H I LL INO I UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

PRODUCTION NOTE

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007.

Volume 3, No. 1 October 15, 1962 OCT 17 1?C2 RAMBIERS CCOE TO CAMPS I -

'he New Lost City Ramblers will 1920's and early 30's. They sing lent a concert of traditional mountain depression songs, election songs, British

.c at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27, songs, and they even have an album of

ncoln Hall Theater. Old Timey Songs for Children. They also

'he Ramblers are one of the leading sing humerous songs like "It's a Shame ips working to perpetuate pure, un- to Beat Your Wife on Sunday", (When

Lterated folksongs. This effort can you'v got Monday, Tuesday...etc.) eard in their "old timey", unaffected Their popularity has become evident

.eof singing; an unusual and admirable by the enthusiastic acceptance of five

.evement for urban singers. Folkways albums and a number of Newport lembers of the trio are Mike Seeger, Folk Festival discs. Their own NLCR cording technician, John Cohen, a songbook is to be issued soon. Those

'essional photographer, and Tracy of you who were on campus last year and rarz, an accomplished string band heard the Philo Glee and Mandolin Society, tormer replacing Tom Paley. All are will notice and enjoy the similarities wrb musicians and play unamplified in style and humor between the Philos aruments: the guitar, banjo, mandolin, and the Ramblers. lie, dobro, and autoharp. Tickets for the concert are $1.25 and lecording to Seeger, the Ramblers' $1.75 and are available at the Illini

.c is that of the rural areas of the Union Box Office. All seats are reserved. theastern United States during the ---Benette Rottman--- ATTEN'TON New Members

If you had joined the campus folk club four years ago, you would have been a member of the Folk Arts Society; a group which met for folk dancing at the Illini Union and held its sings in the base- ment of the Channing Murrey Foundation. Or, if you had joined a year and a half ago when the folk singing faction of the Polk Arts Society decided to form the Campus Folksong Club, you would have found fewer members in the entire club than we now have on our ex- ecutive committee. The organization and growth of the Club has special meaning to you as a member. We are now able to bring well-known folk artists to the campus for your entertainment. There are afternoon folk seminars given by speakers who are experts in some phase of folk music, history, or lore. Some of these speakers will be giving performances in the eveningsfollowing their lectures. Also, beginning, intermediate and advanced guitar lessons as well as beginning banjo lessons are now being offered to members of the club. Last year the club cut its first record, a project which has brought us to the attention of folk enthusiasts across the country. It is only through our ranid growth, through your membership, that these things are made possible. You are a member of the fast- est growing, most outstanding club of its kind in the nation...one in which you can take a great deal of pride. This leads to one other very imnortant function of the club. When a group like ours ceases to be informal, it negates the very tradition which gave it life. All facets of the club's activities are open to you....from writing articles for Autoharp to performing at the sings. Remember...this is your club.....use it!!

e,* * Sue Rissman....editor

CAMPUS FOLKSONG CLUB CALENDAR OF EVENTS FALL SEMESTER, 1962

Sept. Fri. Folksing 8:00 pm 112 Gregory Hall Sept. Wed. Executive Commmittee 7:30 pm 43 Lab. & Ind. Rel. Bldg. Oct. Wed. General Business 7:30 pm 35 Lab. & Ind. Rel. Bldg. Meeting Oct. Thurs. KARL WOLFRAM 8:00 pm Smith Music Hall Oct. Fri. Folksing 8:00 pm 112 Gregory Hall Oct. Thurs. HIGHWAYMEN (Star 8:00 pm Auditorium Course Extra) Oct. 19 Fri. Folksing 8:00 pm 112 Gregory Hall Oct. 27 Sat. NEW LOST CITY 8:00 pm Lincoln Hall Theater RAMBLERS Nov. Fri. Folksing 8:00 pm 112 Gregory Hall Nov. Tues. JACK ELLIOTT (to be announced) Nov. Thurs. JOAN BAEZ (Star 8:00 pm Auditorium Course Extra) Dec. Sat. JEAN REDPATH 8:00 pm Lincoln Hall Theater Dec. Fri. Folksing 8:00 pm 314 Altgeld Hall Jan. Fri. Folksing 8:00 pm 314 Altgeld Hall

Guitar and Banjo Lessons

The Campus Folksong Club will once again sponsor Workshop classes which provide members with instruction in folk guitar and five string banjo. Instructors will offer beginning guitar, intermediate guitar, blues guitar, and beginning banjo. Persons interested in blues

guitar should possess a moderate facility on the guitar in basic

styles such as Carter Family and double thumbing, as discussion will

consist primarily of three-finger picking. (If you do not recognize names of these techniques, you probably are not qualified for the

class.) Intermediate classes will develop Carter Family style,

double thumbing, and various other techniques designed to play melody

line, while the beginning classes will nrovide an introduction to

the guitar,illustrating fundamentals common to all styles of playing.

