"It's a hard time in the country, out on Kenny's farm." --Harry Smith
With most of the nation in severe drought and the economy in an extreme depression, many people felt the clench of a hard life. Harry Smith simply wrote what he saw and experienced. He wrote about the depression in this song simply because at the time, there really wasn't anything happy too write about.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Episode 4
"And for his deep commitment to presenting folk music as a vehicle for social change." -- 1991 Grammy Presentation to Harry Smith
This quote is a great one; folk music has always had a lot of meaning in it, and Harry Smith had very meaningful lyrics about life and life's lessons. That shows how it is not the sound that makes folk, blues, and country music different from other types, it is the meaning. Folk, blues, and country lyrics almost always derive from personal experiences of the artists that teach lessons about life, love, and happiness.
This quote is a great one; folk music has always had a lot of meaning in it, and Harry Smith had very meaningful lyrics about life and life's lessons. That shows how it is not the sound that makes folk, blues, and country music different from other types, it is the meaning. Folk, blues, and country lyrics almost always derive from personal experiences of the artists that teach lessons about life, love, and happiness.
Episode 3
"I'm leaving in the morning (echo) I'm leaving in the evening (echo)" -- Peter Seger
This song by Peter Seger shows some traditional African song style. It has a leader singer who sings a phrase which is then followed by a chorus of people repeating the phrase. This is a technique which we talked about in class which started in Africa and was continued by African slaves in the U.S. It is also still used in much gospel music of today.
This song by Peter Seger shows some traditional African song style. It has a leader singer who sings a phrase which is then followed by a chorus of people repeating the phrase. This is a technique which we talked about in class which started in Africa and was continued by African slaves in the U.S. It is also still used in much gospel music of today.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Discussion Summary 10/12/06
Today in Roots to Music we started our discussion with a visitor, Eagan Heath. Eagan is a student a UMM who happens to play banjo. He played some songs and talked about the banjo and banjo playing. For example, a banjo, unlike a guitar, has only five strings and has its highest string on top. Also, the type of banjo playing that most people are used to hearing, which involves picking the strings with finger picks is actually fairly modern. In the early 1900s banjo players did what was called clawhammer which involved playing with the back of your finger or fingernails. Eagan then went on to play a song by Harry Smith called Coo Coo Birds. Here is part of that song.
Ah the coo coo,
she's a pretty bird
never wobbles, as she flies.
After Eagan performed Tyler also did his performance, which was a song by Skip Jones. The song included an interesting form of tuning that involved tuning the guitar down so the two E strings became D strings. Skip Jones was born in Mississippi in 1902 and made a recording deal with Paramount in 1931 before he vanished until 1964. When he reappeared he recorded new songs and performed until he died in 1969. One reason that he may have disappeared for so long was because the great depression had just started and record companies couldn't make any profit and because in even good conditions contracts with performers were already shaky. After Tyler performed we had another performance by Lindsey. Lindsey decided to write a report about Muddy Waters and exactly how he had many connections with more modern artists. For example it was Muddy who helped Chuck Berry to become on of the first great rock n' roll artists when he directed him to a good place to play. Muddy also went to Great Britain where he played with his electric guitar and helped to start the British Invasion as soon many rock n' roll bands formed i.e. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
Ah the coo coo,
she's a pretty bird
never wobbles, as she flies.
After Eagan performed Tyler also did his performance, which was a song by Skip Jones. The song included an interesting form of tuning that involved tuning the guitar down so the two E strings became D strings. Skip Jones was born in Mississippi in 1902 and made a recording deal with Paramount in 1931 before he vanished until 1964. When he reappeared he recorded new songs and performed until he died in 1969. One reason that he may have disappeared for so long was because the great depression had just started and record companies couldn't make any profit and because in even good conditions contracts with performers were already shaky. After Tyler performed we had another performance by Lindsey. Lindsey decided to write a report about Muddy Waters and exactly how he had many connections with more modern artists. For example it was Muddy who helped Chuck Berry to become on of the first great rock n' roll artists when he directed him to a good place to play. Muddy also went to Great Britain where he played with his electric guitar and helped to start the British Invasion as soon many rock n' roll bands formed i.e. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
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