VARIOUS ARTISTS
Big Bend Killing: The Appalachian
Ballad Tradition
Great Smoky Mountain Association
While much of the
attention in modern folk music circles is centered on contemporary
singer-songwriters, traditional folk music rooted in ancient balladry remains a
vital force in the music. And while there is much to be said for the argument
that that the oral folk tradition through which these traditions were passed
from generation to generation began to disappear with the advent of recording
and mass media in the 20th century, there are still musical families in areas
like the Appalachian mountains in the U.S. who continue to maintain their
traditions of passing down songs, and traditional revivalists who have learned
the music through contact with both source singers and recordings who have
maintained and expanded the traditions.
Big Bend Killing: The Appalachian Ballad Tradition is a compelling
2-CD exploration of traditional folksongs found in the Appalachian Mountains –
some of them well-known, some of them more obscure – performed by a range of
artists, likewise some well-known and some not, including both contemporary members
of traditional singing families and revivalists.
Each of the 32 performances
– 31 of them previously unreleased and most recorded specifically for this
project – on Big Bend Killing is performed
with both reverence for tradition and compelling vitality.
The first CD includes 13
performances of songs that originated in the British Isles and that became
staples of the traditional Appalachian repertoire. While most of the songs are
performed by American artists, there are four tracks by artists from across the
pond. Scottish ballad singer Archie
Fisher turns in lovely versions of two long ballads, “Thomas the Rhymer” and
“Tam Lin” in which the events described in the songs unfold vividly, while the
British trio of Martin Simpson, Andy Cutting and Nancy Kerr offers equally gripping versions of “The Sheffield
Apprentice” and “Willie Taylor.”
Other highlights on the
first CD include versions of “Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender” by veteran
Appalachian traditional singer Sheila
Kay Adams and “Mathy Groves” by her younger cousin Donna Ray Norton; and two versions of “Barbara Allen” by Carol Elizabeth Jones and Rosanne Cash.
The 19 songs on the second
CD include several distinctively Appalachian versions of British Isles ballads but
centres mostly on ballads that were originally sung in the Appalachians –
including “Tom Dula,” perhaps the best known Appalachian ballad thanks to its
popularization as the Kingston Trio’s
hit, “Tom Dooley.” The rendition here,
sung sadly by Laura Boosinger with
backing by the Krüger Brothers,
draws the listener into the sad tale of the murder of Laura Foster.
Murder is a theme explored
in many traditional ballads and other compelling performances of murder ballads
on the second CD include “Pretty Polly,” sung by Amythyst Kiah with backing by Roy
Andrade; “Omie Wise,” sung by Hasee
Ciaccio with fiddler Kalia Yeagle;
the familiar “Banks of the Ohio,” performed by Doyle Lawson; “Knoxville Girl,” sung by Kristi Hedtke and Corbin
Hayslett; “Big Bend Killing,” a song I’d not heard before, performed by the
great Alice Gerrard; and “Old Joe
Dawson,” another one I’d not heard before, sung a cappella by Bobby McMillon.
Other highlights on the
second CD include a great version of the well-known African American blues ballad,
“John Henry,” by Amythyst Kiah with Roy Andrade; Elizabeth LaPrelle’s captivating version of “West Virginia Mine
Disaster,” a contemporary ballad written by the late Jean Ritchie; and Rosanne Cash’s gorgeous, album-closing version of
“The Parting Glass.”
And make no mistake, I
could go on and on about the songs and singers that I haven’t mentioned.
The album was produced by Ted
Olson, a professor of Appalachian studies
and bluegrass, old-time, and country music studies at East Tennessee State
University, who contributes essays on traditional Appalachian balladry and extensive
notes on each of the songs to the album’s 74-page booklet.
Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif
And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif
And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif
--Mike Regenstreif
No comments:
Post a Comment