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. h, Number 2 (whole issue 17) HEDY WEST GLENN OHRLIN le Campus Folksong Club will present December 14 has been set for the 'irst public concert of the semester third free membership concert of the wember 23, 8 p.m., in Lincoln Hall semester, after a new cowboy-singer, ,er. Featured artist will be Hedy Glenn Ohrlin, suddenly revealed that he a twenty-two year old traditional was available for singing western sr and five-string banjo picker from ballads. Ohrlin, of Mountain View, Ar- ppalachian region of northern Georgia. kansas, will present his concert of cow- boy songs and guitar tunes at 8:00 p.m. .ss West is something of a rarity in in Smith Recital Hall. .tional music circles--comparable ips only to Jean and Edna Ritchie; In contrast to almost all the other is, though she comes from a family of "singers of cowboy songs" Ohrlin actu- musicians and storytellers she has ally is a cowboy. He has spent half been to college--in this case, Co- of his life (except for a hitch in the ,a. Thus she has both native connec- service) as a ranch hand and trick rider with tradition, as well as an academic and it was this last occupation which tation to it. If anything, her univer- caused him to sustain a broken back when education has made her even more he fell from his mount in 1948. of the necessity of preserving and gthening the heritage from which she Ohrlin has worked at every type of . Her songs and banjo pieces are ranch job in almost all of the western *diluted for the "benefit" of urban states, using the remainder of his time ners. to cover the county-fair and rodeo cir- cuit. When not actually working or rid- ss West has already recorded a disc ing, he has devoted his time to collect- r own songs for Vanguard and has given ing and learning the old songs of the concerts before college audiences, cowboys and playing them on the guitar. ially on the East Coast. She was nded for her work recently by Robert The concert, like all membership on, music critic for the New York offerings, will be open to all members and editor of Hootenanny, the new of the Club. Non-members may join at nal folksong magazine. the concert and thus be admitted free along with regular members. ckets for the Hedy West concert are at the Illini Union box office. HEDY WEST SEMINAR In addition to her concert, Hedy J-est will discuss her work and her music at a free seminar t' o be held at . p.m. in Room 113, English Building Graduate Seninar. The public is invited. HEDY IFEST: GEORGIA MOUNTAIN FOLK SINGER (Article reprinted from The North Georgia News, September 12, 1963) Hedy West's great grandmother was born in Blairsville back when it was little more than a wagon road crossing of muddy ruts. Her grandmother lives now on Lower Young Cane. Both of these ancestors, and others who came from Western North Carolina and Gilmer County, Georgia at Ellijay, were singers of the old songs. They sang, as mountain folk still do, for pleasure, or because they are lonesome, or to ease a hurt. Sometime it may be for entertainment of family, friends or neighbors. In any event they were, and are, songs of beauty that carry inspirational melodies. Our mountain singers, fiddlers and banjo pickers still have appreciative local audiences even if limited in numbers. This is verified each year at the Georgia Mountain Fair at Hiawassee. But now and then an authentic mountain folksinger breaks loose and carries the old songs to wide audiences far beyond our hills. Hedy West is one. In an album recently published by the Vanguard Recording Society of New York, Hedy gives a varied sampling of feeling beauty to be found in genuine folk songs. Nearly all of her selections in this album are from North Georgia. She learned them from her grandmother, her uncle Gus Mulkey at Jasper, from old folks around Ellijay, from Tom Fortenberry of Owltown in Union County and other mountain singers. There is in our land today a great revival of interest in our own native folk songs. In the great cities of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and others, packed audiences listen eagerly to the singing of folk artists. The folk singers are increasingly in greater demand on college campuses. Even T. V. has caught onto this trend as is witnessed by the Saturday night "Hootennanny", commercialized and jazzed up as it may be. We think this is a good, a hopeful sign. We believe it is, at least in part, a healthy reaction against the jazz-rock n' roll-twist type of dissonant cacophony to which we have too long been subjected. We hope, and we believe, this may be a sign that our country is beginning to reject this cacophonous rubbish in music. For the folk song, coming directly from life, from