by Paul
Big Bill Broonzy and Pete Seeger in Concert
Recorded 1956. 1965 LP
In October 1956, Big Bill Broonzy and Pete Seeger gave a two man concert
at the Northwestern University which was als They made an excellent team.
Big Bill Broonzy was then 63 years of age and had been a performer from
the 1920s putting out his first recording in 1927. Primarily a "blues"
player in the folk tradition; by 1956, he had become highly successful
and had recently toured Europe to great acclaim. He had started his
music as a fiddle player but moved on to the 12-string guitar and is
often credited with "Leadbelly" as being responsible for popularising
that instrument within the folk movement. He certainly knew how to
play! Sadly, he died within two years of this concert..
Pete Seeger was a relative youngster at 37 years of age but had
performed and written songs since the 1940s and had been a member of
"The Almanac Singers" then becoming the "The Weavers". He would go on to
considerable success with the folk revival boom including tours of many
countries where he continued to successfully promote folk music both
traditional and commercial. He did much to popularise the long-necked
five-string banjo but also played a range of other instruments including
the 12 string guitar.
The pair made an excellent team with their contrasting styles, songs and
techniques. Pete Seeger did much of the speaking about folk music,
instruments and songs whereas Broonzy is somewhat less loquacious but
far more humourous. In fact, it was at this concert that Broonzy made
the statement often erroneously attributed to Louis Armstrong, namely,
"All the songs I ever heard in my life was folk songs. I never heard
horses sing none of them yet!" (intro to track 4) Even without the
singing the performance of these two is entertaining.
This LP was produced in 1965 on the Verve Folkways label (not to be
confused with the Folkways label which eventually forced Verve Records
to drop the word "Folkways" from their name) using the 1956 recordings.
I understand that only selected portions of the concert appear on the LP
possibly due to poor recordings of other parts. The LP lists 11 tracks
but there is a twelfth (spoken) track featuring Seegar suggesting that
everyone can have a five-minute Zup party. The tracks are Broonzy and
Seegar both singing "Midnight Special"; Broonzy performing "Backwater
Blues", This Train is Bound for Glory", "Crawdad Hole", "The Glory of
Love", "Willie Mae", "Why Don't You come Home, Bill Bailey" and
"Alberta"; and Seeger sings "Green Corn", "Mrs McGrath", and plays two
instrumentals - "Hillel Instrumental" (tootin' cane), and the lengthy,
but very entertaining, "Goofin' Off Suite". Graphics of the LP cover
and the rear are included in the download.
Download
(Complaints received from DMCA)
-------------------------
With Best wishes from Paul the Stockman from
http://australianfolk.blogspot.com/
Thank you Paul :)
Recorded 1956. 1965 LP
In October 1956, Big Bill Broonzy and Pete Seeger gave a two man concert
at the Northwestern University which was als They made an excellent team.
Big Bill Broonzy was then 63 years of age and had been a performer from
the 1920s putting out his first recording in 1927. Primarily a "blues"
player in the folk tradition; by 1956, he had become highly successful
and had recently toured Europe to great acclaim. He had started his
music as a fiddle player but moved on to the 12-string guitar and is
often credited with "Leadbelly" as being responsible for popularising
that instrument within the folk movement. He certainly knew how to
play! Sadly, he died within two years of this concert..
Pete Seeger was a relative youngster at 37 years of age but had
performed and written songs since the 1940s and had been a member of
"The Almanac Singers" then becoming the "The Weavers". He would go on to
considerable success with the folk revival boom including tours of many
countries where he continued to successfully promote folk music both
traditional and commercial. He did much to popularise the long-necked
five-string banjo but also played a range of other instruments including
the 12 string guitar.
The pair made an excellent team with their contrasting styles, songs and
techniques. Pete Seeger did much of the speaking about folk music,
instruments and songs whereas Broonzy is somewhat less loquacious but
far more humourous. In fact, it was at this concert that Broonzy made
the statement often erroneously attributed to Louis Armstrong, namely,
"All the songs I ever heard in my life was folk songs. I never heard
horses sing none of them yet!" (intro to track 4) Even without the
singing the performance of these two is entertaining.
