The first thing question that hit me was this: what is it that makes an Appalachian song from the 1800’s hit me in the heart, despite being so removed from its original author? The answer, for me, is that folk music is about the human condition and the nature of humanity never changes. So, when I hear a song like “Come All Ye Fair and Tender Maidens” or “Silver Dagger,” I think about all the times a man has lied to me, broken my heart, or chosen another lover over me. Even though I am not a tender maiden, living with my parents while my mother sleeps by my side with a silver dagger, the heart and soul of these songs is not lost on me because I can relate and put my own situations into them. More than that, I think any woman (or man) anywhere, regardless of race, class, religion, etc, who has been betrayed or disappointed somehow by a lover can listen to these songs (and so many others) and relate. In stark contrast, when I hear a lyric like “Won’t you meet me at the bar/respect big pimpin’/tell me how you feel/mama tell me what you sippin’/a certified dime piece/deserve Louis 1-3/150 a shot/3 for you 3 for me” I simply think to myself, “What. The. $%&*!?” It’s not because the person speaking is using slang that I don’t understand, and not because the person is at a bar picking up a random lady (well, ok partly that), but because WHO CAN AFFORD SIX SHOTS AT $150 PER SHOT? They are making no attempt to relate to any kind of common person on any real level. It seems to me modern day performers are a lot less concerned with connecting with their audience and a lot more concerned with convincing everyone how rich and awesome they are, or at least talking a lot about how rich and awesome they are (Pink’s “So What,” anyone?).

Modern pop songs don’t always give that connection that I so yearn for in music, but I will admit, there are exceptions to this. Adele is the first to come to mind. At the heart of “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You” are the very same things at the heart of the above mentioned folk tunes. Let’s be honest: at the end of the day, most songs are about love. Loss of love, desire s808d electronic cigarette for love, how awesome it is to be in love. People will always care about love, but subject matter alone is not enough to make a song good. Arguably, Justin Bieber’s “Baby” is about love, but I don’t think they’re handing out any awards for the construction of

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that chorus.

Which brings me to my next point: authenticity. It’s a thing. Record labels throw successful writers into a room and have them write a bunch of songs in a short period of time that they can pitch to artists, and it shows. Sure, they can be fun. They can be catchy, they can talk about love and all its trappings, but it is NEVER going to amount to the authenticity present in a song written by a talented writer, in the midst of the greatest heartbreak they’ve ever felt. Many of the songs on the radio are empty because they are so forced and cliche. Oh really? You would climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest ocean, walk across fire to be with your love? I’ve never heard that! Tell me more! I think some of this can also go hand in hand with the aforementioned self-puffery present in the songwriting. Such things often extend into a persona that’s so grandiose and absurd it’s like you’re not even watching/listening to a real human being anymore. I get it. It’s performance; it sells records. I don’t care. Lady Gaga can say she was born this way all she wants, but anyone with access to YouTube and the ability to type “Stefani Germanotta” into the search bar knows that’s a total lie. And please don’t compare it to Alice Cooper or Ziggy Stardust or I really will have to kill you. Yes, I know that in his Greenwich Village days Dylan told all sorts of lies about being in the circus and jumping on train cars and all that business, but even that’s a pretty far cry from claiming you live in an egg or have weird bones in your face that come out when you’re inspired. Then, of course there’s the whole “I’m the face/champion/messiah of the gay rights movement, but I am offering my new album exclusively at a retail store that is widely boycotted by the gay community, because of their tremendous donations to anti-gay politicians” thing. I digress. People may enjoy a good show or a catchy tune, but ultimately they know when someone is phony baloney. It’s fun for now, but it gets old and gets tossed to the side.

Speaking of old, how old is the song “Clementine?” How old is “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad?” Old. Really old. Guess what: you all know those songs, and you don’t know them because they were sleekly packaged, placed in various advertisements and shoved down your throat again and again on the radio thanks to payola. You know them because your mom sung them to you, your grandma sung them to you, you sang them at preschool and you probably sing them to your kids now or will sing them to your future children. Will you sing “I Kissed a Girl” to your kids? Probably not. You know why? Other than the obvious non-appropriate factor, admit it, you don’t care about it. You don’t care if the next generation knows that song or not. The folk songs we remember today have gone through the crucible of time. They were handed down because they meant something to people and people made the effort to preserve them. They are good and they are worth saving and cherishing. The thing about pop music is when you make something expressly to be a product for profit to be purchased and consumed, it gets consumed, digested and flushed down the toilet.

Yes, some pop songs endure. They endure because they are good, they have heart and people don’t stop loving them, but sadly, a lot of what’s out there today doesn’t pass that test. Somewhere in Scotland or England or something five or six hundred years ago, someone penned the earliest version of “Barbara Allen”, and then five or six hundred years later, someone wrote the play “Dark of the Moon.” It certainly wasn’t because the tune just makes you want to get up and dance or because the person who first performed it wore a cool costume. It’s beautiful, it’s tragic and it’s truth. After all truth and beauty are things we desperately want to cling to. Or at least we should.

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In honor of Black History month, I would like to highlight three of my favorite African American folk heroes. Each told stories of the common man and passed on traditional songs from many aspects of American society. More importantly, each had a profound influence on American folk music and music in general.