Beginning banjo classes will teach the basic strum, frailing, double

thumbing, and an introduction to Scruggs style.

Workshops will be held on five consecutive Saturdays with the

first meeting being held on October 6, in room 114E of the English

Building. Beginning classes in banjo and guitar will meet at 1:00 p.m.

?nd the intermediate and blues guitar classes will meet at 2:00 p.m.

The cost of the five classes is $3.50. This price includes printed materials which are passed out at the lesson. Workshop participants must belong to the Campus Folksong Club, and all students must bring their own instruments. People may register for classes by contacting Bill Becker at 359-1060, by writing to the Club at 322 Illini Union, or by coming to the first meeting on October 6.

FOR SAIE GUITAR . . .R.D. COCK 1112* E. I•in/U. Banjo * . PRESTON MARTIN 904 W. Illinois 367-1336 Dulcimers and long necks for banjos. . BILL BECKER 106 E. John St. 359-1060 A Folka nger's Credo

by Jean Redpath

For me, honesty is the keystone of any performance that is to be convincing to the listener, satisfying to the singer, and a genuine emotional experience for both. An honest approach toward folk songs, I feel, requires considerable understanding of the material and the cultural tradition it reflects. I find myself best equip- ped, at present, to offer the songs I've grown up with in the lan- guage I am accustomed to speaking. Scots songs hinge so much on the vernacular use of language that they deserve to be treated, linguistically, as "foreign songs", not touched on lightly by speakers of English as some quaint dialect. All languages (and many translators) suffer in translation. So, too, in rendering Scots into Anglicized versions many nuances of humor and irony are lost, as are many emotional subtleties.

The sources for my materials are as varied as the songs themselves. Some I learned from py parents in Leven, Fifeshire, or from their family. Others were learned from Arthur Argo, folksong collector and journalist from Aberdeenshire, and from Ella Ward of Edinburgh. Fellow members of the University of Edinburgh Folksong Society con- tributed still other numbers in my repertory. In the background for all of this is the enthusiastic support and assistance of Hamish Henderson of the School of Scottish Studies. And, of course, there is the great device of the modern collector and repertory builder, the phonograph. I regard myself, therefore, as partly a traditional singer and partly an interpreter of traditional Scots songlore.

(Jean Redpath will -p pear in a Lincoln Hall concert on Saturday December 8, 1962 at 8:00 p.m.)

* * * * * *

General Bussiness Meeting Of October 3, 1962 Two very important items, vital to the club organization, were discussed at the general business meeting of October 3. The first problem confronting the club body evolved around the reorganization of the Constitution. Several changes were needed to clarify the constitution and place it in line with University policy on the run- ning of student groups. Briefly, the two changes made concerned 1) voting membership, which is now limited to students, University staff, and their families, and 2) the proceedure for filling vacancies in elected offices during a given smmester. As there was a vacancy in the office of Vice-President, an election was held and the Club elected Dave Huehner. This left the office of recording secretary vacant and Dianne Wells was elected to the position. The rest of the meeting was spent in aquainting the club body with the various duties of the officers and committees.

(General business meetings are held at the start of every semester and all members are encouraged to attend, Members are also welcome to attend Executive Committee Meetings which will be held at 43 Lab. & Ind. Rel. Bldg. (5th and Armory) on the following dates: Oct. 24; Nov. 7, 20; Dec. 5, 19; 'and Jan 9. Our First Record: CFC 101

by Dick Adams

It would be hard to say who first suggested that the Campus Folksong Club put out a long-playing record album. More than anything else, it seemed to follow naturally from the Club's other activities. What would be a better way to document, in some meaningful and permanent form, the University of Illinois folk music revival?

On February 21, 1962, the idea came up for the first time at a meeting of the Club Executive Committee. The Club officers agreed that a record would be a good idea, but there were some reservations. This is one area into which other folksong clubs apparently have not ventured. No one had any real idea of all that would be involved. Faculty advisor Archie Green had made some inquiries on his own, and he suggested that the Club should be able to produce 200 to 300 copies of a record--a limited edition--for about $500. He recommended the appointment of a committee to investigate further. President John Schmidt took up the suggestion, and named a three-member committee, headed by Preston Martin, to look into all angles of record production.

As a first step, the committee contacted Bob Koester--the owner, manager, and chief salesman for Delmar Records, a small folk record company in Chicago. He had given Archie Green the original rough estimate on costs. Now, the committee wanted to know, could Koester be more specific. Could he provide more exact cost estimates, and outline the steps involved in putting out a record. He could, and would go even one step further; he would supervise the overall production, and would have the record processed by the same firms that handled his Delmar releases.

