring fiddler Joe Caudill, banjo player Bertie Dickens, and Dan Williams. Also check out this new Wikipedia article about Bertie Dickens created during the SFC/NCC NC Heritage Award wiki-edit-a-thon we held last week.

8611: AG 427: Joe Caudill, Bertie Dickens, and Dan Williams, recorded in December 1971 in Ennis, N.C. (continued from AG 424) / Various Others. Side 1

From the Bob Carlin Collection (20050), The Spencer Brothers, Lance and Maynard. Originally from Virginia, The Spencer Brothers performed on Greensboro’s WBIG and with Stringbean as part of Charlie Monroe’s Kentucky Partners Troupe in the 1940s.

7009: Spencer Brothers at Sister Ruth’s home; recorded by Brad Spencer. 1985.: Side 1

From the Tom Davenport Collection (20025), we’ve added a number of interviews with Arthur Jackson, aka Peg Leg Sam, and members of the Joines family . Here is one of Jackson conducted during the making of the excellent documentary film, Born for Hard Luck (view it on Folkstreams.net).

324: Peg Leg Sam: interview: Side 1

Finally from the Kevin Delaney Collection (20035), some Irish fiddling, recorded in Dublin in 1972.

272: John Kelly, fiddle. Dublin. Paddy Glacken, fiddle. Dublin. 2 August 1972. Tony Smith, fiddle. Dublin. 3 August 1972. Side: 1

Merle Haggard, April 6, 1937-2016

Merle Haggard at Memorial Hall for SFC25. Photo by Mark Perry Photography.

The world lost another giant today when Merle Haggard left this earth for honky-tonk heaven. The Southern Folklife Collection was privileged to welcome Mr. Haggard at our 25th anniversary celebration in 2014. Seeing him perform at UNC’s Memorial Hall is an experience that will not be forgotten. It was a spectacular performance and I was practically giddy when Haggard picked up the fiddle.

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At the SFC, we would like nothing better to spend the foreseeable future exploring the collections for Merle Haggard content to geek out on and reminisce about the first time we heard one song or another, but, and I think Merle would agree, we have other work to do; other fiddle players to celebrate and mountains of music to share with the world. I discovered countless artists through Haggard, not the least of which was Bob Wills. Even though I come from Texas, it was Merle who introduced me to the “best damn fiddle player in the world.” But for today, I’ve got “Rainbow Stew” on the deck and I pulled out these pictures I have looked at many times from the John Edwards Memorial Foundation Records (20001) documenting the recording sessions for Bob Wills’s final album, For the Last Time. Sessions, produced by the legendary guitarist Tommy Allsup (another former Cricket like Bobby Durham), took place just outside of Dallas on December 3 and 4, 1973.
Haggard drove all night from Chicago to participate on the final day after begging permission from Wills to attend. Sadly, Wills was unable to complete the session after suffering a severe stroke on the night of December 3 and slipping into a coma the following day never to retain consciousness. Haggard and the band, the first reunion of the Texas Playboys since Wills disbanded the group in the 1960s, pressed on with noted successor of the Bob Wills sound Hoyle Nix stepping up into the boots of his hero to lead the group.
We are not positive, but we believe the photos above include Haggard, fiddlers Keith Coleman and Johnny Gimble, steel guitarist Leon McCauliffe, and the back of guitarist Eldon Shamblin’s head.
Rest easy, Merle. Hope the music is as good in the next place as you made it here.

Fred Cockerham and Tommy Jarrell, 8 July 1971, 16mm film by Blanton Owen

This morning, I had the great privilege of inspecting some 16mm film with AV Archivist Anne Wells and AV Conservator Erica Titkemeyer. The film is part of an unfinished documentary project created by folklorist Blanton Owen and features Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham playing music and talking on the front porch at the Cockerham home in Low Gap, North Carolina on July 8, 1971. For more details see the Blanton Owen Collection (20027) finding aid. The collection includes an edited ten minute segment that Owen created from original elements. This unsynced segment consists of a 16mm magnetic soundtrack (F-20027/9) and a silent 16mm reversal print (F-20027/10), so we put the elements up on a Steenbeck flatbed editor to review the contents and shoot some quick cell phone video for documentation.

Owen recorded the image on 16mm film and recorded the audio on 1/4″ open reel using Nagra sync-sound. Owen then transferred these original 1/4″ open reels to 16mm magnetic soundtrack for editing purposes. The series includes both these original 1/4″ open reel audio recordings (FT-20027/16006-16011) and 16mm magnetic soundtrack film elements (F-20027/8-9) along with the original 16mm picture elements and outtakes (F-20027/1-7, F-20027/10), and field notes associated with the master 1/4″ open reel audio recordings (Folder 1).
The film is not currently digitized for access, however, the quality of the image and the sound recordings are such that we could not help but share.