I Ll Ino I University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Home , Bringing It Back, Hedy West, Hobart Smith, In the Jailhouse Now

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 cowboy 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. The major companies strive to maintain their share of the consumer's dollar by offering folksong discs at both ends of the spectrum--pure and popular. Minor companies constantly come on the scene. Meanwhile, folksong records are produced by individuals, local associations, college clubs. Frequently, the latter groups offer material geared to authen- ticity and tradition. Such discs are called by the trade "specialty" or "odd-ball" labels. (Examples are: Dick Spottswood's Mississippi John Hurt--Piedmont 13157; Pete Welding's Bill Jackson on Long Steel Rail--Testament T 201.)

Normally specialty items are not carried by commercial jobbers, wholesalers, or retail stores. Nor are they available from discount houses. Fortunately one or two Champaign-Urbana shops do carry excellent stocks of folksong records. However, even the most conscientious proprietor cannot cover the whole field of esoteric labels. In some college communities individual folk fans have begun to sell specialty labels. At times they compete with regular merchants; at times they complement the work of the local shops by concentrating on items not carried in such shops.

Here at Illinois, Club member Jont Allen is undertaking a limited venture in supplying specialty folksong labels--particularly traditional country and blues material. (Examples are the Origin Jazz Library discs.) His service is not a discount service. He will concentrate on making available to Club members discs not found in local shops. Persons wishing to reach him may call:

Jont Allen 507 E. John Champaign, Illinois Phone: 3hh-2122 HOBART SMITH ON CAMPUS: OCTOBER 11, 1963

Hobart Smith is not the kind of man who does things halfway. When he desides to do something he throws himself into it, and all bystanders must be cautioned to stand clear, lest they be cut by pieces of flying enthusiasm.

Hobart's concert here on October 11 was no exception. The 66-year old Smith did not come to Urbana to give a one-shot concert; his stay here was part of a two-week jaunt through the Midwest that took him to Chicago as well, where he performed for students at the University of Chicago and the Near Northside fans at the Old Town School of Folk Music. As it turned out, Hobart came north not just to play for his thousands of admirers, but also to meet them, talk with them, and give himself and his wife a chance to see a bit of the country, go shopping, and break the routine he normally follows when he is at home in his native Saltville, Virginia.

All this testifies to the amazing vitality of this ex-farmer and ex- butcher, who, after a crippling heart attack and other inroads of advanced age, decided to forswear a sedentary existence and roam the country, delight- ing college students, professors, and the general public with ole-timey Appalachian music. Those who have seen and heard Hobart Smith agree that the man is simply a ball of fire; he has no desire to settle down, and each concert, with its concomitant applause, adulation, and petitions for instruction in the art of music-making, merely eggs him on and drives him to perform his music more often, and, not surprisingly, better. Those who have followed Hobart's career agree that, rather than going downhill, Hobart is actually improving. At an age when most men are fixing to lie back on the oars, the venerable Virginian is fiddling and picking faster and cleaner than ever.

The Chicago Daily News (October 5, 1963) interviewed Smith when he was in town for the Old Town concert and reported that he was highly immodest about his own talents: "I think I have a born gift in me," he was quoted. "I don't know any music at all--can't read a note--but I've just got all this music in my head." Carrying on in his native tradition of justified boasting, Hobart asserted: "My daddy, King Smith, learn't me to play (the banjo). I took to it so natural that when I come to the house Mama would tell old King to put his banjo by and let somebody play it who could."

Nothing at Sm.ith's Urbana concert seemed to negate anything he had said. He began by picking the "Coo-coo Bird," and though it was not as haunting as Clarence Ashley's arrangement, it still left no doubt that Hobart is a fine banjo picker. The third number, "Bangint Breakdown," was the first selection that really showed off Smith's marvelous style. Beating on the banjo head with his fingers, frailing in a highly syncopated rhythm and a weird African scale, Hobart displayed the kind of banjo artistry once rampant among the Negroes and now almost totally lost. Turning to "Soldier's Joy" he displayed a degree of wizardry on the fiddle which can be topped only by Canada's Jean Carignan. The audience, even that part of it which is not accustomed to fiddle music, immediately recognized the level of Hobart's fiddle artistry and rewarded him with the kind of applause that showed awareness not only of his technical polish, but of the rollicking jumpiness of the old dance which Hobart inter- preted so perfectly. His renditions of "Sourwood Mountain" and "John Brownit had the same effect. In the area of guitar-picking and blues we must recognize a wholly different side of Hobart Smith--the Smith who, in his early days was a close friend and disciple of the immortal Blind Lemon Jefferson. The result is a unique phenomenon--a white son of Virginia who can sing and interpret the Negro blues as the Negro himself can. This amazing cross-pollination of styles and traditions is just one of the factors that make Hobart Smith so valuable to our studies of music, for Hobart contains within himself a whole chapter of American history. He lives at the crossroads of America, where Negro and white have exchanged pieces of their traditions and cultures, each carrying away artifacts belonging to the other. The fact that Hobart Smith made this transition painlessly over fifty years ago and takes joy in it today is a healthy sign for our future.

