16 “Charles Guiteau” by Kelly Harrell and The Virginia String Band

The Charles Guiteau Variations

We continue in our series of ballads about historical figures with “Charles Guiteau”, the murderer of James A. Garfield, third president of the United States after the Civil War. The song originated as a printed broadside and have been taken in folk tradition ever since. It was written in a form of a “goodnight”, a criminal’s confession before his execution.

Here’s a interesting quote about “goodnights” from “The Viking book of folk ballads”: “… executions were great public spectacles in the larger British cities. The curiosity of the populace, however, was seldom satisfied with merely watching the victim on the scaffold; of intenser interest was his angish during his final hours, particularly his edifying repentance. Broadside printers catered to this morbid taste with a species of ballads usually called “goodnights” tough also known as “gibbeting songs”, “execution ballads”, or “sorrowful lamentations”. The speaker in such pieces-they are invariably first person- purpots to be the criminal himself, but they were almost always the products of hack writers…” 

Guiteau’s “goodnight” is based on a New York broadside “The lamentation of James Rodgers”, from which it borrows entire verses, just remplacing the name of the criminal and the dates. It happens that Guiteau wrote some verses in prison but they were more religious than the ballad that keeps his notoriety alive. He actually recited fourteen verses of the Gospel of Matthew and a poem he wrote called “Going to the Lordy” before his hanging.

-Go to this page of Wikipedia to read the whole story of Charles Guiteau and if you want to read more, go here.

-We have also, on the “Remembering the old songs” website that i like a lot, a nice essay with the lyrics of the song.

-I have “collected” 13 performances of the song including a rather unusual Dutch version by a comtemporary band called “Meindert Talma & the Negroes”. I’ve included also a nice bluegrass instrumental by Tony Furtado called “Waiting for Guiteau” which is played as a medley with the fiddle tune “President Garfield’s Hornpipe”. And finally, there’s Bascom Lamar Lunsford epic recording for the Library of Congress of the song “Mr Garfield” which tells about the assassination of the president.

TRACK LIST:

1.Charles Giteau, Kelly Harrell, from the Anthology Of American Folk Music

2.Charles Guiteau, O.B. Campbell, from The Max Hunter Folksong Collection

3.Charles Guiteau, A.L. Phipps and the Phipps Family, from  “Phipps Family – Faith, Love and Tragedy”

4.Charles Guitau, Roscoe Holcomb, from “The High Lonesome Sound” (It’s an instrumental banjo piece)

5.Charles Giteau, The New North Carolina Ramblers, from “Cotton Mill Blues”

6.Charles Guiteau, L.O. Smith, from The Max Hunter Folksong Collection

7.Charles Guiteau, Loman Cansler, from “Missouri Folk Songs”

8.Charles Guiteau, Meindert Talma And The Negroes, from “Nu Geloof Ik Wat Er In De Bijbel Staat” (There are other “Anthology” covers on this record, but sang in dutch)

9.Charles Giteaux, Norman & Nancy Blake , from “Song Of The Hills: Appalachian Classics”

10.Charles Eutawa, Ollie Gilbert, from The Max Hunter Folksong Collection

11.Charles Guiteau, Nora Carpenter, from the Digital Library of Appalachia

12.Waiting for Guiteau/ President Garfield’s Hornpipe ,Tony Furtado, from “Within Reach”

13.Mr Garfield, Bascom Lamar Lunford, from “Songs and Ballads of American History and of the Assassination of Presidents”

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-As i wrote previously, Charles Guiteau wrote a poem when he was in prison and recited it in front of the audience that came to see him died on the scaffold. On this page you can read this poem.

This singer on Youtube took this poem and made a song out of it:

 

 