With this information, the record committee reported to the Executive Committee again on March 21. It has several recommendations. First it confirmed what had been tacitly agreed on earlier: that the performers on the first Club record should be the Philo Glee & Mandolin Society--Paul Adkins, Jim Hockenhull, and Doyle Moore. They were probably the most talented and popular Club performers, and a record of their songs, done in old-time mountain string band style, would emphasize the importance of country music in the folk music revival.

The committee also recommended that the record be viewed as a documentation of the folk revival on the campus, and be produced in limited numbers, mainly for campus folksong enthusiasts. As much as possible, wcrk on the record would be volunteered by Club members with professional skills in certain areas. Club member Thacher Robinson agreed to cut the original tapes on his professional recording gear; Doyle Moore, a professor in art and a part-time printer, could handle the layout and supervise the printing of the cover and notes; others would edit the tape and write the notes. The record would not be aimed at the commercial market. However, the overall goal would be to produce a record with Professional, or commercial, sound and appearance. The actual job of processing and pressing the disc, of course, would be done by the commercial firms who produced Koester's Delmar records. The total cost of producing 250 copies of a limited edition record, the committee reported, would be about $400. After some discussion, the Executive Committee okayed the plan and authorized the record committee to proceed on two fronts: with the taping as the first step in the physical production of the record, and with the advance sale of the disc. This last condition was imposed by the University Dean of Students. Since the Club treasury would not be able to foot the entire bill out of available funds, he ruled that the Club would have to prove that the record could pay for itself before he would authorize the final steps in its production.

This was to prove no problem, however. At a folksing, the first announce- ment of plans for the record brought more than 40 advance orders at a price of $3.00 per record to Club members. To spur the advance sales, the committee had decided to offer the record at reduced prices, to Club members and non-members alike, during the advance sale period. The prices were set by the committee: advance sale--members $3.00, non-members $3.50; regular sale--members $3.50, non-members $4.00. The committee also decided from the first to have most sales handled through the Club; it would allow only limited sales through commercial record shops.

Then, to the actual production of the record, and the first step: taping the PG&MS.

Before the tapings began, the members of the PG&1S had winnowed their repertoire of 100 songs to one-third or one-quarter that number. They knew that they could put perhaps 16, at the most 18, songs on their album, and they wanted them to represent fairly their range and their style. At the core of their repertoire were several songs learned from records by the New Lost City Ramblers. There would be little value, they decided, in simply duplicating what the Ramblers had done; better to record some songs that had not been widely circulated. Other than that, to fairly represent their range, the PG&MS decided to program religious songs, instrumentals, ballads, humorous, and novelty songs.

With a tentative list of about 30 songs, the taping started. The first tapes were cut in Thacher Robinson's living room in Urbana two nights during the first week in April. The sessions were long--three or four hours--and tiring. With tuning preliminaries out of the way, the Philos would practice the song to be taped--perhaps just a few bars to get the "feel" of it again, or perhaps all the way through. Then they would do it for the tape; listen to it played back; and, if they were not satisfied, do it again. Some songs just seemed to "click" the first time; others never seemed to sound just right. The latter were erased. In some cases they were recorded later; in others, just forgotten altogether. The "audience" at these sessions was limited: Thacher Robinson, running the tape machine from the other end of the living room; occasionally his wife; their two young daughters, and the daughters' small kitten. Club President John Schmidt also watched part of one session; I sat in on another.

For each song, the Philos grouped themselves around a high-fedelity Altec microphone. The tapes were recorded, at 15 inches per-second, on Thacher Robinson's console Magnecord tape machine. When the first two sessions ended, the PG&MS had produced five tapes, containing 23 songs--about one hour and a quarter of music. Next came the editing. Paul Adkins of the Philos, Archie Green and I auditioned the tapes in two three-hour sessions. Of the 23 songs, we decided that 13, totalling about 33 minutes, should go on the record as they were. Three others should also be included; but, for one reason or another, they would have to be re-taped. On one, the balance among the instruments was bad; on another the lead instrument sounded "off mike"; on the third, the playing and singing were simply too ragged.

Although, in all, the 16 songs seemed to offer a good representation of the Philos range of songs, there were still problems in "balancing" the record, both in regard to content and timing. For example, the PG&MS had done such a good job trying not to record too many Rambler songs that they had cut them all out. We decided to add one which had been a standard part of the PG&MS repertoire at folksings--the humorous "Three Men Went A-Hunting." (Later, for much the same reason, we were to add another song from the original tape, the Gid Tanner number "Miss McLeod's Reel." This broucht the total to 18 songs and balanced the record at nine songs--about 24 minutes--on each side.)

At these first auditioning session, we also made some tentative decisions about the order in which the songs were to appear. We agreed to start each side with an instrumental ("Eighth of January," "Cripple Creek"), and to end each with a humorous number ("What 'll I Do With the Baby-0?," "Make Me a Bed on the Floor"). We worked from that, trying to achieve good pacing and variety on each side, much as one would find in a good concert.