There seems to be no end to Hobart's strength and drive. At the party given in his honor after the concert the old farmer sat in a chair while students flocked around to light his cigarette, compliment him, and pump him for information on his life and his music. He did not tire. Mrs. Smith, recalling the anguished days after Hobart's heart attack (which put him so far out of condition that he had to re-learn virtually his entire repertoire), told how the doctor had said that Hobe should not only continue to ramble about and play his music, but should be encouraged. Lack of activity, with- holding of contracts with those who appreciate his music, would undermine his health faster than any amount of activity could. So Hobart took to the road again, picking, fiddling, sobbing out the blues, and even doing a dance onstage.

What drives him? God only knows. But in the same breath we might add: "Thank the Lord he's seen fit to let Hobart Smith continue l" We need him and his kind, and as Hobe would be the first to agree, he has a standing invitation in Urbana, and wherever else that there are people who like to hear a good tune well played, and a good story well told.

F. K. Plous, Jr.

HOBART SMITH ON TV

Hobart Smith is very probably the first traditional singer to appear on Candy Cane, a childrens' program on WILL-TV. On October 11, Hobart enter- tained pre-school children, singing three songs--"Railroad Bill," "Little Sweetheart," and "In the Pines." He exhibited "dazzling guitar work" according to Bill Korbus, WILL-TV art director and director of the show.

TAPE EXCHANGE

I am interested in contacting other folk music enthuiasts for the purpose of exchanging tape recordings of folks music--recordings made from records, FM broadcasts, live performances. I tape usually at 3-3/h or 7-1/2 IPS, h track, 7" tape, mylar preferred. If any of you members are interested I would appreciate receiving a list of your offers and wants. I have an extensive collection of tapes and recordings available and will send list of haves and wants upon request. LCDR John W. Beale, SC, USN Command & Staff Course, Naval War College Newport, Rhode Island CAMPUS FOLKSONG CLUB Treasurer's Report For September 19, 1963 to November 6, 1963

Gross Income Expenses

Membership $507.00 $ 16.00 Workshop 91.00 0.00 Records 302.45 37.15 Autoharp 0.00 8.33 Concerts 0.00 197.56 Archives 0.00 10.50 Folksings 0.00 8.12 Business Meetings 0.00 15.13

Total $900.45 $292.79

Gross income: $900.45 Less expenses: 292.79 Gives net income: $607.56 Plus cash on hand 9-19: 309.09 Gives cash on hand 11-6: $916.75

Report submitted by

Jont Allen, Club Treasurer

CLUB MMF- R5HFlP COMEf TO OWNLY A NICKEL A WEEK, ( INTA LLMF- NT FI A,,lCINM6 AVAILABLE OtY IU EXTRýAAE t4AKFPH(P 0A5- 5 )

GLENN OHRLIN: An Autobiographical Letter to Campus Folksong Club Friends

I was born in Minnesota Oct. 26, 1926. As long as I can remember I wanted to be a rider and when I was about 12 started working and hanging around stables, dude ranches, stock yards and what have you, to get experience. Sometimes I'd get a dollar a day, sometimes just the rides. In the spring of 43 I was buckarooing in Nevada. I was 16 at the time. When July 4th rolled around all the cowboys (buck- aroos in Nevada) went to Caliente, Nevada for the annual rodeo. So I got started rodeoing then. I started riding bareback broncs for $2.50 a head mount money. The other events were contest and I thought I'd like the bare back best. During 43 and 44 I cowboyed on ranches in Nevada, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, and California. Also entered an occasional rodeo when possible. 45 and 46 was in the Army, from h7 through 50 I rodeod full time as a contestant in the bareback riding, and starting in 49 in the saddle bronc. I have always made a few rodeos every year since, mainly in the saddle bronc riding. I joined the Cowboys Turtle Association at the Tucson, Arizona rodeo in 1944. The "Turtles" was the forerunner of the Rodeo Cowboys Assn. which is the present organization of professional rodeo contestants and contract people.

The last rodeo I made was at Andalusia, Alabama this year Oct. 4, 5, 6. I placed in the bronc riding there. In Feb. 48 at Tucson I had a hell of a fall off a bareback bronc and broke my back. Was in a cast for three months. I got started riding broncs again shortly before Christmas the same year. That summer after the cast was off I had a job exercising jumping horses which toughened me up again in pretty good shape. Have lived in Mountain View, Arkansas since Sept. 54. We have a bunch of Angus cattle (grade). I get away to rodeo once in a while also knock around with my guitar a bit. Played a lodge for a couple months early this summer. Was a pretty good lick. I have been playing the guitar as long as I can remember and singing mostly cowboy songs and any others that appealed to me. I think that right here in the Ozarks is the greatest concentration of musicians and singers I ever run across. There are a few Old People here that give me songs. Especially Sam Hess, a cowman in his 8 0's. I picked up a lot of my guitar work in Japan also in the Southwest. And I work on guitar literature at home a lot so am mostly self taught. The first chords I learned from an Aunt. She played in the old way with the fingers of the right hand. I hate a pick with a purple passion.

