Grass Roots; 1; Old Time Music

Starting off this program on the program is sometimes called Grass Roots music. Folk music. Kind of. We won't go into that. Kind of take a trip through the different kinds of music. Music in the way that it develops. That is from the song. Small gatherings. And then it almost has become. The. It's called a fiddle and I'd like to do an old

tune from Texas down in the old days you can have all these microphones and everything natural and. A. Beat on the fiddle. OK. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Sometimes I think as I do that too. Well what would be done now if in this day and age people came from another country and tried to

take our country from us. And that was basically what was done back in those good old days when times were quite often bad. Tracie I'd like you to do a song you know for out of the five of us here in a strange Creek singers. We were born in the born in the city but we had country or people and we just something there's something in this music that speaks to us. First I want to tell the folks just how you got turned on and was actually turning on as the head of radio was about six or eight years old and I used to just turn on and switch the dial around and listen to anything. And one of the things that I finally started listening to cowboy songs you know geology or something like that. And then and with that came the Nashville earnest Hank Snow things like that Hank Williams And as I was listening to this more and more as I

got older I began distinguishing sounds and trying to listen more to the sounds that I like better. And I got more into bluegrass and getting into bluegrass brought me more into old and bring of course brings me to an unaccompanied type of saying let's do one now it's called the Sioux Indians. STORY ABOUT THE WAGON TRAIN Pynoos across the country. We start our friends and cross the walk through the large train we get over mountains through valleys and.

We heard this loud on the plane. Our driver and burning driver rose and when captured. Try to blow up the flag. Down while the horses were taking a freshman from. Their archery.

And we go there and. Walk them. Through. And we.

Thank you thank you thank you Tracy. Now we're very fortunate in having Lizabeth cotton with us today. Rather than telling you about it I'll try to have her to tell you about herself. Where were you born and raised. Well now as far as this instrument you're holding. When did you start playin. Right now. First one look like

that that come from Africa and it came over with a hundred more years ago. Sometimes we kind of pick up some of the at the beginning of the dance and so forth. How about George. Thank you.

Now like that back when you were learning to play of course. You. Oh. Well. So you know.

That is breaking the law. I guess you just have fun with the different kinds of things you can do around the home sewing Alice. Let's see now here's a couple of more homespun instruments from the world here. One is that what's sometimes called the Jew's harp. You see that there there. Yeah the heavy metal frame and then a little thing that you bang back and forth if you hold the frame against your teeth you come up something like that. And you form the inside of your mouth differently to get some of those different notes. Here's a foolish little song here. Let me see if I'm in tune with that. This is a Jew's harp verse gotcha

Pennsy area throw away your thoughts. That's the Italian. And this is a dulcimer a mountain dulcimer probably comes from. England or Germany. It's got to make sure the two are in tune here. Perfect. Just perfect. This isn't a. Garden. With.

You. OK. Now you see the reason that I was playing the dulcimer one of you want to hear the five string banjo and the jaws are and the old mountain dulcimer is that all of them have this drone string that is they keep one note going through the whole song that one's got that string over here and this is a couple of strings that I never even played with the old motor here. And this one's almost got all drawn you know you can hardly hear any tune in there.

Now then they fiddle music was important. You see fiddle sometimes they would even sing the fiddle notes. And so the fiddle was the main dance instrument ready in the in the country areas I guess down down through the years. We're very fortunate also in having fields Warren with us from down in southern Virginia. Why listen to Library of Congress field recording of you feels back. Well I shouldn't say 20 30 years ago. Thanks a lot. Yours or mine one. That's a beautiful area of Virginia it's kind of got green rolling hills and the people have a different temperament from a lot of other people I've met all around the country. This music what kind of a place did it have in your life where what events would it be at now.

A. We call it. So nobody was rich the most. A large number of children and their mothers much fruits and berries.

Listen to the song most. My family my brothers and sisters. We had a lot of company. Which horse. Of course. Yeah we had where

each other back. Different neighbors so bad. Very. We enjoyed it. The. First.

One. Yes. I am. I in. The US. Or am.

I in. The ear. To ear. To ear. To ear. To ear.

