The Country, Folk & World Recommendation Thread

[Gavin B.]

Recently saw Ezza Rose open for Loudon Wainwright III. She's a young singer who plays old timey music. She has a beautiful voice and she plays guitar and fiddle.

[Lisnaholic]

Lots of fine and finely-crafted songs here, thanks to Gavin B and Mr.Charlie. Beeswing is such a nice song that I can almost understand why Richard Thompson is so highly regarded; this has always been a mystery to me, because apart from the title track of Wanna See The Bright Lights, I´ve never been really struck by his songs.
One thing I liked about theVincent Black Lightning track is the way his lyrics are accurate about British biker culture: at one point he mentions "Beezer" which was slang for the now-extinct bike manufacturer, BSA, and early in the song he also mentions riding down to Boxhill.This is a traditional biker haunt about 30 miles south of London:

Spoiler for Bikers at Boxhill:

Sorry that such a big pic doesn´t even show the reason for Boxhill´s popularity. Bikers like it because after the frustrations of London´s busy but orderly streets, Boxhill offers riders a chance to sweep and swoop down some beautiful long steep rural roads; they can lean their bikes into curves, and for once are not roundly cursed by other road users.

Nevertheless, there is always something homely about Britain, and although I just used words like long, steep and rural, don´t be deceived; Boxhill, from top to bottom can probably be done in about 2 minutes.It´s like one of those fair-ground rides that´s over before it´s begun. Boxhill can never aspire to the kind of grandeur that seems so readily available to songwriters in the USA. Stuck Inside of Dorking will always sound laughable where Stuck Inside Of Mobile carries a harder edge.

So, that´s partly why I have an enthusiasm for Americana; the lyrics, the land, have a kind of epic cowboy swagger which is unavailable to people like Richard Thompson with his ballads of life in the Home Counties. Maybe my current Americana favourites will help illustrate what I´m saying. Their delivery, their lyrics, seem to have a casual, effortless brilliance whether they are in tragic mode (Don´t Wake The Scarecrow) or having fun (Loves Me Tenderly):-

[Lisnaholic]

Anyone ever come across these guys?



It´s the band of Johnny Clegg, a white African who fell in love with the native music of Africa at a time when such an inter-racial enthusiasm was frowned upon. So, a very worthy guy who played his small part in the move towards integration. Today, though, especially when I hear some of his songs with English-language lyrics, it doesn´t feel as genuine as the material in FPK´s favourites thread, for instance. Any opinions?

[crazed]

Enjoying Lindi Ortega's Tin Star album. A mix of country & honky tonk, she's a "best kept secret" in this genre that needs discovering.




Picked up Laura Cantrell's No Way There From Here, one of her best releases to these ears.

[Gavin B.]

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

Anyone ever come across these guys?



It´s the band of Johnny Clegg, a white African who fell in love with the native music of Africa at a time when such an inter-racial enthusiasm was frowned upon. So, a very worthy guy who played his small part in the move towards integration. Today, though, especially when I hear some of his songs with English-language lyrics, it doesn´t feel as genuine as the material in FPK´s favourites thread, for instance. Any opinions?

I saw Juluka in Boston way back in the early 80s. Fantastic live show with some wild Soweto township style dancing. I also prefer Juluka's Zulu language music more than their music in English. It's very hard to find their Zula music because it wasn't as widely distributed as their English language music.

Johnny Clegg was so immersed in South African tribal culture he was nicknamed Le Zoulou Blanc ("The White Zulu"). The name Juluka is based on the Zulu word for "sweat". Because it was illegal for racially mixed bands to perform in South Africa during the apartheid era, their first album Universal Men received no air play on the state owned SABC, but it became a word-of-mouth hit.

Below is one of my favorite Juluka songs, Umfazi Omdala.

[Lisnaholic]

Originally Posted by Gavin B.

I saw Juluka in Boston way back in the early 80s. Fantastic live show with some wild Soweto township style dancing.