Am sending some pictures (4) please be careful with them as I don't have many rodeo pictures. The picture of "Wahoo" unloading me at Phoenix in 49 is a lousy pic of me but a good example of my bareback riding. The saddle bronc pic was taken at Bartlett, Nebraska in 50. My old traveling partner Joe Cavanaugh is seen in the announcers booth above the chutes. Joe was one of the genuine wild men I have rodeod with. A bull rider as well as an announcer. When I was in Nebraska rodeoing and camping at Chambers, Nebraska with Joe I got in a lot of singing as the ranchers there were nearly all Irish. Now it seems funny to think of a bunch of Cowboys singing "Galway Bay" with tears in their eyes but it seemed logical at the time. One old song I heard around those parts was "Boston Burglar" also "21 Years" and "Moonlight and Skies." Maybe it isn't necessary to mention they also knew "Barbara Allen." I almost dried all those Irish up with the "Hell Bound Train" but a sad one sent em back to the suds again. There was one weird episode up in that country where I won a grease gun and a cold steel chisel at a rodeo. No other cowboy can make that statement. There is a rough joke involved with the day the saddle bronc pic was taken at Bartlett, Nebraska. Joe got even for a rough joke I played on him a week earlier. On the group pic I'm the one with the white straw hat at the East end. The other boys in hats are cowboys I rodeod with, X Brands and Denny Krache. They rode bareback broncs. Pic was taken in Burbank, California in 48 shortly after the cast was removed from my broken back. It don't look like I was much worried does it? The other men were just guys that lived in the same bar.

Well I could go on and on but maybe you can glean enough out of this mess.

--November 1, 1963--

GLENIN OHRLIN CONCERT

Saturday, December 14, 1963, 8:00 p.m.

Smith Recital Hall

Admission by Membership Card

Membership Open

Ernie Deane ("The Arkansas Traveler") writes a daily local color column for The Arkansas Gazette. In his state-wide travels he recently covered the Ozark Folk Festival, and responded--as did the Club members who were there--to two performers in particular: 'May Kennedy McCord and Glenn Ohrlin. We excerpt from his comments:

May's both a singer and a writer in the folklore field. She has brought her talents to the Festival at Eureka Springs throughout the 16 years it has been held in recent times, and in fact she appeared on a program in "Eureky" some 30 years ago. May accompanies herself on the guitar. One of her songs of unrequited love, "Lady Mary," that went well this year has a line in it, "Oh, I was nothing to him, but he was the world to me."

I like the humorous ones better, however. She did me the great favor of singing me one of these backstage, which goes like this: "Somebody stole my old 'coon dog--And I wish they'd bring him back.--He drove the big hawgs over the fence--And the little ones through the crack.--Oh, get out of the way of the fiddler--Oh, get out of the way of the fiddler--Oh, get out of the way of the fiddler--Way back in Rackensack the !" Well, friends, I wish you could have heard it the way I did. Rack- ensack, incidentally, is an oldtime name for the Ozarks region of Arkansas, not always spoken as a compliment.

One of the outstanding newcomers to the Festival is a talented guitarist, Glenn Ohrlin of Stone County, who earns at least some of his keep as a professional bronco rider. Don't figure him to be the usual "singing cowboy" type, however.

Glenn sings such numbers as "The Hell-Bound Train" and "The Lane County Bachelor," accompanying himself, and then he switches to a fiery flamenco piece-- without words--in which he shows some exceptional talent as an instrumentalist. He captured the crowd more than once. IMPRESSIONS OF THE 16TH ANNUAL OZARKS FOLK FESTIVAL

Music, music, music,--morning, noon, and night,--that was the 16th Annual Ozark Folk Festival in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Fiddlers, guitarists, banjoists, mandolinists, and even jawbone and pickin' bow players--they were all there, especially the fiddlers. There must have been five of them for every guitarist. And of course, the music was so toe-tappin' that people just had to dance. Competition square dancers were there to do that, but the crowd stealers every time were the little old ladies with their gray hair and steel rimmed glasses coming out of the audience to do a jig.

There was so much demand to see and hear the music, that not only were the three evening concerts in the auditorium sold out at 1500 people each, but there were large crowds at the two afternoon concerts, and that still wasn't enough. There was the continual sound of music from the little park band shell next to the hotel. There, the crowd was much more uninhibited, and interested in swapping elbow-jabbing, knee-slapping stories as well as listening to the music.