Up until now you haven't heard too much of the guitar and I guess that's partly because we're going at this from a historical way just showing you how music is has changed. It's kept a lot of the country

flavor down through the years but the guitar didn't really come into much until around the turn of the century and partly through the back people who are moving out of the South up into the mines and up into the mountain areas and also through Sears Roebuck and a lot of the people who are playing this is noncommercial. But anyway moving up the people who are playing kind of chamber music on the guitar too all throughout the parlors and things. And this is one of the nice kind of parlor guitar tunes and Elizabeth does a beautiful job on it. What do you call this little fun. Thank. You. You

know I've never heard you play that tune the same way twice you just play it different every time something a little different. A lot of people think that this music is not going to go on. That's one of the things we feel very strongly about. As the strange big singers are writing We're also in the company of one of the finest contemporary songwriters right here with Elizabeth Cotten. This was a contemporary song back around. Sixty five years ago I guess when you wrote it. I think you ought to know that we were going to be celebrating. Elizabeth Cotten birthday her 80th birthday on January 5th. Next year. And still writing some very nice music and songs. She's still one of our finest contemporary writers.

Why did you do that one. I know that people will think that you only know three songs but they're the ones that people ask you to do all the time. But if you could do for us just once more please. It's freight train sung by Elizabeth Cotten who made it up about 65

years ago. Mr. Ward my favorite song that you do is one that you well why don't you tell them how you come to learn this. Learn this song. Well back when I was a teenager to begin to take any interest in music well before then my mother sang a lot of these. But. After There's a guitar later around the house there for a long time. And so they understand that I had no teachers floors it was only thing that I was tried to learn with and I met a man a colored man he was a coal miner from West Virginia and he played

he didn't know how to actually tuna guitars so he played it in open sea and he sang like a banjo. He was a wonderful guitar player and he played this song about when Prohibition days come in. They were a town in West Virginia that two towns there that was call Riley and Spencer and he made this song or he played this song which I finished delivering the thing. And that's where I learned this song my from this colored man. OK. Again.

We will know. Yeah yeah.

Oh. Baby. Baby. Oh I'm sorry I have a.

Of. Me. And with that I laid. It Out. Thank you lady. You.

Know. Where do you get there and. Right now. Yes. When. You go. Against the boys

for their. Birth now you. See A. Person That I know round peg would. Be. Nice. And. Let me go. That was down in the Times.

You know we're out here in the weather. It's about time. Good introduction I think. I met Tracey Schwartz We also played together in a group called the New Lost City Ramblers and are sometimes seen as wife and few friends together and there's. Well it is a very sensitive subject these days introducing your wife with women's liberation and all that. Maybe you'd prefer to enter introduce me this is my husband I have a name. Mike Seeger. How are you going to make me my own Gerard and then we are we have one of our two Badger pickers with this letter that we sometimes have Lamar Greer when we were on

performance last year. We had Chris Warner from southern Pennsylvania we had again the press. And actually the only person that was raised strictly in this southern music tradition is Hazel Dickens and we've not yet introduced Hazel. I'd love to ask you a few. Actually you ought to be interviewed here in a florist way. Well I was just kind of wondering where were you from anyway. I'm born in West Virginia. And since your father lives here and in the Baltimore area you want to say something. What you should say something like my father. Some of these kinds of songs I guess back when and played the banjo.

I guess today you didn't play that type of thing. Which is pretty bad if they do they think everything is made of their own. Hazel also is what actually all of the group of us is doing we've been together as friends for 15 years and we formed a group and one to talk about now and what we like to do is just to look at all the little corners of the areas of rural music and make out some things that that really appeal to us that haven't been thought of by some other people Hazel for instance has written some really fine songs recently based on coming from West Virginia and Virginia and moving up to Baltimore and getting maybe a little different perspective on things and then playing in front of people who think this is folk music.

Let's do a song. As far as our little section here stuff is concerned. Song by the Carter family and maybe Alice you could say that. Well as he said this is a Carter Family tune. It's called Keep on the sunny side of life. The last time we're saying it we're right in the middle of it it started raining and I hope Mike's ready because I don't have too much more to say. They just like to sing along the line. That's it that's right. You know what. There is.

A. Funny way. Think.

Of me. With. All the. Fun it.

Was there. Well gee. OK. There isn't too much of women singing in bluegrass music. Hazel and I sing sometimes the bluegrass bad sometimes just the two of us in different instruments and so we'd like to kind of represent the women in bluegrass music here with a duet that has some yodeling in it called going to lay down my old guitar. Yeah.

People say it to me

as I was driving my tractor and you control that fact of mine in this song because Mother Nature was telling us that this much rain and everything was just working and began to think Well Farmer corn everything just one farmer. Right.

Well we thank you.

We thank you we've been trying to bring you some of our old music along with Elizabeth and we hope you learn something you enjoy and keep on going with this kind of music. Country music. And that's what's important. You can do it here it is. He. Did it. With. Me.

Yeah demanding that young unmarried. Men. Recorded by the American Center for Public Broadcasting.