The following week came a third taping session, to re-do the three unsatisfactory cuts and to add "Three Men Went A-Hunting." This time around, the taping went more rapidly. Paul Adkins and I listened to these new cuts, and settled on the order for the 17 songs. The same evening, I did the final editing, arranging the songs in the order in which they would appear on the finished record.

The next day, now about ten days after the first tapes were cut, the edited master tapes were in the mail to Audiophile Records, Inc., Saukville, Wisconsin, for the first step toward the actual pressing. At the same time, a copy of the information for the record "label"--the round patch in the center of each side--was sent to the Bert-Co Press, Los Angeles, California, for printing. Before it went out, though, the print copy was carefully checked, to make sure that song titles, timings, and the other data for the label agreed down to the last letter with the material we would use in the descriptive notes and on the album jacket cover.

From there on out, the physical production of the plastic record "disc" itself was out of our hands.

At Saukville, as a first step, Audiophile Records made a "lacquer master" of the record; technicians "etched" the songs from the master tape onto . a grooved lacquer disc. As Bob Koester explains it, this is the key step in the production. The "mastering" firm must take extreme care to make sure that the tape program, in its full fidelity, is transferred to the lacquer disc. If the "master" is defective, the records made from it naturally will be, too.

Next, the completed master was shipped from Saukville to Research-craft Corporation, Los Angeles, California, for "processing"--the several steps which precede the "pressing", or final stamping-out of the record. The processing is quite involved. First, using the grooved lacquer master, the processing firm makes a "metal master"--actually a negative of the lacquer master, with ridges instead of grooves. The lacquer master serves essentially as a mold. By electrolysis, the metal for the master is "poured" into the microscopic grooves of the lacquer master much as, on a larger and less refined scale, one might pour plaster of paris into a plastic mold.

The two metal masters then (one for each side of the record) can be used to "press" out the finished product; and, on small runs of 200 records or less, they often are. For larger quantity orders, however, metal masters must be protected from excessive wear. So, two more steps are necessary in the process. First, the metal master is used to plate another positive, or grooved, copy. This is identical with the original lacquer master, except that it is made of metal, not lacquer. It is called, heaven only knows why, a "mother." From the "mother," then, more negative, or ridged metal plates are made. These are "stampers." They are identical to the "metal master," and, as the name implies, are used to "stamp out" or "press" the plastic record discs. This process, I understand, is something like making waffles. The hot plastic is "pressed" between two ridged metal plates--the stampers--and the finished disc emerges.

The labels are pressed into the discs during this process. The edge of each disc is buffed and the records are ready.

This whole sequence--mastering, processing, and pressing--took just about a month for the PG&MS record. In the meantime, in Champaign, the Club record production committee was concerned with two other parts of the project: the front cover for the cardboard record jacket, and the explanatory back liner notes.

In his original estimate, Bob Koester had warned that the cost of designing, laying out, and printing the jacket cover and the liner notes would be the greatest single expense in putting out the record. He estimated the cover design and layout at about $65 and the printing at more than $200. But here, by doing some of the work ourselves, we were able to cut the total design, layout, and printing cost to less than half his estimate.

From more than a dozen pictures taken by Club member Jack Halcom, the PG&MS selected one for the record cover. Doyle Hoore then designed the cover, and laid it out, using type from his own fonts. In the meantime, Archie Green and I were working on the explanatory notes. I talked with each of the members of the PG&MS to get material for a general essay attempting to put them, their record, and the Campus Folksong Club in perspective against the broader background of the general folk music revival. Archie's article was to be more scholarly and detailed, to document the individual songs. It included a limited bibliography, discography, and source list, giving the specific source from which the Philos learned each song, other recorded versions of each and where available, printed versions of the song or articles or monographs about it. (It was during his early research that Archie noted we had failed to include any Gid Tanner song on the final tape sent to Saukville. So, from the original tape, we sent "Miss McCleod's Reel," asking Audiophile to insert it into side one before they cut the lacquer master.)

(D) It had been our original intention to put the explanatory notes and bibliography-discograpy on the back of the cardboard jacket. But with the notes completed we came across another of those problems you run into the first time through anything. The copy simply would not fit on the back, at least not using any type face large enough to read without a magnifying glass. It was not that we had not realized our space limitations; we had. It was just that our calculations involving words per column had not held up when we were faced with the task of laying those words out on the jacket.

Since we were by now pressed for time--the discs were due in from Los Angeles within a week--Doyle Moore suggested an alternative. He would use the paper left over from printing the front covers to print a small insert booklet or brochure. The notes were typed in columns on an IBM electric typewriter, and, by reducing the overall type size slightly, Doyle could lay them out in an attractive, accordion-fold insert. He then supervised the printing of the jacket cover and the insert notes. The printing was done by the Superior Printing Company in Champaign.