Jimmie Driftwood managed the formal concerts in the auditorium, draw- ing his talent from members of the Rackensack Folklore Society in Stone County, but people from Carrol County knew the old music too. One old timer--banjer in hand, hearing a rumor that there might be some singing in town--mosied into the park thinking that he might like to swap a mite. No, he wouldn't get up on the platform in front of all those microphones because he couldn't "play all those fancy chords." But he sure could frail, and recollect a ballad or two in the process.

Sitting at the concert Thursday evening was a strange experience for this writer. A handfull of college students dotted the audience, which was largely made up of local folks come to hear their own music--music their fathers and grandfathers sang to them as children--music which they never bothered to label as the scholars of today would desire, folk music. This same folk music, imported from those hills and placed before the campus folkniks loses some of its natural charm when the college group feels bound to like it just because it's what the authorities call folk music. No such educational barrier was imposed between much of the audience and the performers at the Eureka Springs concerts. However, many of the college students who arrived later in the weekend could not rationalize their ideas of folk music with what they heard.

Those who could not get in to the concerts proceeded to celebrate the big University of Arkansas football victory over Tulsa on Saturday in the few available bars in town and the usual calamity resulted. The unprepared townsfolk eventually were forced into throwing them out and closing the bars. Some students of course, were wandering around town with guitars in hand, wanting to sing--and they did try, but it was a good feeling to win for a change. One comment from another student touched the feelings of the crowd when he said, "We drove 500 miles to get away from your brand of folk music, mister." Another time, a local fiddler appeared, wanting to play, but was unable to do so because a professional square dance fiddler was fluffing his feathers, but did that professional fiddler ever get his comeuppance. The local man requested one of the old Irish hornpipes, and proceeded to calmly pick up the melody line after Mr. Pro made a few bobbles. That was the last tune Mr. Pro attempted, suddenly remembering that he had to be somewhere else. Sure there was some modern country music, but the best applause always went to the old timey players. The clincher was the inevitable coffee house folknik in the audience who was itching something fierce to sing one of his own compositions. The audience listened, and he got some applause--the kind that said, "We're hospitable people, and won't be rude to our guests." Not that he actually was bad, but he was terribly out of place.

Eureka Springs, a town of about 2000, saw its best days around 1900 when the area was a gathering place for the wealthy to look at the Ozarks and drink medicinal waters from the town's many springs. For- tunately, all of the charm from that time is still there today. Leaving the bright neon-lit modern motels on the ridge outside of town to go down the hill into town is stepping back some sixty years in time. The business district and the old houses are just as they were with no attempt made to "modernize." They've had enough sense not to ease their traffic congestion with four lane race tracks. Friendliness was a commonplace, and 'twas truly genuine.

Almeda Riddle, singing the ballads that made her famous, Uncle Absie Morrison, 87 years old and still playing his fiddle, and that whole fabulous Morrison clan around the piano singing hymns on Sunday morning-- those were the old timers. However, lest we be too quick to infer that the old traditions are dying, there was Glenn Ohrlin singing his cowboy songs, Paulette Reeves fiddling "Soldier's Joy" with the best of them, Doc and Martha Hollister singing the ballads, and at least three children less than ten years old singing hymns and humerous songs such as "Sweet Betsy from Pike." This truly is a folk rich area, and one that should be explored for the purpose of bringing some Ozark people to this campus.

~~2Y .111 p

- .-- ~----,---- _ -...."_ II. - - ~--- -__ - - ._V_ih~i -. FURTHER IMPRESSIONS OF THE OZARK FOLK FESTIVAL

Ten of us from the U of I decided to take off from our studies for a few days and seek excitement and a change of scene down in the Ozarks. Our excuse was the 16th annual Ozark Folk Festival, October 3, h, 5. It took us about ten hours to drive to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where upon arriving, six of the group, apparently determined to keep up the habits of civilization, retired to their motels, while four others, including myself, drove seven miles out to a place called Beaver, where we pitched camp.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights saw us at the concerts, which were crammed full of good performers rounded up by Jimmie Driftwood. But just as excellent were the concerts given by the townspeople, who donned 19th century gowns and bonnets in honor of the occasion. One old gentleman, Elmer, sported coattails, and a top hat which covered his long white hair. His appearance was made more picturesque by the way he wore his hair--tied in a knot, George Wash- ington style. He stood over six feet tall and strutted proudly up and down the street showing off his finery. W-herever we went, we struck up conversation with the townspeople who were very friendly and open. I recall one elderly lady who showed us her mouth-harp and reminisced about what the town was like in the good old days. She recommended a restaurant to us; however, we later found out that it had changed its name years ago.

Apparently some of the townspeople were irate about not being invited to perform at the formal concerts. Undaunted, many of them congregated in the town square and held their own concert, square dances, and what have you. Occasionally, they even broke into the twist (which, needless to say, dis- illusioned us a little.)

