Tag Archives: Folk Music

Today’s Music: Tom Glazer, Billy Preston, Memphis Slim**

Posted on September 3, 2012 by admin

** This post has been corrected. Blues icon Memphis Slim was born today in 1916 (d. 1988). Folk singer and songwriter Tom Glazer was born Sept. 2 in 1914 (d. 2003). Keyboardist extraordinaire Billy Preston, who worked with everyone from … Continue reading →

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Today’s Music: Woody Guthrie, Del Reeves, Bastille Day

Posted on July 14, 2012 by admin

Legendary Great Depression singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie was born this day in 1912 (d. 1967). If you’ve listened to the radio in the past 60 years, you’ve heard a Guthrie tune performed by somebody. As well as being a major influence … Continue reading →

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Today’s Music: ‘Doc’ Watson and Friends, a Random Sampling

Posted on May 31, 2012 by admin

Guitar progenitor Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson died May 29, 2012 from complications following colon surgery. He was 89. His influence went far beyond the acoustic bluegrass and country music genres he favored as his picking style and musical sensibility was … Continue reading →

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Today’s Music: The Kingston Trio, “Greenback Dollar” (1962)

Posted on May 17, 2012 by admin

Improbably, in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, three short-haired young white men in pinstripe shirts called The Kingston Trio were top 40 hitmakers before The Beatles landed on Ed Sullivan’s show in 1964, took the US by storm, and … Continue reading →

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Today’s Music: A “Plastic Jesus” Three-Peat

Posted on April 1, 2012 by admin

I know nothing about this first group, The King Earl Boogie Band, except two of them, Paul King and Colin Earl, used to be in Mungo Jerry (remember “In the Summertime”?). But the tune “Plastic Jesus” (originally written as a … Continue reading →

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Today’s Music: Michael Hedges on Acoustic Guitar

Posted on March 24, 2012 by admin

I have to admit I know next to nothing about guitarist Michael Hedges except he died young, but he does a beautiful job on this acoustic piece, “Eleven Small Roaches”: H/T to Michael Dare of Dareland.

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Today’s Music: Leo Kottke from the 1970s, “Vaseline Machine Gun”

Posted on March 17, 2012 by admin

More about the great guitarist Leo Kottke is here. The music is down there:

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Today’s Music: Ry Cooder “No Banker Left Behind”

Posted on March 16, 2012 by admin

Mr. Cooder does himself proud here, and he wrote the lyrics, too.

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Today’s Music: Donovan “Catch the Wind”

Posted on March 14, 2012 by admin

Donovan (b. Donovan Leitch), the Scottish folk musician who was once called ‘Britain’s answer to Bob Dylan’ never had quite the impact of The Man from Hibbing, but he was a good singer, guitar player and songwriter. For a time … Continue reading →

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The Last Words of Lee Hays

Posted on September 18, 2011 by admin

Shortly before he died in 1981, Lee Hays, the poet and writer, and bass voice of The Weavers folk group, composed his own last testament. Here it is: In Dead Earnest By Lee Hays If I should die before I … Continue reading →

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