15 “Bandit Cole Younger” by Edward L. Crain

Edward L. Crain’s World

-From the liner notes of the re-issue of the Anthology we learn that Edward L. Crain was a texan who played guitar, fiddle and mandolin (on his recordings he apparently used only the guitar), worked on ranches and cattle drives and performed for various radio stations in the Forth Worth-Dallas  area. He was part of a few performers of “cowboy songs” in the 1930’s who were really “cowboys” or were advertised as such by record companies. —By doing a research on the web, i stumbled across an interview on the Old-time Herald website with Mark Wilson, an old-time music researcher who met Edward L. Crain and talks about him:”Of course, I got The Anthology of American Folk Music and on it there was this fellow, Edward L. Crain, singing “Cowboy Cole Younger,” and I realized he was the same fellow I used to watch a few years before on afternoon television. For a while Eddie ran a 15-minute show to advertise his cleaning business and would sing “There’s an Empty Cot in the Bunkhouse Tonight,” “Preacher and the Bear,” Milton Brown’s “My Mary” and other material like that. My father knew Eddie slightly so I called him up, borrowed a malfunctioning tape recorder and went over to Ashland where he lived. I was nervous as hell but Eddie was a very gentle man. He had been raised on a ranch outside Longview, Texas (he learned “Cole Younger” from an elderly ranch hand there) and had made hats until asthma forced him to move to Oregon. Jimmie Rodgers recommended that he try his hand in the music business and Eddie said he was in the studio when Rodgers recorded “TB Blues.” He said it was very sad because Jimmie was so short of breath that he would collapse onto a sofa for a half hour after every number. By the time I met him, Eddie had developed a bad case of emphysema himself and was never able to sing much when I visited in later years. Eddie also knew Goebel Reeves, whom he remembered visiting [when he was] in jail on some Mann act charge. In any event, Eddie went off to New York where he stayed in the YMCA and played at places like The Little Red Schoolhouse in the Village dressed up in full ranch regalia. Somehow he even got booked on a tour with Jean Harlow and Bing Crosby. He liked Harlow but claimed that Crosby was “stuck-up.” He said he tried to modernize his fare but Harlow told him to stick to the cowboy stuff. All of this, of course, gave me a rather different picture of the ways of folksong than found in those somewhat romanticized books I was reading! Ever since, I’ve always found that the real life of folk musicians is so much more fascinating than the scripts that Jean Thomas and her modern equivalents devise. That is why, whenever possible, I try to get full autobiographical statements into the records I edit. I might mention that when I played “Cowboy Cole Younger” for Eddie, he commented that it was running too fast, which was apparently a rather common problem on 78s. Eddie’s voice was somewhat nasal, I suppose, but rather sweeter than is apparent on those records, great as they are. His own favorite was “Little Blossom.” To this day the picture of Jean Harlow and Eddie Crain appearing on the same show still astonishes me and demonstrates how drastically standards of cultural acceptance have shifted in this country.”

-I only have 5 tracks by Edward L. Crain in my collection, but as usual, i may post more in the future if i find out more somewhere… The song ” Staving to death on a government clain” shows that he didn’t performed only cowboy-related types of songs. It was later recorded by The New Lost City Ramblers on their “Songs of the Depression” lp and also by Norman Blake.

TRACK LIST:

 

1.Bandit Cole Younger 

2.Starving To Death On A Government Claim 

3.Old Chisolm Trail

4.Little Joe The Wrangler

5.Cowboy’s Home Sweet Home

Download here

-If you want to hear more vintage cowboy songs recorded on 78rpm records i strongly recommend the two volumes compilations titled”When I was a cowboy” on Yazoo records

The Cole Younger Variations

Published as a “Broadside” in the late 1870’s, this song tells some of the moments in the life of the real outlaw Cole Younger who was part of the legendary Jesse James’s gang with his two brothers. The song was made as if Cole Younger himself was singing it and like in the old english ballads, focus on some details and shift from one action to another in an almost cinematograhic fashion.

-Go to this page to read about the song’s background and the lyrics of the Edward L. Crain’s version

-There’s a wikipedia page about Cole Younger here

-Here are 14 performances selected from commerciald and field recordings. The melodies used for the song varies a bit depending on the performers, some like Dock Boggs used the same melody as the “Roving Gambler” song.

TRACK LIST:

(Unless indicated the title is always “Cole Younger”)

1. Mr. and Mrs. Berry Sutterfield, from Ozark Folksongs

2.Bunkhouse Orchestra Deseret String Band, from  “The Round-Up”

3.Bandit Cole Younger,Lee Alexander, from “Gunfighters & Trail Riders”

4.Cole Younger Killed My Brother, Rita Hosking, from “Silver Stream”

5.Oscar Gilbert, from “Southern Journey Vol. 5: Bad Man Ballads – Songs of Outlaws and Desperadoes”

6.Dock Boggs, from “His Folkways Years 1963-1968″ 

7.William Edens, from The Max Hunter Folksong Collection

8.Cole Younger Polka, Ry Cooder, from “The Long Riders (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)”

9.Virgil Lance , from The Max Hunter Folksong Collection

10.Robert B.Stark, from Ozark Folksongs

11.R.W. Hampton, from “Troubadour”

12.Mrs Ben Daugherty, from Ozark Folksongs

13.Roger Welsch, from “Sweet Nebraska Land”

14.Ballad of Cole Younger, Troublesome Creek String Band, from “Fast as Time Can Take Me”

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14 “My Name Is John Johanna” by Kelly Harrell & The Virginia String Band

Kelly Harrell’s World

Virginian Kelly Harrell was one of the pionneers singers in the history of country music. He recorded many sides for Okeh and Victor between 1925 and 1929 where his career stopped both because of the Depression and his inability to play an instrument. For the same reason, the record companies had to employ backing musicians for him throughout his recording career. He was a good hillbilly singer but unfortunately  the musical background on most of his records is not appropriate at all and sounds very “classical” and old-fashioned behind his rough voice. The exception is the few sides he recorded in 1927 with fellow musicians from Virginia, notably the great fiddler Posey Rorer. The two sides that Harry Smith included in the Anthology, “John Johanna” and “Charles Guiteau” were from that session. After this, Harrell returned to his previous work in the textile mills of Virginia and died in 1942.