A very interesting incident occurred after the Friday night concert. Many of the performers and visiting college students wanted to continue playing. After being kicked out of three hotels, we finally resorted to the band-shell in the town square. There, an argument ensued which literally almost led to bloodshed, over who was going to play. The opposition consisted of a "Kingston Duo" who wanted to play that type of music. The rest of us voiced our dis- approval loudly. The Duo, seeing that they were outnumbered, left in a huff, thoroughly convinced, I'm sure, that the remaining people had absolutely no conception of what good folk music really was (or what folk music really was.) The significance of the conflict was that for once the majority of people at the band-shell (purists one and all) did not want to hear a lie. We can turn on the radio and television any old time and hear distorted music. To put it simply and bluntly, we went down to the Ozarks to hear Truth, to hear people singing within the context of a culture which belongs to them.

Evidence of the conflict exhibited itself in the whole town. Eureka Springs, like many other old towns, is caught between the old tradition and the flow of time and change. Old buildings and hotels exist beside new ones. What struck me as particularly ironic, even ludicrous, was that here were people walking about in their 19th century clothes, which wouldn't look out of place if they were worn everyday in Eureka Springs, while rock and roll songs blared out into the street from the jukebox in a small tavern. I keep having nightmares that the townspeople put the whole show on purely for the benefit of the tourists and actually never touch their fiddles otherwise. Of course, the latter is only the figment of my overworked imagination, but how long will it be before a culture is completely obliterated by the tempo of modern times?

It is my hope that the Ozark Folk Festivals will continue to stimulate interest in authentic music, which will undoubtedly have to exist side by side with the newer forms.

Benette Rottman

"LYRICS AND LEGENDS" SCHEDULE

(All shows on WILL-TV at 7:30 p.m.)

SEA SONGS--November 20--features Frank Warner, Sam Eskin and E. G. Huntington singing sea chanties.

LUMBERING SONGS--November 27--featuring Bonnie Dobson, Sam Eskin, and Garret and Jeff Warner.

TRADITIONAL BALLAD--December h--features Jean and Edna Ritchie singing British ballads.

BROADSIDE BALLAD--December 11--features Ed McCurdy and Bonnie Dobson. This program was filmed in Mystic, Connecticut.

NEGRO RELIGIOUS MUSIC--December 18--features Katie Bell Nubin.

MEXICAN-AMERICAN BORDER SONGS--January 8--features Mexican singers of the "corrido" and an interview with a 100-year old man.

CCWBOY SONGS--January 15--features Harry Jackson, folk singer, working cowboy, and a noted painter and sculptor.

OUTLAW BALLADS--January 22--features Oscar Brand, Ellen Stekert and Shel Kagan.

SQUARE DANCE PLAY PARTY--January 29--features the Ritchie family.

THE ROOTS OF HILLBILLY MUSIC--February $--features Maybelle Carter, Clarence and Tom Ashley and Mose Ranger.

LABOR AND MODERN--February 12--features Huddie Ledbetter, Pete Seeger, and members of the Philadelphia Chapter of CORE. BLUES TO

The Origin Jazz Library, directed by Bill Givens and Pete Whelan, is a reissue series on LP's of some of the most important and exciting blues and folk music ever recorded in this country. To date, five albums containing 70-odd numbers released between 1927 and 19h0 on Vocalion, Champion, OKeh, Paramount, Victor, Gennett and other labels have appeared. Many of the selections are taken from 78's of the greatest rarity which have been much sought by collectors, occasionally heard of, only infrequently heard.

In all, the 0JL releases mirror an extraordinary variety of songs, vocal and instrumental styles and combinations, and talents. In one direction, they uncover the personal, often coruscating, starkly uncompromising music of men who were at the roots of what now is described as 'country' blues. In another, they open upon the insinuating purposiveness of blues and 'novelty' music reacting to and acting upon the format and corpus of the medicine show, the variety theater, and other channels of social entertainment in settings one step removed from the backwoods. Collectively, the recordings resuscitated by OJL reflect the nomadic history of songs and song makers, the kinship in materials and methods of folk chroniclers, and the resourcefulness and creativity of a succession of little-known, if not unknown, singers and instrumentalists. Attractively produced, as soniely respectable as the condition of the original 78's would permit the transfers to be, and as well documented as the available biographical (not to say, discographical, which is withheld) information permits, the OJL releases constitute an invaluable, musically satisfying collection of blues, ballads, and songs of historic performance and continuing influence and importance.

CHARLIE PATTONI 1929-32. Charlie Patton (vocals, guitar) w/ Henry Sims (fiddle), on 1-3. High Sheriff Blues. Green River Blues. Elder Green Blues 1. Moon Going Down. Going to Move to Alabama 2. I Shall Not Be Moved. Stone Poney Blues. Frankie and Albert. Runnin' Wild Blues 3. Some These Days I'll Be Gone. I'm Goin' Home. Poor Me. OJL-1.