This LP was produced in 1965 on the Verve Folkways label (not to be
confused with the Folkways label which eventually forced Verve Records
to drop the word "Folkways" from their name) using the 1956 recordings.
I understand that only selected portions of the concert appear on the LP
possibly due to poor recordings of other parts. The LP lists 11 tracks
but there is a twelfth (spoken) track featuring Seegar suggesting that
everyone can have a five-minute Zup party. The tracks are Broonzy and
Seegar both singing "Midnight Special"; Broonzy performing "Backwater
Blues", This Train is Bound for Glory", "Crawdad Hole", "The Glory of
Love", "Willie Mae", "Why Don't You come Home, Bill Bailey" and
"Alberta"; and Seeger sings "Green Corn", "Mrs McGrath", and plays two
instrumentals - "Hillel Instrumental" (tootin' cane), and the lengthy,
but very entertaining, "Goofin' Off Suite". Graphics of the LP cover
and the rear are included in the download.
Download
(Complaints received from DMCA)
-------------------------
With Best wishes from Paul the Stockman from
http://australianfolk.blogspot.com/
Thank you Paul :)
11 Comments:
Hello THTM, what does this mean: "the Northwestern University which was als They made an excellent team"" .. ??
A slight editing problem on my part. Please forgive me. It should read ".. Northwestern University which was also broadcast on WFMT Chicago". Forget the bit about the team - that appears later.
"Complaints received from DCMA"!!
I knew that this album has not been available for over 40 years so I was very surprised that there was a complaint. Research now shows that that SOME of the tracks now appear on a Smithsonian October 2009 CD release entitled "Big Bill Broonzy - Sings Folk Songs".
Sorry folks - I always try hard to avoid doing this.
Typical of the record industry - fail to keep it in circulation, but complain if someone else makes it available.
THTM (such a tiny blog) is targeted from DCMA, copyright owner and some other people who don't like our blog.
Ironically there is tons of blogs who are spreading top 100 albums and keep going without complains.
Which do you think is the significant blog?
You don't appear to be the most cunning in running a blog, Liz. I see you keep preaching "peace n love n love n peace n peace n love", and your close friends send you plenty of messages full of dreams, do you think this can solve your troubles or shield you from the reality? A problem remains a problem, not a dream. Many blogs are going private.
However, looking at your blog today, it seems the beatlesian Sea of Holes, I guess the
percentage of the working links doesn't even reach the 50, sorry for that. And what about that snake in your bosom, rapidschare.?
Best wishes, FP
fuck dmca. now if it was run dmc, then maybe i'd recognize. til then, this is what my web-fu found so fret knot kinfoke:
http://megaupload.com/?d=TO4XFR7U
With a bit of searching on the Web (I'm not going to post links) you can find a 1-hour Studs Terkel radio show with Broonzy and Seeger available for download.
dear lizardson, sorry you've been having legal trouble as of late. every member of this household loves this indispensable blog you have here & tell all our musician friends about time has told me. if i may make a request for a re-post, twood be most appreciated. any chance?
Untitled
"Sounds of Salvation" (UK Christian Psych Folk 1974)
we heard it was really good.
thanks in advance
luv,
badger
Thank you thank you thank you. I had this album as a child and have loved it ever since. I went to make a digital recording and the album skipped...so sad. It's a shame that they made you take it down but thanks to whoever had the alternate link posted...I haven't heard this album in 25 years!
there's usually a reason why stuff hasn't been reissued before and the labels don't want anyone to hear their crap before they got your money, IT'S NOT THAT GOOD.
this Broonzy/Seeger run is a rather dull and boring example on both counts, save your money and listening time because there is far better stuff available by both Broonzy and Seeger
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