Radio Show: Drinking

Wine, Whiskey and Water

Fiddler a Dram/Whiskey Before Breakfast - Tony Rice

Two Irish fiddle tunes, extracted to the Appalachians by settlers to the region that have become old time and bluegrass standards. Here performed on guitar by Tony Rice, who's flurry of flatpicking mimics the rhtyhmic bowing of the fiddle.

Of course banjo pickers love these tunes too. Below is a link to a beautiful version of Whiskey Before Breakfast performed by Donald Zepp, only short but very sweet. Zepp owns a banjo store and regularly reviews banjos that he has in stock. His liquid banjo picking has made him something of a youtube phenomenon. And from there click around his other tracks, there's not a bad one in the bunch.

Whiskey Before Breakfast - Donald Zepp

Another of my favourite zepp tunes, also of Irish extraction entitled 'Wind that Shakes the Barley'. And we all know what they make with malted barley...

And here's a link to Zepp's homepage:

http://zeppmusic.com/

Raleigh & Spencer - Laurie Lewis

San Fransico Bay Area fiddle player Laurie Lewis sings and plays a through and through bluegrass version of the old time classic. A song about running out of luck and liquor, the band ably brings the tune into the bluegrass mode and do a fantastic job, easily one of the best versions of the tune to be found anywhere. 

Old Corn Liquor - Dink Roberts

Black banjo player Dink Roberts is one of only a handful of artists recorded in this style. A driving beat and a drunk stagger make this track stick in your head. Embedded below is another rendition of the tune, this time by Joe and Odell Thompson.

Moonshiner - Roscoe Holcomb

Moonshine is a great American tradition.  Here Holcomb tells us of its perils in a haunting acapella.

Mountain Dew - The Stanley Brothers 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug8p5pVsj9U

Down the Old Plank Road - Uncle Dave Macon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqjl8Q61bA8

Soldier's Joy - The Skillet Lickers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p952jSLddg

Little Maggie - Doc & Merle Watson 

A take from the seminal bluegrass LP Home Sweet Home, the track perfectly highlights Merle's metronomic, expressive three-finger banjo picking and Doc's plain and stately singing style. A real bluegrass stomper with a bluesy kick. 

Following this link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCBRbJVZZzk will take you to an interview between Mike Seeger and Ralph Stanley discussing Little Maggie. The video includes a breakdown of Ralph's picking style and a medley performance of Little Maggie and Pretty Polly. Definitely worth a watch for the performance alone; Ralph Stanley's haunting vocals really catch a nerve.  

I've Been Drinking - Vera Ward Hall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bJeXE8tsI8

Rising Sun Blues - Clarence Ashley & Doc Watson 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfR-LL_7EEM

Drunken Hearted Man - Robert Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbwLznhwIQ8 

Hot Time's In Old Town Tonight - Mississippi John Hurt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mbWIdInNRQ

Moonshinin' (Interview) - Ally Bain & Tommy Jarrell 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urB_EuOb2rY

Cider Mill - Tommy Jarrell, Fred Cockerham, Oscar Jenkins 

Classic "Round-Peak"  banjo & fiddle piece featuring the rhythmic short bowing of Mt. Airy fiddler Tommy Jarrell. Accompanied on this track by Fred Cockerham & Oscar Jenkins pulsing in the background with trademark slides and choppy double-thumbing.

Way Downtown - Jody Stecher & Kate Breslin 

Way Downtown - Doc & Merle Watson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W13_yCaSL40&feature=related 

Dance All Night With a Bottle in Your Hand - Appalachian String Band
Fantastic modern old-time string band (a contradiction in terms?) of a great dance tune. Smooth fiddle and a great pulse to this track.

Old Rub Alcohol - Dock Boggs 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsHYOP-e_i4

Frankie and Johnny - Big Bill Broonzy 

Drinking of the Wine - Bascom Lamar Lunsford

A beautiful spiritual adapted for solo voice and banjo by folklorist Bascom Lamar Lunsford. His introduction to the piece really shows how the times have changed.

Darling Cora - Mike Seeger
Mike Seeger's version of the mountain ballad. A tale of lost love and liquor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_G0vVo7zBU

Intoxicated Rat - Doc Watson

Son House: Hipster?

Found this video of Son House looking particularly fly... Swear he shops in Shoreditch. Excuse the mislabelling, the real title of the track is Death Letter Blues. Really sweet performance, check out the whining slide guitar.

Ramblin' On

America is vast. So inevitably travel became and continues to be an American lyric tradition. Whether its fleeing town or just rambling on, travel is a theme that permeates through the folk music of the entire nation.