Charlie Patton, whose thick speech and harsh, droning voice underscore the blunt realities of the Mississippi life of which he sings, is a magnificent performer on Moon Going Down. Here, the accelerating tempo of the guitar sharply complements the strutted cadence of Patton's dramatic "Lord, I think I heard that ... railroad whistle ... railroad whistle ... railroad whistle--Blowl" On the other hand, Patton's way with I Shall Not Be Moved is as unbending as the declarant proclaims his faith to Fe. Yet, the phrasal elasticity and tonal colorations of Patton's Stone Poney Blues and his effective, hummed ornamentation in High Sheriff Blues reveal the Delta singer to be a much more versatile performer than his frequently monolithic approach to singing would suggest. REALLYJ THE COUNTRY BLUES 1927-1933. TOMMY JOHNSON (vocal, guitar w/ 2nd guitar) -- Maggie Campbell Blues. WILLIAM MOORE (guitar)--Old Country Rock. SON HOUSE (guitar)--My Black Mama, pts. 1 & 2. SUNNY BOY & HIS PALS (guitar)--France Blues. SKIP JAMES (guitar)--Devil Got 'y Woman. ISHMAN BRACEY (guitar)--Woman Woman Blues. SAM COLLINS (guitar)--The Jail House Blues. GEORGE "BULLET" WILLIAMS (w/ harmonica)--Touch Me Light Mama. HENRY SIMS (vocal; fiddle) w/ CHARLIE PATTON (guitar)--Tell Me Man Blues. BUSTER JOHNSON (w/ fiddle, guitar, mandolin, washboard)--Undertaker Blues. HENRY THOMAS (guitar)--Don't Ease Me In. GARFIELD AKERS (vocal, guitar w/ 2nd guitar)--Cottonfield Blues, pts. 1 & 2. OJL-2.

The survey of singers, groups, and styles here is probably the single best anthology /1fcountry performers of the 'greatest' obscurity--and talent7 of its kind on long-play. Mention of several selections does not detract from the remaining numbers, all of which are impressive and stand in documentation of the vigorous health of the blues of an earlier day. Typically effective are the lilting instrumental line spun by William Moore as he 'talks' through an invitation to 'everyone' to 'rock' on Old Country Rock; the superb vocal and crisply percussive guitar work of Skip James on Devil Got My Woman; the 'preaching' delivery of Son House in My Black Mama; the baldfeld -holler-to- harmonica accompaniment of George Williams' Touch Me Light Mama; and the latticed rhythms of the pair of guitars which p-uIsate against the wails and moans of Garfield Akers in Cottonfield Blues.

HENRY THOMAS SINGS THE TEXAS BLUES. Henry Thomas (vocals, guitar and shepherd's pipe). Texas Worried Blues. Cottonfield Blues. Run, Mollie, Run. Honey, Won't You Allow Me One More Chance. The Fox and the Hounds. Bob McKinney. Bull Doze Blues. Texas Easy Street Blues. Woodhouse Blues. When the Train Comes Along. The Little Red Caboose. Red River Blues. Shanty Blues. John Henry. OJL-3.

Henry Thomas, to whose extraordinary performances of ballads and blues this volume is devoted, is the unqualified surprise of the OJL issues. The sweep of his balladry is exceptional and Thomas' acquaintance with a world of songs and legends without the reach of most of his OJL 'colleagues' will be unanticipated by most listeners. From a magnificent Fox and Hounds (with an uncanny representation of baying hounds via a shepherd's pipe) through Run, Mollie, Run, with its far-ranging storehouse of lyrics, to a startling Tblues', Shanty Blues, whose stylistic conception and lineal rather than chordal instrument-a accompaniment compels attention and brings to mind the great religious singer and guitarist, Blind Willie Johnson, Henry Thomas stands in the tradition of a select number of gifted balladeers. About Henry Thomas, the man, no sliver of information could be found by OJL at the time fa the preparation of Vol. 3.

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K - i- THE GREAT JUG BANDS 1927-1933. CANNONJS JUG STOMPERS--Heart Breakin' Blues, Goin' to Germany. MEMPHIS MINNIE & HER JUG BAND--Grandpa and Grandma. Blues. BIRMINGHAM JUG BAND--Getting Ready for Trial, German Blues. JACK KELLY & HIS SOUTH MEMPHIS JUG BAND--Cold Iron Bed, Red Ripe Tomatoes. WHISTLER & HIS JUG BAND--The Jug Band Special. MEMPHIS JUG BAND--Coal Oil Blues, Jug Band Waltz. ELDER RICHARD BRYANT'S SANCTIFIED SINGERS--Come Over Here. DIXIELAND JUG BLOWERS--Garden of Joy Blues. KENTUCKY JUG BAND--Walkin' Cane Stomp. NOAH LEWIS' JUG BAND--New Minglewood Blues, Ticket Agent Blues. MEMPHIS SHIEKS--He's in the Jailhouse Now. OJL-h.