Again, we could have economized here, by forgetting about a cover picture and layout and instead using plain white cardboard jackets, by mimeographing or dittoing the insert notes, or both. But we decided to follow through on our aim of putting out as "professional" a product as possible.

It was now the second week in May. Via long-distance calls to Los Angeles, we found that the discs--250 of them--were ready. We made arrangements for them to be trucked to Urbana by way of the Denver-Chicago Trucking Company. Our target date for the record release was May 18, the final Club folksing of the year. Preston Martin's pre-release sale had been more successful than anyone could have hoped a month earlier. He and his committee had collected money for more than 120 records. Most of the advance-order buyers, we knew, were Club members. Many of them would be at the folksing May 18, and it would be a relatively simple matter to distribute the records there. We also realized that we could probably sell the record to others in the audience, especially after they had had a chance to hear the PG&MS in person.

With the discs on their way from California, I drove to Chicago from Champaign with the printed covers for the final step in the jacket process. With Bob Koester, I went to the Chicago Album and Specialty Company, where in a matter of hours, the cover sheets were bound onto 500 cardboard jackets. Although our first order was for only 250 of the discs, we decided to order 500 copies of all the printed materials--label, cover, and notes. Perhaps 80 or 90 percent of the printing cost was in the type layout. With everything set to go, it cost very little more to print 500 copies of everything--perhaps an extra $20-25 total for all the printed items. The cost of pressing extra discs was considerably more--about 50 cents each, or $125 for a second 250. So we decided to wait on the second 250 discs until we were sure the record would sell.

With the record jackets completed, we now waited for the discs, in transit from California by truck. They finally arrived, at the last possible moment, at noon on Friday, the day of the folksing. It was a simple matter then to put the discs inside the jackets and to insert the notes. Almost half the 250 records were distributed that night, some to persons who had put in advance orders, others to people who just bought on the spot. The rest were sold during the next two weeks. They went so rapidly, in fact, that the first 250 were almost gone before anyone thought to order more. So, unexpectedly, for a period of about ten days at the end of the semester, we were completely sold out and waiting for the second batch to come from the pressing plant.

So ended the production of Campus Folksong Club Record CFC 101, six weeks after the recording of the first tapes. Below is an abbreviated financial statement for the record project. Again,it should be pointed out that these costs cannot be taken as anything more than a rather general guide to the cost of putting out a record. Several usually expensive steps cost us almost nothing. The performers, of course, gave their time free. So did the Club members who served as recording engineer and tape editors. A commercial record company would have had to pay these people, as well as the layout artist, the cover photographer, and the author of the liner or brochure notes. As it happened, we had, in the Club, people with professional abilities in these areas who were willing to volunteer their services.

On the other hand, on the parts of the production that we could not handle, we made certain we got the best possible workmanship, regardless of cost. Other firms might have done the mastering for somewhat less; we could have had the pressing done for about 30 or 40 cents a copy instead of 50 cents. But we wanted the highest fidelity and best over-all quality possible, and Bob Koester assured us that the firms he recommended would do the job better than anyone else in the country.

* * * ** * ***** ***- * * * *

University of Illinois Campus Folksong Club CFC 101 Production Costs for 500 Records

Pre-sale ads, typing, postage, photography, and tapes $ 30.38

Printing jacket covers and brochures 110.00

Printing labels 12.50

Binding record jackets 35.70

Mastering and processing 111.50

Pressing 247.68

Transportation 23.31

Robert Koester--planning and arranging 27.50

Total $598.57 A New Lost City Ramblers Discography

compiled by Preston Martin

FOLKWAYS RECORDS

PA 2396- The New Lost City Ramblers- Recorded at Cue Studios, Ny', 1-95Y- 12'-x 33rpm)

Side 1. Forked Deer/ Don't Let Your Deal Go Down/ I Truly Understand/ Dallas Rag/ Tom Cat Blues/ Railroading and Rambling/ Colored Aristocracy/ Sailor and the Deep Blue Sea/ East Virginia. Side 2. Battleship Maine/ Davy, Davy/ Roving Gambler/ Take a Drink on Me/ Likes Liquor Better Than Me/ It's a Shame to Beat :our Wife/ Brown's Perry Blues/ Old Fish Song/ Crossed Old Jordan's Stream. * * * * PH 5264- Songs Prom the Depression-. Recorded at Cue Studios, NYC, 1939. T12" x 33rpm.) Side 1. No Depression in Heaven/ There'll be No Distinction There/ Breadline Blues/ White House Blues/ Franklin Roosevelt's Back Again/ How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live/ Keep Moving/ Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All/ Serves Them Fine. Side 2. NRA Blues/ Death of the Blue Eagle/ Join the C.I.O./ Old Age Pension Check/ Sales Tax on the Women/ Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train/ Loveless C.C.C./ Boys, My Money's All Gone/ All I Got's Gone. * * * * FC 7064- Old Timey Songs for Children- Recorded at Cue Studios, NYC, 1959. (1t0x33rpm---

