Tribute To Elizabeth Cotten With Odetta

Tribute to Elizabeth Cotten with Odetta

HI YOUR BLOG MAKES ME SO GOD DAMN HAPPY AND EXCITED JUST TO KNOW THAT ITS SOMEONE’S SPECIAL INTEREST!!!!

I was raised on folk music in a Midwest-focused old time community and this was one part of myself that I could never relate to any of my peers outside of the scene, so just finding one out in the wild is super super exciting and validating thank you for your service!!!! o7

Yay! i kinda made this blog for a similar reason! most blogs that talk about folk music between the 40s-70s usually focus on Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and Joni Mitchell etc. AND I do love those artists as well (except for Joni Mitchell sorry folk lovers I do not get that one) but my interests have always steered way more towards old country and 30s-40s traditional folk. ESPECIALLY Woody Guthrie. the only people who have my music taste are usually those in their 80s which is cool but I do feel really lonely about it sometimes. music is so important to me and I cannot relate to anyone usually!

Anyway I noticed the only folk song blogs were only Bob Dylan focused (valid I am not hating) or had stopped posting in 2013. And I have this problem where if I don't talk about folk music for at least an hour I will explode. So instead of subjecting my beloved friends and family to constant rants about how Burl Ives is a treacherous dog and Josh White DESERVES BETTER, I decided to make a Tumblr blog about it.

and there's another problem. the only informal places that talk about traditional folk music are overwhelmingly dominated by cishet white guys. This is a problem in academia as well (to a lesser degree), its awful. The advancements and roots of black folk music and women performers are overlooked and understated. Hell Elizabeth Cotten was a genius and she certainly isn't talked about as a revolutionary artist of country and folk in mainstream spaces, which she absolutely was. It isn't even just the undervaluing of artists and genres like Blues; it is the underlying idea that folk and country music isn't for marginalized people. As a disabled, intersex, transgender, butch, Jewish person, I am not made to feel welcome in online and in-person spaces for mainstream folk and country.

I HATE THIS! folk music is music for the people by the people. folk music is the songs we hear our parents sing to us when we are little. Folk music is the music we play with others to pass the time. folk music is the beat of feet hitting the floor as we dance with our crushes, our friends, and our family. folk music is the beating heart of history and it belongs to everyone.

anyway, I grew up in a rural western state, and folk and country music have always been really important to me. I'm happy that other people have the same the same special interests :D and I'm super glad that you enjoy my blog.

paul robeson, abc interview "on colonialism " 1960

"I would say unquestionably, i am an American,

born there

my father, a slave there

upon the backs of my people was developed the primary wealth of america"

Song of the Day

(do you want the history of your favorite folk song? submit an ask or dm me and I'll do a full rundown)

"Dirty old Town" Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, 1956 this song was originally written by Ewan MacColl in 1949, for his play "Landscape with Chimneys". The song is based off of his childhood city, Salford, Lancashire, England, where he grew up.

In an interview with the BBC, Peggy Seeger said

"it remains a perfect song" "It's a beautiful melody, just four economical verses, and it has been covered by hundreds of singers each in their own way"

she continues with regards to the covers,

"I don’t like what The Dubliners did to it, I don’t like what The Pogues did to it – I think they have lost the loneliness," "I think they have lost the confusion of a young person walking through it." "To me, Ewan was reliving his 20s and his late teens so I think it is harder to change."

she adds,

"It speaks to everybody from a dirty old broken down industrial city," "But Salford was in Ewan MacColl’s bones." "He took me to his dirty old town within a week of our three-decade partnership."

This relates to one of my favorite things about the song, it's equally relatable for everyone in a burnt-out industrial city. hell, I really relate to the song and my hometown is a railroad town in Wyoming. I grew up listening to this song because my mom loved it and her hometown is a rustbelt city that was crumbling factorial ruins when she was growing up.

Even though Peggy Seeger doesn't like the covers, I still want to mention the version by The Pogues as it's one of my favorites. I do agree with her that both of the translations lost some of the charm that the original had.

The original captured the spirit of traditional Irish and English folk music, so much so that I assumed it was a traditional ballad. little new compositions of folk music succeed in doing this, which makes the song impressive.

Song of the Day

do you want to know the history of a folk song? submit an ask or dm me and I'll cover it

"Passing Through" Pete Seeger, 1956

the song was originally written in 1948 by Dick Blakeslee for the People's Songs bulletin and newsletter.

the organization and newsletter were started by Pete Seeger and Alan Lomax in NYC in 1946 and were published between 1946-50

the first recording of the song is the one featured here, done in 1956. but others have covered it, including

cisco houston 1965

Leonard Cohen 1972

Joan Baez 1975

I love this song, but I've always thought it'd be cool if the verse about George Washington was replaced with john brown.

so true @electronic-chocolate