Jug bands are revealed in many of their shapes and sounds in this anthology. "Bumptious" best describes the spirit in which the more lively examples of jug band music traditionally have been performed, but the range of the repertoire of the jug band and its willingness (even determination) to fit itself into a wide variety of social situations requiring singing, or drinking, or dancing, or praying, or selling, or crowd-gathering or -pleasing music lend alternative emphases to style and content as OJL-h demonstrates. The sophistication and 'location' of a group such as the Memphis Shieks may be reflected along several dimensions. Their He's in the Jailhouse Now (1930) displays not only a 'professional' instrumental polish but also a set of documentary lyrics (en route to its use as 'comic' entertainment): "I remember last election, Jim Jones got in action/ Said he'd vote for the man that paid the biggest price/ Next day at the polls, he voted with heart and soul/ But instead of voting once, he voted twice. He's in the jailhouse now; he's in the jailhouse now/ Instead of him staying at home letting those white folks' business along/ He's in the jailhouse now." Equally as striking, but for other reasons, are the performances of Noah Lewis' Jug Band, whose musical identity listeners who have heard Sleepy John Estes will be quick to detect (Estes may be on New Minglewood and Ticket Agent) and of Whistler's frisky and nimble banjoist and equally unfrisky scat vocalist on The Jug Band Special.

THE MISSISSIPPI BLUES 1927-1940. BUKKA WHITE (guitar, w/ washboard on l)--The Panama Limited, Special Streamline 1. WILLIE BROWN (guitar)--Future Blues, M & 0 Blues. KID BAILEY (w/ 2 guitars)--That's No Way to-Get Along, I Do Blues. MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT (guitar)--Got the Blues, Can't Be Satisfied; Louis Collins. WILLIAM HARRIS (guitar)--Bullfrog Blues, Hot Time Blues. SKIP JAMES (piano; guitar on l)--If You Haven't Any Hay, Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues 1. SON HOUSE (guitar)--Preachin' the Blues, pts. 1 & 2. OJL-5.

This volume offers 'new' evidence of the historical richness of the State of Mississippi in superlative blues singers and instrumentalists. John Hurt, not unexpectedly, nzarupies , a special category among his gifted peers: his finely wrought Got the Blues and Louis Collins remain examples of music-making and skills which are unlike those of the great majority of blues performers who have at some time faced a recording device. At the same time, the considerable complexity of Bukka White's guitar technique and its evocation of trains in Panama Limited and Special Streamline; the flat, abrasive timbres of Willie Brown's guitar and the deep-hued expressiveness of his voice on Future Blues; and the non-pareil Preachin' the Blues of Son House (which hovers, regrettably, on the threshold of sonic failure) re-assert the personalness of the pristine blues experience and the validity of the alternative ways through whose 'different' voices and instruments that experience is brought to musical birth.

-- Ronald C. Foreman, Jr. KNOX COLLEGE CONCERT

On November 5, 1963, Campus Folksong Club dispatched a delegation of its most capable artists to Knox College (enrollment 1100) at Galesburg, in the northwestern portion of our fair state.

This was not the first time that our Club had performed the function of bringing traditional music to the hinterland. Last semester had seen a similar expedition, whose success prompted the decision to do the Grand Swing once more. The architects of the plan were Vic Lukas, External Affairs chairman of our Club, and Father Richard Means of Corpus Christi Church and the Newman Foundation at Knox, who served in the same capacity here two years ago when he was attached to St. John's here in Cham- paign. The good father is not only a churchman of prodigious talents, but a lover of traditional music as well (he betrays his background at every turn by listening to Jean Carignan playing Irish fiddle tunes), and his efforts as an organizer and party-giver at our Illinois Flatt and Scruggs concert in 1962 will not soon be forgotten.

Our troupe loaded itself into two automobiles (I fear I'm being typed as the Club's travelling correspondent; everything I write about seems to begin and end with an automobile trip), and headed for Galesburg. The lead car, driven by Jont Allen, made the trip with a minimum of delay and found Father Means' apartment with little difficulty. The second machine, piloted by Vic Lukas, who can't find the men's room half the time, rambled in 45 minutes later, thus completing our group with a scarce half-hour to spare. Father Means, dispensing hospitality in his best fashion, met us at the door with chilled beer, getting the evening off to a ripping start.

The complement of our road company included Vic Lukas, Jane Black, Simon Stanfield, Larry Crowley, Sue Levin, Jont Allen, myself, and, by a stroke of good fortune, Emmanuel Dunn, the Louisiana blues artist who had given us our second membership concert the night before. We felt that the group was a fair sample of the kind of music our Club enjoys and listens to at its regular folksings. There was one exception; we could have used Dave Huehner and his cowboy songs, but Dave wasn't there, and I, for one, missed the throb of his monster guitar, which, rumor has it, was manufactured as a graduate engineer's project by the Caterpillar Tractor Company. Thus assembled, we arrived at the Newman Foundation, a bright and airy hall, where we were introduced to a crowd of about 500, including, as I was told, the president of the College.