Side 1. Old Bell Cow/ Hopalong Peter/ Beware, Oh Take Care/ Soldier Soldier Will You Marry Me/ Eyes Are Blue/ Charley He's a Good O1' Man/ Adam in the Garden Pinnin' Leaves/ Chewing Gum/ Cotton Eye Joe. Side 2. Jennie Jenkins/ Barbara Allen/ Hop High Ladies/ Rabbit Chase/ Common Bill/ Johnny Get Your Gun. * * * * FA 2397- The New Lost City Ramblers Vol II - Recorded at Cue Studios, --Y, 1960. (12" x 33rpm)

Side 1. Whoop 'em Up Cindy/ The Story of the Mighty Mississippi/ Louisville Burglar/ Late ast Night When Willie Came Home/ Hawkins Rag/ Didn't He Ramble/ Texas Rangers/ Tom Dooley. Side 2. Leaving Home/ When First Unto This Country/ Sally Goodwin/ Banks of the Ohio/ George Collins/ Every Day Dirt/ Raging Sea/ Up Jumped the Devil. * * * * FA 2398 Th New Lost City Ramblers Vol III - Recorded at the Sq-u-oT-LTbtrr-AdiriutC'ffn.n7,-7Dec., 1960. (12" x 33rpm)

Side 1. Black Mountain Rag/ I'll Roll in My Sweet Babyls Arms/ Talking Hard Luck/ Railroad Blues/ Weaveroom Blues/ Baltimore Fire/ Willy, Poor Boy/ Red Rocking Chair/ Hold that Woodpile Down. Discography (con't)

Side 2. Three Men 11net A-Hunting/ Johnson Boys/ Hot Corn/ The Lady of Carlisle/ The Man Who Wrote Home Sweet Home Never IVas a Married Man/ Sal Got a Meatskin/ My Long Journey Home/ Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/ Hogeye.

FA 2399- The New Lost City Ramblers Vol IV- Recorded at the Pequo-tLbrary Auditorium, Conn., Jan., 1962 (12"x33rpm. Side 1. Run Mountain/ Take Me Back to the Sweet Sunny South/ Black Jack David/ Carter's Blues/ The Coo Coo Bird/ Molly Put the Kettle On/ Have a Feast Here Tonight/ Crow Black Chicken. Side 2. Cindy/ Billy Grimes,the Rover/ Frankie Silver/ Stackerlee/ Dollar is All I crave/ Keno the Bent Man/ The Miller's Will/ The Story That the Crow Told Me. EPC 602- The New Lost City Ramblers - Recorded 1961 (7" x 33rp) Side 1. Foggy Mountain Top/ Talking Hard Luck. Side 2. Milwaukee Blues/ TheWaves on the Sea.

PA 2432- The Folkmusic of the Newport Folk Festival, Vol. 2. Recorded at NeForT, R.I., 1959, 1960. Released in 1961. (12" x 33rpm.)

Side 1. Band 3, Instrumental/ Band 4, Hop High Ladies/ Band 5, Take a Drink on Me. * * * * VANGUARD RECORDING SOCIETY

VRS 9063 + The Newport Folk Festival, 1959, Vol 2. Recorded at VSD 2054 Newport, R.I., July 11,12, 1959. (12" x 33rpm.) (sterio)

Side 2: Band 1, Beware Oh Take Care/ Band 2, When First Into This Country I Came , Band 3, Hopalong Peter. VRS 9083 * The Newport Folk Festival, 1960, Vol 1. Recorded at VSD 2087 Newport, R.I., June 24/26, 1960. (12" x 33rpm) (sterio) Side 2....Band 6, Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms/ Band 7, The Man of Constant Sorrow/ Band 8, Foggy Mountain Top. (Note: Fontana TFL 6004, is an English release of VRS 9063.) ARCHIVE 14ES

The newest department of the Campus Folksong Club, the Archives, has acquired a considerable number of LP records since its establishment in the Spring semes- ter, 1962 and these records are now available for membership use. Mmbers may borrow the following records for a limited period of time. For arrangements, con- tact Miss Pat Wilson at 333-2380.

George and Gerry Armstrong. -Simple Gifts, Folkways, FA 2355.