High and Lonesome Radio ep. 1 - Ramblin' On by High and Lonesome Radio



Excuse the roughness and technical hiccups in our first foray into the nerve-wracking world of live radio... The show starts about a minute or two in.





Gaither Carlton - Ramblin' Hobo

A stately, solemn banjo instrumental to start the show. Fiddle and banjo legend Gaither Carlton, father-in-law to bluegrass hero Doc Watson displaying his irrefutable talent on the five string banjo.

Doc and Merle Watson – The Train that Carried My Girl From Town


Flat-picking guitar hero Doc Watson and his son Merle playing this bluegrass classic, originally composed by the late Wade Mainer who died this September at the age of 104. The clip below shows him playing along with David Holt (slide guitar) in a recent performance from 2010, goes to show he is still king of bluegrass guitar. 

Here is Wade Mainer's version of Train 45.

Kossoy Sisters – Derby Ram

Sixties folk revival duo the Kossoy Sisters, best known for their performance of I'll Fly Away on the Cohen Brother's classic Oh Brother Where art Thou? singing a traditional English ballad with a catchy chorus and absurd imagery. Good vibes and sweet singing.

Alice Gerrard and Hazel Dickens – The One I Love is Gone

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Orange Blossom Special

A bluegrass standard performed by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Orange Blossom Special was a passanger train that ran right from NYC to Miami. The fantastic Vassar Clements' fiddle playing takes centre stage as he mimics the rocking, rolling ride of the early steam locomotives. Some of the fastest, most eloquent bluegrass fiddling you're likely to hear on any record. 

Bill Monroe – It’s Mighty Dark to Travel

The father of bluegrass sings a melancholic ballad of lost love in his distinctive, haunting falsetto. Smooth fiddle playing from Kenny Baker set against the stomping back-up of Bill Monroe's 'Bluegrass Boys'.

Kermit Venables – Big Road Waltz

New Lost City Ramblers – I’ve Always Been a Rambler    
      

Mike Seeger, member of one of the most focal families in traditional music and folklore, leads the revivalist trio The New Lost City Ramblers in a mounrnful confessional of a roving gambler, driven by an airy fiddle line. Heavily based on the twenties recording by Grayson & Whitter (who also feature in this show).

Henry Thomas – Charmin’ Betsy 

Prewar Texan bluesman Henry Thomas (aka. Ragtime Thomas), in his unique good spirit, sings and plays the guitar and quills (a simple set of panpipes).  Such great energy and charm in this performance.

Grayson and Whitter – Goin’ Down the Lee Hiway

Blind filddler G.B. Grayson, a man who definitely knew what it meant to lead a rambling life, plays his own instrumental 'Goin' Down the Lee Hiway', a track that has now become a trick-fiddle standard. But there's no trick to his playing, however, as he reels through the track's ups and downs with a seeming effortlessness that would turn any fiddle player green.

Haywire Mac – Big Rock Candy Mountain

Woody Guthrie - Talkin’ Hard Work


A figure in American folk music so iconic he hardly needs any introduction, Woody Guthrie sings a delightfully tongue in cheek lament for the traveling, working man.  Below is an interview and performance with Woody from 1944 for a children's music show for the BBC. A man with a warm heart and a belly of fire.

Stanley Brothers – Midnight Rambler


Ralph Stanley takes the banjo lead on this furiously paced piece from the album Ridin' That Midnight Train. Here is a video of 9 year old banjo prodigy Jonny Mizzone, playing so astonishingly well it seems overdubbed.

The Watson Family – Down the Road

Jean Ritchie – Movin’ on Down the River

Fred McDowell – 61 Highway

AKA Mississippi Fred McDowell, plays a version of the much covered 61 Highway. Mournful blues with a kick, this track is one of McDowell's finest vocal recordings.

Duckin’ And Dodgin’ – Alan Lomax Recording

Wayfaring Stranger – Roscoe Holcomb

The man for whom the phrase 'the high and lonesome sound' was coined. This iconic mountain ballad allows Holcomb's eerie, otherworldly voice to take center stage. The banjo keeps the pace while the vocals cut to the bone.


Below is an interview with Holcomb conducted by Mike Seeger.

Mike Seeger – Rollin’ On

Beginnings

Welcome to the High and Lonesome Radio Blog, your source for tracklists, musings and further information about the American traditional music played on High and Lonesome Radio, a weekly internet radio show that will take a thematic look at the breadth and scope of American folk music.