Lead Belly
Huddie (pronounced HUGH-dee) Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, was born January 20, 1889 near Shreveport, Louisiana. While he could play six-string guitar, mandolin, accordion and piano, he is best known for playing the twelve-string guitar. Lead Belly recorded traditional songs and also wrote his own. He is often credited with writing the song “In the Pines” (also seen as “Black Girl” and “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”), and while he is not the author of the song (it was first seen in print years before his birth), he did record it over a dozen times and is at least partially responsible for its popularity. “In the Pines” has been covered by everyone from Joan Baez to Nirvana. Lead Belly often worked as a laborer to support himself and his music. His experience both in the fields and working on the rail roads are evident in his songs. If you’ve ever seen the movie “The Jerk,” then you’ve heard Lead Belly’s tune “Pick a Bale of Cotton.” His recordings often feature his famous “haah” grunt. Songs like “Take This Hammer” feature this characteristic vocal accent, which Lead Belly has said was the noise workers made every time their hammers fell. He also sang and recorded children’s songs. “Sally Walker” is sung while children play a game. In the song, Sally “flies to the east/flies to the west/flies to the one she loves the best,” a lyric which always makes me think of Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti.”

Lead Belly was known to have had quite a temper and was prone to fighting, getting in trouble with the law more than once. Strangely enough, one of his prison stays ended up leading to his discovery. While in prison in the early 1930‘s, he was recorded by John and Allen Lomax for the Library of Congress. The Lomaxes brought him to New York and he was received well by audiences. While there, he was able to play and collaborate with other notable folk artists like Woody Guthrie and a young Pete Seeger. The Weavers (a folk quartet featuring Seeger) recorded Lead Belly’s “Good Night, Irene” and it reached #1 on the charts. Lead Belly’s songs continue to be covered by a wide variety of artists and you’d be hard-pressed to find any singers from the 1960s folk revival who didn’t list Lead Belly among their influences.

Many recordings of Lead Belly are still available for purchase, including The Lomax recordings as well as recordings by Moses Asch. I, personally, have some of the Asch recordings and can’t recommend them highly enough. If you are like me and like to know who influenced great artists like Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger, you must have some Lead Belly in your collection.

Odetta

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The first time I saw the name Odetta was when I was reading a Bob Dylan biography. Had I been smart, I would have immediately bought whatever Odetta recordings I could find. Instead, it took a few years before I finally got a compilation. I am now convinced that any folkie’s collection is incomplete without at least one Odetta album Buy Cialis.

Odetta was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1930. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was six years old. She showed interest in music early on and her mother worked hard to provide the money to put her through classical vocal training. In her later teen years, she became involved in musical theater, eventually discovering the then growing folk movement. In 1953 she went to New York, and by 1954, had released her first solo album. She sang with Harry Belafonte, appearing with him on his television show “Tonight with Belafonte” and their recording of “There’s a Hole in My Bucket” reached #32 in the UK Charts in 1961.

Odetta was an activist for human rights and is sometimes referred to as “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement.” She is often recognized for her performance of “O Freedom” at the 1963 March on Washington. Martin Luther King, Jr. called her “The Queen of American folk music.” In 1999 she was awarded the National Endowment for Arts’ Medal of the Arts.

I highly recommend that anyone purchase a copy of the compilation “Odetta: Tradition Masters Series.” Containing a generous thirty-one tracks, it shows Odetta’s wide musical range. While some these days might describe her voice as a “take it or leave it” sound, it’s power is undeniable. She sings each song with the touch of an artist, giving it exactly the sound it needs. Her classical training is often evident in her singing, particularly in her renditions of “Santy Anno,” and “Deep Blue Sea.” She also displays a more soulful, earthy sound in songs like “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” and “Timber.” Her arrangements do each song justice and are never over done. This recording is a great addition to any folk collection.

Josh White
After I purchased the above mentioned Odetta album, I became a bit obsessed with her cover of “Timber.” The song was so fantastic, I decided to research it further. I am certainly glad that I did because I discovered an artist I had never heard talked about who quickly became one of my favorites.

Josh White (who also recorded under the names Tippy Barton and Pinewood Tom) was a singer, guitarist, actor and civil rights activist. He recorded extremely popular “race records” in the 1920s and 30s, but his career was damaged in the 1950s due to being black listed. He was not a Communist, but because of being outspoken against segregation and in favor of international human rights, he was labeled as such. Interestingly enough, despite this label and suspicions of Communist sympathies, White was a close friend to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, having been dubbed the “Presidential Minstrel.” Thankfully, with the rise of the 60’s folk revival, White regained mainstream recognition in the US, and was once again one of the most popular folk acts in America. Sadly, he died in 1969 while undergoing heart surgery. Though being well recognized in his hay day, White seems to be relatively unknown among the current generation. I find this to be quite disappointing and it’s a bit of a personal mission of mine to introduce my contemporaries to his astounding and vast body of work.

White’s career has been influential on many important artists. Harry Belafonte, perhaps one of the most notable, even copied White’s look while performing–a button-up shirt with the first few buttons un-buttoned. While White played many folk and gospel songs, he was perhaps most influential as a blues artist, particularly Piedmont blues. His guitar playing style is quite remarkable and influenced the likes of Elvis Presley and Jack White.

As an introduction to White’s work, I recommend a compilation called “Josh at Midnight.” It contains some of his most notable songs, including “St. James Infirmary” and “One Meat Ball.” It also includes several tracks that feature performing and writing companion, Sam Gary. My personal favorite on the album is “Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dyin’ Bed.” The track “Jelly, Jelly!” (written by Earl Hines and BIlly Eckstine) is interesting because it has fairly explicit lyrics for it’s time, including a line about a “big brass bed.” Sound familiar, Dylan fans? If you are feeling a bit more adventurous, iTunes also has a six volume set that contains recordings spanning from 1929 to 1945.

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