7 “The Wagoner’s Lad” by Buell Kazee
8December 24, 2008 by gadaya
The Wagoner’s Lad Variations
“Hard is the fortune of all woman kind…” The second performance by Buell Kazee on the Anthology continues to tell us of the misfortunes of women betrayed by men, not so much in the ballad style of “The Butcher’s Boy” but in a form called “folk-lyric song”. There’s many examples on the Anthology of this songs with “floating verses”, complete stanzas that seems to wander from song to song and the common theme of them all is usually love and its misfortunes.
-Most of the variations of the “Wagoner’s Lad” that i heard have very similar melodies in 3/4 time, and comes from a big family of songs who shares the same tunes as well as somes verses. (for example: “The Drunken Hiccups”, “Rye Whiskey”, “Jack O Diamonds”, “The Cuckoo”, “On Top Of Old Smoky”,etc…)
-You can go here to read the lyrics and hear another fine rendition of the song by Roger McGuinn
-As usual, i selected performances that i like the best from the ones i know of and mixed old and new, vocal and instrumental, famous and unknown.
TRACK LIST
1.The Wagoner’s Lad, Buell Kazee, from “Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 1A: Ballads”
2.My Horses Ain’t Hungry, Kelly Harrell, from “Kelly Harrell Vol. 1 (1925-1926)”
3.Wagoner’s Lad, Joan Baez, from “Joan Baez, Vol. 2″
4.Your Horses Ain’t Hungry, Bobby Harrison & Cullen Galyean, from “Let Me Fall – Old Time Bluegrass from the Virginia-North Carolina Border”
5.Hard is the fortune, Berry Sutterfield, from “Ozark Folksongs”
6.The Waggoner’s Lad, Acie Cargill, Debra Cowan, Kristina Olsen, Susan Ruth Brown, from “Folk Legacy Songs and Ballads of Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill”
7.Wagoner’s Lad, Tim O’Brien, from “The Crossing”
8.Wagoner’s Lad, John Sebastian & Brian Keane, from “Song Of The Hills: Appalachian Classics”
9.Wagoner’s Lad, Pete Seeger, from “American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 1″
10.The Wagoner’s Lad, Anonymous 4, from “Gloryland”
11.The Waggoner’s Lad, Bert Jansch & John Renbourn, from “Bert And John”
12.The Wagoner’s Lad ,Peggy Seeger, from “The Prestige / Folklore Years Volume 1 All Kinds Of Folks”
13.Loving Nancy, Dock Boggs, from “His Folkways Years 1963-1968 (Disc 2)”
14.The Waggoner’s Lad, The Kossoy Sisters With Erik Darling, from “Bowling Green”
15.Wagoner’s Lad, Mr. and Mrs. Sams, from “Mountain Music of Kentucky (Disc 2)”
16.Wagoner’s Lad, Alicia Jo Rabins, from “Sugar Shack”
17.Wagoner’s Lad, Big Hoedown & Bruce Molsky, from “Bruce Molsky & Big Hoedown”
18.The Wagoner’s Lad, Grumpy Bear, from “Tribute To The Anthology Of American Folk Music By Harry Smith (Hinah.com)”
19.First Time Away/The Wagoner’s Lad, Cian Nugent, from “Childhood, Christian Lies & Slaughter”
Merry Christmas, Hannouka sameakh,Happy Holydays to all…
My Old Weird America 
Merry Christmas and thank you for all
Just felt I’d say that I continue to view this site with GREAT interest, and find it HUGELY rewarding for all the links to the past it encourages. Thank you again SO MUCH for doing it!!!
Thanks for the blog! – the job that Harry did in putting the anthology together has always been underappreciated, and the more people you reach, the less that will be true.
I just finished teaching a course on the Anthology, and have a blog that we used as a companion to my course. I’ve posted up my syllabus, course readings, a bibliography and discography, as well as a bunch of music related posts. I hope you’ll stop by and look around – blog name is Harry’s Music, and we’re there all day every day!
These are awesome, thanks so much for posting them!
Btw…some of the tunes from past postings seem to come from your personal itunes library and they are locked to your itunes account. Just FYI. Most of them play no problem.
Just felt I needed to say a huge “Merci!” for this extraordinary labour of love. Your scholarship and perseverance in seeking out this rare and almost forgotten music are formidable.
Thank you so much for sharing it with us – and please be aware that your hard work IS appreciated.
All best – and bonne annee!
Ben
Thank you all for your kind comments and support and happy new year.
Thank you!!!!!!
Hi. I have been exploring your wonderful blog and would like to say thank you for introducing me to a this fantastic world of old time music etc.
When playing back this selection of variations of “The Wagoners Lad” it dawned on me that there was a variation by Australian Ed Kuepper. He called the song Pretty Mary but the lyric and tune are familiar. This is well worth checking out for those interested.