Alfons Bauer and his Hofbrau Entertainers. -More German Beer-Drinking Music, Capital, T 10297

Red Cravens and the Bray Brothers - The Blue Grass Gentlemen, Liberty, IRP 3214

Jimmie Driftwood. -The Battle of New Orleans, Victor, IPM 1635 -Songs of Billy Yank and Johnny Reb, Victor, IPM 2316 -Tall Tales in Song, Victor, IPM 2228 -The Westward Movement, Victor, LPM 2171 -The Wilderness Road and Jimmie Driftwood, Victor, LPM 1994

lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. -Songs of the Famous Carter Family, Featuring Mother Maybelle Carter and the Fggy Mountain Boys; Columbia, CL 1664

Joe Glazer. -Songs of Work and Freedom, Washington, WR 460

Curtis Jones. -Trouble Blues, Prestige, BVIP 1022

Philo Glee and Mandolin Society, U. Of Ill. Campus Folksong Club Records, CFC 101

Peggy Seeger. - The Best of Peggy Seeger, Prestige, 13005.

Ellen Stekert. -Songs of a New York Lumberjack, Folkways, FA 2354

Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers. -Old Familiar Tunes. Folksong Society of Minnesota, FSSMLP 15001-D

Big Joe Williams. -Piney Woods Blues, Delmar, DL 602

This CFC collection of records has been built up from various sources for sev- eral purposes. The most common reason for purchasing an LP has been for publicity and promotion of Club-sponsored concerts on campus. Before the coneert, the album Jackets are displayed in prominent places. At this time, the records are loaned for broadcasting use, either by local commercial radio stations or by student station WPGU. Through these techniques, the CFC achieves the dual accomplishments of publicizing its concerts and building up its own collection of folksong music. Many of these records have been donated by Club members and we hope our members this year will help us enlarge our Archives. Pat Wilson On the Road to the Southern Appalachians

by Fritz Plous

I.* On Thursday, September the sixth of this year, 1500 telegraphers on the Chicago and Northwestern Railway closed their train registers, shut off their tele- graph keys, padlocked their offices and walked out on strike. In sympathy with them went several thousand other workers, myself included. On the previous Wednesday I had received a message that my services as diesel fireman on the Barrington-Bryn Mawr switch run would no longer be needed and, for the first time in my life as a workingman, I found myself out on the street. The first street I took was Pulaski Road. Then I cut over and took 115th to Western Avenue, where I dropped in on my old ftriend, Jarvis Rich. "Jarvis," I said, "When are we going to the mountains?" "Friday-soon t s I quit my job at the tombstone factory.' The next afternoon we set off in a groaning station wagon with two frienda from Chicago, sleeping bags, and enough musical instruments to open a branch of the Fret Shop. ... And we drove... .drove across the plains of Indiana where the rain was pouring in sheets and the wind was force 7 on the Beaufort Scale. We fought the elements with a barage of obscene songs which lasted all the way to Indianapolis. There we wolfed down a late dinner and proceeded with inelegant dispatch to Loisville, where your roving correspondent proceeded to get the vhole party lost in a mane of back- streets. After only one hour's lost time we heated for Frankfort, and by driving all night, our group reached Campbell County, Tennessee, by sunrise. We demolished a batch of wheat cakes and over-easy egg s and took off again, arriving in Smoky Mbuntain National Park by noon. (At this poiht it will be necessary to skip a host of comical but irrelevant details and proceed to the business at hand, i.e. the seeking out of a few remnants of the folk culture of the Southern Appalacians.)

II

For the first item in our foray we drove to a small town at the edge of the park to visit some old friends of ours. They must remain nameless because..well.... let us say that they run an antique shop which specializes in items used by the people of the mountains. Jarvis bought a frow and maul, tools used by the settlers in the making of wooden shingles. I bought one glass of cider, (I was out of work, don't forget.) While there, I spyed an old fiddle on the wall and asked permission to play it. I found it better than the one I usually play. The proprietors asked for a concert, so Jarvis and the others got their instruments and we reeled off a few. With the ice broken, we began to talk and it appeared that our friendhhip with these people was blossoming far out of proportion to the amount of business we transacted in their shop. Finally I asked the question that anybody who develops a friendship in the mountains must ask: "Can you get moonshine whisky around here?' This is roughly equivalent to asking, "Is there a college in Champaing-Urbana?* In minutes we had closed a deal, promising to return on Tuesday for the groceries. In the meantime, we had learned from our friends that in the nearby town of Maryville lived a fiddler, quite old, who loved the old-timy music and knew plenty of those 180-proof fiddle tunes that we had fallen in love with. On Tuesday, we went to Mary- ville and found him in his place of business; a small watch-repair shop in a second floor walkup on Maryville's main street. Since his business is strictly legal, I can mention his name--Sam Key-and he has been fiddling since gawd knows when. He was first suprised, then quietly delighted to find young people so interested in his art. We asked him to play a tune and he immediately responded with "Devil's Dream." Then we asked for the tunes we knew--" Sally Goodin," "Leather Britches," "Fisher's Hornpipe'. He knew them all. Sometimes he'd forget a tune, so we would histle it to him and back it came from his fiddle-good as new. (con't on the following page) On the Road (con't) Then he handed the fiddle to me and asked me to play. For the first time since I took up the instrument my work sounded decent. When I looked inside the fiddle I knew why; the label read "Amati", and the date was 1623. Whether the label was a fake or not I cantt say. But everything about the instrument pointed to a rare gem-not only the tone, but the proportions, the feel, and the silken finish. Then Mr Key produced a Stradivarius of an even more powerful quality. Astonished, I played that too; the sound was equally perfect. Knowing that our own playing would be a waste of time when we were in the presence of a master, we turned the show back to Mr. Key. Square danced, waltzes, reels and jigs flew from his bow. It was only the vague feeling that we were disturbing the man at his work that made us pull ourselves away and, with a feeling of gratitude and respect, we took our leave.