the people's experiences, is just the opposite. It carries a beautiful and often inspirational melody. About a poem the late Robert Frost wrote: "It begins in delight and ends in wisdom." Poet Frost also wrote: "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader." This, we believe applies as well to music and song. The very nature and origin of the folk songs and the folk singers repudiates the cynicism of cacophony. The direct tie of the song and the singer to their source, the people, lends itself to a lusty and vigorous hope. No place in this country affords a richer source of authentic folk songs than the Appalachian Mountain South. And no part of this area has better materials than our own North Georgia mountains. It is to this source--North Georgia mountains primarily--that Hedy West has gone for both her songs and inspiration. Accompanying herself in a superbly accomplished style on the five-string banjo, she renders the old songs in the spirit and tone your grandparents may have sung or listened to. A highly trained professional musician, Hedy goes to the root source for her songs. And she breaths a fresh breath of living into these old songs, imbuing them with genuine meaning and wide appeal. Her singing has aroused nation-wide and enthusiastic critic and audience response. Hedy knows a number of the old music lovers in Union County. She graduated from Murphy High School and Western Carolina College with high honors. This was followed by two years of graduate study at Columbia University in New York. She is an accomplished flutist, pianist and orchestrator. She also composes music and has recently finished the musical arrangements for a book of folk songs for the noted authority and collector, Alan Lomax. She has also just about completed a book of her own, dealing with the folk lore and folk song background of North Georgia. A young lady in her early twenties, Hedy is a serious student of her subject. We believe any lover of genuine folk songs will appreciate and enjoy her records. HEDY WEST in a SEMINAR "Collecting Georgia Folksongs" Saturday afternoon November 23 3:00 p.m. English Building Graduate Seminar Room 113 CLUB ARCHIVES LP RECORDS At the present time, Archives has the following LP records, which may be borrowed by Club members. Arrangements for borrowing may be made by phoning Carole Goodwin at 332-0957 after 5 p.m. weekdays or anytime on weekends. All records are 12" unless otherwise indicated. Anthology of American Folk Music (Various artists) Volume I: Ballads, Folkways FA 2951 Volume II: Social Music, Folkways FA 2952 Volume III: Songs, Folkways FA 2953 (Each volume contains two 12" LP records) Armstrong, George and Gerry Simple Gifts, Folkways FA 2355 Bauer, Alfons and His Hofbrau Entertainers More German Beer-Drinking Music, Capital T 10297 Cravens, Red and the Bray Brothers. Blue Grass Gentlemen, Liberty LRP 3214 Driftwood, Jimmie Battle of New Orleans, Victor LPM 1635 Songs of Billy Yank and Johnny Reb, Victor LPM 2316 Tall Tales in Song, Victor LPM 2228 Westward Movement, Victor LPM 2171 Wilderness Road and Jimmie Driftwood, Victor LPM 1994 Elliott, Jack Ramblin' Cowboy, Monitor MF 379 Flatt, Lester and Earl Scruggs Songs of the Famous Carter Family, Columbia CL 1664 Glazer, Joe Songs of Work and Freedom, Washington WR 460 Illinois Traditional Singers (various artists) Greenfields of Illinois, Campus Folksong Club.CFC 201 Jones, Curtis Trouble Blues, Prestige BVLP 1022 Louisiana Traditional Singers A Sampler of Louisiana Folksongs, Louisiana Folklore Society A 1 Macon, Uncle Dave Uncle Dave Macon, RBF RF 51 New Lost City Ramblers New Lost City Ramblers: Volume 1, Folkways FA 2396 New Lost City Ramblers: Volume 2, Folkways FA 2397 New Lost City Ramblers: Volume 3, Folkways FA 2398 New Lost City Ramblers: Volume 4, Folkways FA 2399 Old Timey Songs for Children, Folkways FC 7064 (10") Songs from the Depression, Folkways, FH 5264 Philo Glee and Mandolin Society PG&MS, Campus Folksong Club CFC 101 Proffitt, Frank Frank Proffitt, Folk-Legacy FSA 1 Redpath, Jean Scottish Ballad Book, Electra EKL 214 Skipping Barefoot through the Heather, Prestige INT 13041 Songs of Love, Lilt, Laughter, Electra EKL 224 Seeger, Peggy The Best of Peggy Seeger, Prestige INT 13005 Stekert, Ellen Songs of a New York Lumberjack, Folkways FA 2354 Stoneman, Ernest Ernest V. Stoneman and the Stoneman Family, Starday SLP 200 Tanner, Gid and His Skillet Lickers Old Familiar Tunes, Folksong Society of Minnesota FSSM 15001-D West, Hedy Hedy West, Vanguard VRS 9124 Williams, Big Joe Piney Woods Blues, Delmar DL 602 SPECIALTY FOLKSONG RECORDS One consequence of the current folksong boom is the multiplication of record company labels for folk and folk-like material.