Le Zoulou Blanc! I bet that was quite a show. I´m impressed that you were listening to township music back then; I knew nothing about world music until Paul Simon showed me the way with Graceland, in 1986.
Anyway,thanks for responding, Gavin; I´m pleased to hear that we feel the same about those English-language lyrics, that mar some otherwise great music.

Crazed: I think I enjoyed your clips in the order that you posted them. I loved Tin Star, but then my interest began to wane...
Don´t know much about female country singers myself, unless this lady counts:-



(P.S. After listening to Laura Cantrell and Brandy Clark, I realise that Maria Muldaur is a bit of a heretic; she´s singing about an oasis rather than the kitchen, which seems to be obligatory with these country divas.)

[Gavin B.]

Paul Simon played a big role in bringing Soweto township music to the ears of America, but my first encounter with Hugh Masekela's song Grazing In the Grass in 1967 got me interested in South African music and African music in general. The song is so majestic and unlike anything I've ever heard, even today's modern music scene.



Maria Muldaur was one of the first generation Greenwich Village folkies who got started in 1966 with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, under the name of Maria D'Amator. She married Jug Band guitarist Geoff Muldaur and took his name as her stage name. Below is the only clip I could find of Maria performing with the Jug Band back in the day.

[Lisnaholic]

Oddly enough, yesterday I was listening to Grazing in the Grass,which I first heard about 3 yrs ago. Perhaps that´s why it didn´t have the impact on me that it did on you. It´s a great track, though I would reserve your description, "majestic and unlike anything I´ve heard" for Stimela Coal Train, which is in my HM thread. For that track, I´d even throw in the phrase "spine-tingling" as well:-

http://www.musicbanter.com/jazz-blue...-masekela.html


What a tantalizing clip of Maria Mulduar. What a voice, what a beauty she was ! Never seemed to get the attention she deserved, and now, as you say she is woefully under-represented on Youtube. I used to have an album of hers that had a list of backing musicians that read like a Hall of Fame - even Dr.John was content to sit in on piano for her benefit. Anyway, you´ve inspired me to do some detective work to find out why she has been so overlooked after such a promising start ...

[Gavin B.]

Maria Muldaur's self titled 1974 album was the peak of her commercial success. It reached number 3 on the Billboard chart and the single release Midnight at the Oasis reached number 6 on the singles chart. By the way, the side musicians on that album are simply amazing: Dr. John, Ry Cooder, Amos Garrett, Clarence White, David Grisman, Andrew Gold, Jim Gordon, Dave Holland, Jim Keltner, David Lindley, and Klaus Voorman are among the players in the crew.

For a brief moment in the early Seventies, Maria Muldaur was being hailed as the next Linda Ronstandt.

As the Seventies progressed Maria began to return to the less commercial blues, old time music and folk music she played in her early Greenwich Village days. She even did an album of gospel music. It became pretty clear that Ms. Mulduar was going to follow her musical vision, even if it meant falling off the top selling record sales charts. But she's maintained a steady and loyal group of fans over the decades.

Dr. John has been a longtime cohort and collaborator with Maria Muldaur. Muldaur spent most of the '80s touring, often with Dr. John. In the early Nineties she began acting in musicals, appearing in productions of Pump Boys and Dinettes and The Pirates of Penzance.

In 2001 her album Richland Women Blues was nominated for a Grammy for best traditional blues album. Ironically Richland Woman Blues was an old Mississippi John Hurt song that Maria had been performing since her days with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. That's former Lovin' Spoonful member John Sebastian playing the accompanying guitar on the song:



Since 2001 she's released 10 albums on the small independent label, Stony Plain. These albums are uniformly good and wildly eclectic, including 2 children's albums, a Dylan tribute album, 3 tributes to blues singers of the 1920s and 1930s, an album of jug band music, and tribute to the music of New Orleans with Dr. John.

[Gavin B.]

I first heard Leo Kottke perform the appropriately titled Vaseline Machine Gun at a folk festival in St. Louis in 1971. It blew my mind... nobody was playing acoustic guitar with the amount of precision, finesse & blinding speed as Mr. Kottke. At the time he was recording with Takoma Records a tiny independent label founded by fellow folk guitarist John Fahey.