Next Issue: We collect our moonshine and meet another ood fiddler.

Our Cozy Quiet Cellar Underground

We have a place of dwelling Down beneath the fertile soil, We are living in the lap of luxury. Our walls are close together ; And our floor is rathner small, But for all its faults the rent is nearly free. Yes, we love our little basement In the land of liberty, It's the finest little dwelling-place around. And we think it's very nice (Though our neighbors all are mice) It's our cozy, quiet cellar underground. The walls are painted yellow And the floor is cold cement, The ceiling is the purest shade of white. It's too dark to see in daytime For the sun's not in the rent, But at night we use the lightning-bugs for light. Yes, we love our little basement In the land of liberty It's the finest little dwelling-place around. When the rain and snow leak in We just strip and take a swim, In our cozy, quiet cellar underground. As we enter thru the doorway We have to duck our heads, And we bump the furnace pipes if we forget; The mice all squeak their greetings As we clamber o'@r the beds For the landlord has provided them as pets. Yes, we love our little basement In the land of liberty, It's the finest little dwelling place around. The snakes and mice may crawl out, But we're always safe from fallout In our cozy, quiet cellar underground. (This commentary on "Off-campus"' housing was penned by John Walsh in the fall of 162. It is sung to the well known "Little Joe the Wrangler". The melody is known to Purists as "The Little Sod Shanty on the Plaid" , or "The Little Log Cabin in the Lane. Presented by CAMPUS FOLKSONG CLUB Lincoln Ha).). Theater Saturday, October 27, 1962 Tickets: Reserved Seats Only. $1.?S and $1.2~ ini Union Box Office from October )S) *

THE NEW LOST CITY RAMBLERS The program presented by the Ram- The New Lost City Ramblers were blers convincingly displays the richness formed in 1958 with the avowed in- and the variety of the country string- tention of re-creating the rough, ragged band tradition. Though the three bring music of the mountain string bands of with them an impressive scholarship, the late 1920s and early '30s. The group there is nothing dry or arid in their takes as its models the recorded work treatment of the material. of such early hill outfits as Charlie Their versions of such tunes as The Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, Baltimore Fire, Shady Grove, The Bell Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers, Cow, and Brown's Ferry Blues were Ernest Stoneman and his Blue Ridge rollicking and delivered with authority Corn Shuckers, and other pioneering and joy. They are active crusaders for creators of the "old timey music." this music, but they let the music itself There is an exciting polyphonic inter- convert you. And it's hard to resist its play and group interaction to this sort appeal, it's so virile, exciting, and un- of music not unlike that of New abashedly happy. Orleans jazz. Indeed, the same.objec- The trio has a relaxed, effortless stage tions that have been raised about the manner. There is a good bit of badinage New Orleans revivalists could be made (which serves to divert one's attention about the New Lost City Ramblers were while they tune and retune instruments it not for the fact that the group does between numbers). Seeger announces not offer enervated, literal note-for- most of the numbers in a wry, half- note re-creations of the originals. They mocking manner, with humorous asides are true to the spirit of the tradition from Cohen and Paley. The audience (in which they have steeped themselves, lapped it up. through phonograph recordings) with- In coqclusion, the New Lost City out becoming slaves of the letter. Ramblers are an exciting, accomplished, The New Lost City Ramblers are and thoroughly professional group. composed of Mike Seeger, younger They combine art and artlessness in a brother of folk singer Pete Seeger and manner that places them among the an impressive singer and instrumentalist finest contemporary folk performers. in his own right; John Cohen, a New Apparently there is room for a good York City photographer, and Tom measure of improvisation within the Paley, a Rutgers university mathematics form, for at no time did I get the im- instructor. Individually and collectively, pression that I was listening to any sort they are three of the finer representa- of slavish imitation. What the New Lost tives of the younger group of urban folk City Ramblers presented was alive, vig- -artists who have kept alive the tradi- orous, and wholly convincing. tional songs and the traditional ways of -Pete Welding playing and singing them. * DOWN BEAT

Monagement Manuel IOF(KlOder 176Federal