-Kelly Harrell also wrote material that other country singers recorded, notably Jimmie Rodgers. Here’s a song that Harrell wrote, sang by the great yodel singer: Away out on the mountains-Jimmy Rodgers MP3

-Here are 16 sides that i selected, the first four ones being from the session with The Virginia String Band, the others are his versions of folk “standards” that would be recorded a lot over the years by many artists. (Other sides by Kelly Harrell appeared on previous compilations i’ve made.)

TRACK LIST:

1.Oh, My Pretty Monkey

2.In the Shadow of the Pine

3.I Want A Nice Little Fellow

4.I Love my Sweetheart The Best

5.Hand Me Down My Walking Cane

6.The Cuckoo She’s A Fine Bird

7.Bright Sherman Valley

8.Beneath The Weeping Willow Tree

9.O! Molly Dear Go Ask Your Mother

10.The Wreck On the Southern Old 97

11.I’m Going Back to North Carolina

12.Wild Bill Jones

13.I Was Born About 10.000 Years Ago

14.I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again

15.Rovin’ Gambler

16.New River Train

DOWNLOAD HERE

 

 

 

 

The John Johanna’s Variations

Usually known under the title “The state of Arkansas” the song tells, in the first person, the misfortunes of a wandering man who came to work in Arkansas, and whatever this guy’s name was, John Johanna, Sanford Barnes or Bill Stafford, he sure got a hard time down there. The song itself dates back to the ministrel era and the tune most used for it is common to many other songs (Maggie Walker, The Girl I Left Behind…). Again this kind of melody have a very modal and “bluesy” feel to it (you can sing it with minor or major chords accompaniement whithout changing a single note).

-The lyrics and the melody are on this two pages: one and two

-I’ve compiled 22 performances for you and as usual i checked and picked some field recordings from three websites which are goldmines for the traditionnal music lover: The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection (the tracks from this website appeared under the “Ozark Folksongs” name on my compilations), The Max Hunter Folksong Collection and The Digital Library of Appalachia

TRACK LIST:

1.My Name is John Johanna, Kelly Harrell and The Virginia String Band, from the Anthology

2.My name is Sanford Barnes, Mrs. Bowen Stuart, from Ozark Folksongs

3.State of Arkansas, Mighty Ghosts Of Heaven, from ”Mighty Ghosts of Heaven”

4.State of Arkansas, Earl Taylor & Jim McCall with The Stoney Mountain Boys, from ”24 Bluegrass Favorites”

5.Old Arkansas, The Iron Mountain String Band, from ”Walkin’ in the Parlor: Old Time Music of the Southern Mountains”

6.State Of Arkansas, Almanac Singers feat Woody Guthrie & Pete Seeger, from “Which Side Are You On? The Best Of The Almanac Singers”

7.State of Arkansas, Slim Critchlow, from ”Cowboy Songs: Crooked Trail Holbrook”

8.Sanford Barnes, Bill Baker, from  The Max Hunter Folksong Collection

9.State of Arkansas, Tom Rush, from  ”Trolling For Owls”

10.State Of Arkansas, Rosalie Sorrels, from ”The Lonesome Roving Wolves”

11.State of Arkansas (My Name is Terry Roberts), Pete Seeger, from ”Gazette, Vol. 1″

12.John Johanna, The Mill City Grinders, from ”No Corn In the Crib”

13.State of Arkansas, Gus Mahon, from Ozark Folksongs

14.My Name Is John Johanna, John Cohen, from  ”Stories The Crow Told Me”

15.John Johanna, David Grisman with Mike Seeger, from ”Dawg Duos”

16.John Johanna, The Mutineers, from “Where Mockingbirds Roam”

17.Bill Stafford, Virgil Lance, from  The Max Hunter Folksong Collection

18.Old Arkansas, Art Stamper, from ”Wake Up Darlin’ Corey”

19.John Joe Hannah, Phil Jamison, from The Digital Library of Appalachia

20.John Joe Hannah, Peter Gott, from The Digital Library of Appalachia

21.My Name Is John Johanna, Charlie Parr, from ”Tribute To The Anthology Of American Folk Music By Harry Smith”

22.Uncle Dave’s Travels Part 1 (Misery In Arkansas), Uncle Dave Macon, from ”Classic Sides 1924 – 1938″

Photos: Art Stamper and Rosalie Sorrels (Newport Folk Festival 1966)

DOWNLOAD HERE                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 

 

 

 

Here’s a gem of a clip: Gene Bluestein and his son Evo singing “The State of Arkansas”

Update link

I updated the Chubby Parker post so now you’ll have 21 tracks to download instead of 7.

