Teil 3, Folk und die Wurzeln amerikanischer Musik (3-CD)

Various - Troubadours

English version with extensive linernotes: BCD 17403
3-CD Digipak mit 112-seitigem Booklet, 63 Einzeltitel. Gesamtspieldauer ca. 233 Minuten
Along with folklorist Alan Lomax, Pete Seeger was a primary figure in seeding and shaping the American folk music revival. He never viewed himself as an entertainer, nor was he particularly comfortable as a solo performer. Yet his evangelical zeal for folk music and progressive social change inspired and nurtured three generations of singer-songwriters.
Born May 3, 1919 in New York City, Pete Seeger was the third and youngest son of Charles and Constance Seeger, instructors at the New York Institute of Musical Art. The couple divorced when Peter was eight years old. In 1932 Charles married his student, Ruth Crawford, now hailed as a major 20th century composer. The couple had four children; of them, Mike and Peggy Seeger also became significant figures in American folk music.
In summer 1936, Charles and Ruth took the 17-year-old Peter to the 'Mountain Dance And Folk Festival' near Asheville, North Carolina. The youth was fascinated by the square dances and especially Bascom Lamar Lunsford's and Samantha Bumgarner's driving five-string banjo styles. Seeger spent the next five years perfecting his own banjo technique.
After dropping out of Harvard University, Seeger became involved with folk music, labor organizing and politics. Alan Lomax encouraged the youth, hiring him to catalog race and old-time music recordings held by the Archive of American Folk Song in the Library of Congress. As Seeger's confidence and musical skills grew, Lomax invited him to participate on his CBS radio show. In March 1940 Seeger met balladeer Woody Guthrie at a New York fundraiser for displaced migrant workers.
In January 1941 Seeger, Lee Hays and Millard Lampell formed the Almanac Singers, performing folk songs and incisive topical songs at meetings, private functions, and labor rallies. Singing in natural, unaffected voices and driven by Seeger's clawhammer banjo, the Almanacs fused the essence and excitement of rural Southern string bands with the passion of labor songs and the dry, clever wit of New York's cabaret entertainers. This appealing music hybrid defined the sound and style of the American folk revival, and their records inspired a generation of young musicians. During the group's brief existence, the Almanac Singers' revolving roster included Woody Guthrie, Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry, Josh White, Bess Lomax Hawes and Agnes 'Sis' Cunningham.
While serving in the army during World War II, Seeger envisioned a national movement unifying songwriters, performers, choral leaders and labor unions into a force for political and social change. After returning to New York in fall 1945, Seeger formed People's Songs. Initially drawing upon members of New York's leftist folk, theatrical and literary scenes, the organization soon opened offices in Los Angeles, Chicago and Cleveland. Two years after its founding, 2,000 folk music enthusiasts attended People's Songs' first national convention in New York.
However, People's Songs emerged as anti-Communist fervor grasped America. Many activists within the movement were or had been members of the American Communist Party. In 1948, People's Songs embraced the third-party Presidential bid of former Vice-President Henry Wallace, who advocated co-operation with the Soviet Union. Members who mistrusted the Communists broke away from the movement, while those who remained – particularly Seeger – became easy targets for right-wing zealots.
The Wallace campaign bankrupted People's Songs. To pay off its debts, the remaining activists held a fund-raising hootenanny at a New York theater in late November 1948. To accompany a folk dance ensemble, Seeger recruited guitarist Fred Hellerman, his old Almanac Singers vocalist and song leader Lee Hays, and contralto Ronnie Gilbert. The quartet clicked musically and further rehearsals refined their sound. Although they had no long-range professional aspirations, the group performed at labor functions, political rallies and on Oscar Brand's WNYC radio show, eventually adopting the name The Weavers. In December 1949 the group reluctantly accepted a week-long engagement at the Village Vanguard, a popular lower Manhattan cabaret. The response led owner Max Gordon to extend the booking through June. , Orchestra leader Gordon Jenkins caught the Weavers at the Vanguard and brokered a Decca recording contract. Their first record with Jenkins, Goodnight, Irene backed with Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, unexpectedly became 1950's biggest hit.
As their visibility rose, so did the ire of the watchdogs on the right. Harvey Matuso, a former People's Songs volunteer who fancied himself as a master of espionage, warned the FBI about the Weavers' Communist affiliations. 'Red Channels' cited Seeger for 13 Communist affiliations. Television appearances were cancelled when callers threatened sponsors with boycotts. The Knights of Columbus forced the Ohio State Fair to pull the Weavers' booking; the incident received national publicity. American Legion posts in various cities harassed nightclub owners that booked the Weavers. With each new Decca release, airplay dwindled. By 1952 the group formally disbanded, although it reunited sporadically for concerts after 1955.
Seeger resumed his solo performances, primarily in front of appreciative college audiences. He remained a target of right-wing super patriots. On August 18, 1955, Seeger was subpoenaed to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. A polite but hostile witness, he refused to answer questions about his personal and political associations. His stance led to a March 26, 1957, indictment for contempt of Congress. For the next five years Seeger was obligated to notify the federal government whenever he left the Southern District of New York. In March 1961 a jury found Seeger guilty and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The first four tracks in this collection were recorded during this period of uncertainty.
Oh, Had I A Golden Thread appeared on Seeger's 1960 Folkways collection 'Rainbow Quest.' Seeger later used it as the theme for his mid-'60s public television series. That album also yielded one of Seeger's best-loved songs, Where Have All The Flowers Gone. He wrote it in October 1955, basing it on three lines from a Ukrainian folksong Mikhail Sholokhov quoted in his 1934 novel 'And Quiet Flows The Don.' He introduced his three-verse version at an Oberlin College concert, sang it for about a year, then set it aside until he recorded it in 1959.
Joe Hickerson, later director of the Archive of Folk Song at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, attended that Oberlin concert. Hickerson was an Indiana University folklore student in early 1960 when Folkways released Seeger's 'Rainbow Quest' album. He began singing Where Have All The Flowers Gone around Bloomington coffeehouses and hootenannies. Feeling the song was too short for audience participation, Hickerson wrote two additional verses followed by a repeat of the first verse. He introduced his expanded circular version the following summer at Camp Woodland, a progressive youth camp in New York's Catskill Mountains. At the end of the season, the staff and campers brought the song to New York City, where Peter Yarrow, Noel Stookey and Mary Travers learned it for their first album as Peter, Paul and Mary. The Kingston Trio learned it from them, beating them in the marketplace with a quickly recorded single.