When a hall is filled with 500 wide-eyed devotees of traditional music and still boasts standing room only after the intermission you can rest assured you're putting on a good show. If the auidence we played to was any example, there must be a very healthy spirit afoot at Knox College. The students displayed a level of appreciation that bordered on devotion. Further, they displayed little of the phony, unwashed posturing that distinguishes the professional cultist. Alert, healthy-looking and responsive, they accepted us for what we were (singers of folksongs, as I pointed out in my introductory remarks), and thus enjoyed the motley mixture of hoedowns, ballads, blues, and lyrics we presented.

Only the high points need be covered in this essay: for instance, almost everything that Emmanuel did was recognized as great. Perhaps the most engaging of his numbers, however, was "Smokey Joe," his harmonica show-off piece in which he imitates the sound of a train. Fortunately, just as he was working the wheels and rods of the locomotive, a train did pull out of Galesburg from the Burlington depot, three blocks away. The effect on the music was electric. Emmanuel's unaccompanied rendition of "My Mama Taught Me How to Pray" had a similar effect on the crowd; they were moved by its sincerity. Larry Crowley did the same thing at Knox as he did here in our first folksing of the year; he delighted the crowd with his rendition of "Take a Whiff on Me," a song that is fast becoming his trademark. Sue Levin, to the everlasting gratitude of F. K. Plous, who asked for it, sang her arrangement of "Bill Bailey" and nearly started a riot. Vic Lukas, beating the strings in rhythm while yours truly fiddled "Sally Goodin'," is to be commended for resurrecting this near-dead custom and bringing it back from Arkansas for the fans to hear. They loved it.

There occurred one incident which has been puzzling my mind ever since it first happened at a folksing this summer. This is the author's unaccompanied ballad, "Sweeney Todd, the Barber," a rather humdrum English music hall song which I learned from record. Whenever I sing the piece the audience seems to love it, though for what reason I cannot say. The song itself has always impressed me as being far inferior to most of our legitimate American folksongs, and to tell the truth, my own rendition does not improve its moribund condition. But the fans seem to like it, and when I sprung it on the crowd at Galesburg it garnered the same harvest of laughs and gasps--reactions directed, it seems to me, not so much at the s ong itself as at the singers audacity in displaying it (and himself) before real ladies and gentlemen. Ah, well, there isn't a mother's son of us can predict the public taste.

The concert over, we adjourned to the basement of the Catholic High School, where Father Means had arranged a party. To the credit of the Knox Folksong Club, about half the audience at the concert simply followed us over to the school and proceeded to listen further as we cranked out our favorites, some of which were not even polished. A group of blues fanatics plied Emmanuel with questions, and when your author played the fiddle a few of the more daring residents of Galesburg began to dance. One worthy, as a matter of note, began doing a Highland Fling on top of a ping-pong table, but he shortly met his doom when he tripped over the net, causing a nasty gash on the lip. His partner, a quick thinking little woman, immediately pulled off one of her nylons and fashioned a tourniquet for the fellow's neck, which stopped the bleeding almost immediately. Unfortunately, gangrene quickly followed, and in a few moments the poor chap's head fell off. I quickly rushed to the young girl's side to offer my condolences, and she assured me she had no hard feelings. As a token of her graditude she presented me with her boyfriend's skull, which I am now using as a centerpiece. We planted African violets in the eye sockets.

The rest is a mad whirl of confusion, because someone had cleverly insinuated some sort of alcoholic mixture into my Pepsi, causing me to lose my bearings mo- mentarily. There are some, as a matter of fact, who claim that the above-mentioned incident never took place, and that I manufactured it while in wine; the careful reader, however, familiar with the veracity of my past accounts in these pages, will no doubt recognize my critic for the sneak that he is.

As a result of the foregoing highjinks, nobody got to bed before five in the morning. I confess, this was my first engagement as a musical artist and the experience had gone to my head. When we set sail for Urbana at one o'clock Sunday afternoon it was a good thing Jont was at the helm, for I was navigating by the stars in my eyes and would probably have wound up in the Effingham city dump. Sue Levin, with the fatalistic shrug of the born trouper, piled into the car and immediately lapsed into an even-breathing stupor, failing to wake even for accidents. Larry, likewise esconsed in the back seat, displayed his own disregard for the dangers of highway driving by pulling his coat over his eyes and Courting Morpheus with a good deal of success. Thus emboldened and wizened by success, Jont and I sat ahead, scanning the horizon, beyond which lay Champaign-Urbana, our alma mater, and the Mid. Western citadel of tradition. Behind us lay a college of 1100 students, half of whoi had seen fit to listen to us the night before, and whose loyalties we now owned. Ahead lay the University of Illinois, with all its towering bulk and myria dangers-- Unicops, dish shaped-buildings, Archie Green. Was it any wonder that I was suddenly asking myself: "Wouldn't you be happier at a small school?" F.K. Plous, Jr. CFC

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beginner's guitar workshop/ Bill Becker

tape and p.a. chairman/ A. Doyle Moore John

_J Kathy Hansen 0 UO o 0 - *.