Hope you enjoy…

13 “Ommie Wise” by G.B. Grayson

Grayson & Whitter’s World

“Ommie Wise” is a solo performance by Gillian Banmon Grayson (1888-1930), a blind fiddler from East Tennessee who sang this murder ballad along with his fiddle  and gaves us one of the most haunting song on the Anthology. This is the only track that Grayson recorded alone during his recording career as a duet with Henry Whitter, a guitar player who was one of the first “hillbilly” to record. Together, they recorded many songs that would became “standards” of folk and bluegrass: Handsome Molly, Train 45 (Ruben), Little Maggie, Tom Dooley, Lee Highway, etc…

-On this page, you’ll read the full  biography of Grayson & Whitter -I’ve selected 20 sides of the duo, with all their famous songs. 

TRACK LIST:

1.Nobody’s darling

2.I’ll never be yours (Banks of the Ohio)

3.Handsome Molly

4.Train 45

5.He’s coming to us dead

6.Rose Conley

7.Sally Gooden

8.My mind is to marry

9.Cluck old hen

10.Old Jimmy Sutton

11.Joking Henry

12.The nine-pound hammer

13.Short life of trouble

14.I’ve always been a rambler

15.Where are you going Alice?

16.Little Maggie

17.On the banks of old Tennessee

18.Tom Dooley

19.Going down the Lee highway

20.I saw a man at the close of day

DOWNLOAD HERE

The Ommie Wise Variations

This american murder ballad was based on true events that happened two centuries ago in North Carolina. A certain Jonathan Lewis was arrested for the murder of Naomi Wise but was acquitted soon after. But everybody was conviced that he did murder her and a folk ballad carried the memory of the event until today. There’s of course a lot of variants from one performer to another in the text of the ballad, from the names of the protagonists to the little details that makes the story.

-Go and read this article, which gives also the lyrics of the song

-There’s also a wikipedia page on the subject

-I’ve compiled 20 performances of the song, some old, some new, as usual. Sometimes the melody is sung in a minor mode, sometimes in a major mode, many sang it unaccompanied and many used the 5-string banjo … “Tragic romance” is a bluegrass variant that takes the story and melody of “Omie Wise” and made a new song out of it.

Hope you enjoy…

TRACK LIST:

1.Ommie Wise, G.B. Grayson, from the Anthology Of American Folk Music

2.Naomi Wise, Clarence “Tom” Ashley, from “Greenback Dollar 1929-1933″

3.Little Norma, Mrs Ben Daugherty, from “Ozark Folksongs”

4.Little Omie, Harrison Burnett, from the Max Hunter Folksong Collection

5.Omie Wise, Paul Clayton, from “Folk Ballads of the English-Speaking World”

6.Little Omie Wise (Live), Doc Watson, from “The Essential Doc Watson”

7.Omie Wise, Doug and Jack Wallin, from “Family Songs and Stories from the North Carolina Mountains”

8.Omie Wise, Pentangle, from “A Maid That’s Deep In Love”

9.Little Lonie, Almeda Riddle, from Ozark Folksongs

10.Omie Wise, Tim Eriksen, from “Every Sound Below”

11.Tragic Romance,  Kilby Snow with Hazel Dickens & Mike Seeger , from “Masters of Old-Time Country Autoharp”

12.Tragic Romance, The Lilly Brothers, from “Early Recordings”

13.Omie Wise, Mason Brown, from “When Humans Walked the Earth”

14.Naomia Wise, Bill Baker, from the Max Hunter Folksong Collection

15.Omie Wise, Okkervile River, from “Julie Doiron & Okerville River”

16.Little Omie Wise, Dock Boggs, from “His Folkways Years 1963-1968 “

17.Little Omie Wise, Addie Graham, from the Digital Library of Appalachia

18.Omie Wise, Roscoe Holcomb, from “The High Lonesome Sound”

19.Omie Wise, Dolly Greer, from “The Doc Watson Family Tradition”

20.Omie Wise, Mountain Home, from “Mountain Home”

DOWNLOAD HERE