Medium 1
Id	Name	Interpret
1	Oh, Had I A Golden Thread	Pete Seeger
2	Where Have All The Flowers Gone?	Pete Seeger
3	Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream	Pete Seeger
4	The Bells Of Rhymney	Pete Seeger
5	Turn! Turn! Turn!	Pete Seeger
6	Song Of The Punch Press Operator	Pete Seeger
7	Waist Deep In The Big Muddy	Pete Seeger
8	From Way Up Here	Pete Seeger
9	The Clearwater	Pete Seeger
10	Last Train To Nuremberg	Pete Seeger
11	Hobo's Lullaby	Pete Seeger
12	What Have They Done To The Rain?	Joan Baez
13	We Shall Overcome	Joan Baez
14	Farewell, Angelina	Joan Baez
15	Daddy, You've Been On My Mind	Joan Baez
16	Legend Of A Girl Child Linda	Baez, Joan & Fariña, M & Collins, J
17	The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down	Joan Baez
18	Diamonds And Rust	Joan Baez
19	Now That The Buffalo's Gone
20	Cod'ine
21	The Universal Soldier
22	Until It's Time For You To Go
23	The Piney Wood Hills
24	My Country 'tis Of Thy People You're Dying

Medium 2
Id	Name	Interpret
1	On The Road Again	Tom Rush
2	No Regrets	Tom Rush
3	Merrimack County	Tom Rush
4	Joshua Gone Barbados	Eric Von Schmidt
5	Light Rain	Eric Von Schmidt
6	Won't You Tell Me	Mitch Greenhill
7	Highway 301 Blues	Mitch Greenhill
8	One Morning In May	Keith, Bill & Rooney, Jim
9	Kentucky Moonshiner	Keith, Bill & Rooney, Jim
10	Three Songs / A Look At The Ragtime Era (Sister Kate's Night Out)	Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band
11	Ginger Man	Geoff Muldaur
12	Minglewood	The Jim Kweskin Jug Band
13	Garden Of Joy	The Jim Kweskin Jug Band
14	Midnight At The Oasis	Maria Muldaur
15	South Coast	Jack Elliott
16	San Francisco Bay Blues	Jack Elliott
17	Coming In To Los Angeles	Arlo Guthrie
18	Percy's Song	Arlo Guthrie
19	Alice's Restaurant	Arlo Guthrie

Medium 3
Id	Name	Interpret
1	Daydream	The Lovin' Spoonful
2	Younger Girl	The Lovin' Spoonful
3	Darlin' Companion	The Lovin' Spoonful
4	Hey Joe (You Shot Your Woman Down)	Tim Rose
5	Louise	Paul Siebel
6	Any Day Woman	Paul Siebel
7	Sunshine	Jonathan Edwards
8	Shanty	Jonathan Edwards
9	You Don't Mess Around With Jim	Jim Croce
10	Time In A Bottle	Jim Croce
11	Bad, Bad Leroy Brown	Jim Croce
12	Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)	Jim Croce
13	I Got A Name	Jim Croce
14	The Holdup	David Bromberg
15	Danger Man	David Bromberg
16	Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)	Melanie
17	What Have They Done To My Song, Ma	Melanie
18	A Brand New Key	Melanie
19	Taxi	Harry Chapin
20	Cat's In The Cradle	Harry Chapin