12/28/08 Playlist

1. Krista Detor: Awake the Voice (The Silver Wood: Wintersongs), Tightrope www.kristadetor.com

2. Dixie Chicks: Merry Christmas from The Family (live -- download)
3. Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison: Oklahoma Christmas (Happy Holidays), self www.kellywillis.com
4. Mary Ann Rossoni: It's A Holiday (The 12 Steps of Christmas and Other Holiday Fare), Providence Music Works 10002 hearinri@ids.net
5. Susan Urban: Despite It All (Old Blue Dodge), No Lady 02
6. Kevin Keady: Let's Play Christmas (The Off-Season), Camp www.kevinkeady.com

7. Dar Williams: The Christians and The Pagans (3-song EP), Razor & Tie 718
8. Beth Nielsen Chapman: Years (Greatest Hits), Reprise 47302

9. Ilene Weiss: Tree (Weiss Christmas), Gadfly 236 www.gadflyrecords.com
10. Michael Dunkley & Suzanne Ives: Take the Tree out to the Curb (A Holiday Feast Vol. VII), Hungry for Music 016 www.hungryformusic.com
11. Bob Malone: The After Christmas Song (2-song EP), Delta Moon www.bobmalone.com
12. Tim O'Brien: Bah Humbug (Christmas on The Mountain), Universal South 48522
13. Misty River: Don't Take Down the Mistletoe (Midwinter: Songs of Christmas), self www.mistyriverband.com

14. Claudia Schmidt: Get Packin', Rod Blagojevich (single download)
15. Lori Lieberman: Daughters and Sons (download), self www.lorilieberman.com
16. Nancy White: Tellin' Those Christmas Lies (single download)

17. James Gordon: There Is No Silent Night (Mining for Gold), Borealis 129 www.borealisrecords.com
18. Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer: American Noel (American Noel), Signature Sounds 2011 www.signaturesounds.com
19. Teresa Healy / Tom Juravich Last Christmas on The Place (single download), self
20. Heidi Muller: Jesse's Carol (Matters of The Heart), Cascadia 102
21. Bruce Springsteen: How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live (The Seeger Sessions: The American Land Edition), Columbia 88231

22. Tom Paxton and Anne Hills: Links in The Chain (Under American Skies), Appleseed 1052 www.appleseedmusic.com
23. Ann Reed: Heroes (Hole in The Day), A Major Label 802 http://www.annreed.com/

24. Michael Doucet: Auld Lang Zyne (Christmas Bayou), Swallow 6064
25. The Hidden Persuaders: What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? (A Holiday Feast Vol. III), Hungry for Music 006
26. Cigarbox Planetarium: Hello Mr. New Year (A Holiday Feast Vol. IV), Hungry for Music 010

The Dreaded Folk Calendar over selections from Al Petteway and Amy Whhite's "Winter Tidings!" Maggie's Music 234 www.maggiesmusic.com

27. Sean Tyrrell: The Rising of The Moon (The Orchard), LongWalk Music 002
28. Loreena McKennitt: The Old Ways (A Christmas Radio Sampler 1999), Quinlan Road QRCDP12 [www.quinlanroad.com]
29. Bob Zentz: At The End of Another Year (single download), self http://bobzentz.com/
30. Slaid Cleaves: One Good Year (Broke Down), Philo 1225

I read part of Dr. Sandra R. Scantling's "For 2009, A Happiness Action Plan" http://www.courant.com/features/hc-drscantling1228.artdec28,0,1245384.column
31. Mary Chapin Carpenter: Late for Your Life (Time * Sex * Love), Columbia CK 85176
32. Kitty Donohoe: Do What You Love (This Road Tonight), Roheen 005 www.kittydonohoe.com
33. Claire Lynch: Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring (Silver and Gold), Rounder 0415
34. Colum Sands: One of These Days (All My Winding Days), Spring 1035 www.columsands.net
35. David M. Bailey: If I Had Another (Life), self www.davidmbailey.com
I read Natine Stair's "If I Had My Life to Live Over"

36. Chuck McCabe: My Prayer for You (Creatures of Habit), Woodshed 7608 www.chuck-mccabe.com
37. Ian Robb: Song for The New Year (Rose & Crown), Folk-Legacy LP
38. Maria Muldaur et al: This Old World (Yes We Can!), Telarc 83672 www.telarc.com
39. Elvis Costello: What's So Funny 'bout Love, Peace and Understanding? (MP3 download from Random Noise)40. Eliza Gilkyson et al: Peace Call (Land of Milk and Honey), Red House 174 www.redhouserecords.com

NYTimes Musical Obit for 2008, from Odetta to Isaac Hayes and beyond

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/12/28/magazine/20081228-livesmusic-magazine/index.html

Slate Article about the "Rise Up Singing" songbook

Lie Down Singing
How a songbook saved my nighttimes.
By Emily Bazelon, Posted Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008

Bedtime at our house has two rituals: stories and songs. (Yes, some children take nightly baths. Ours prefer dirt.) The books come first, the lights go out, and then Simon, who is 5, asks me or my husband, Paul, to sing. Three or four or five songs later, he asks us to sing some more.

We oblige. Going to sleep has never come easily to Simon. And so the lullaby medley at our house often turns into a miniconcert, in terms of quantity if not quality. This is all very sweet, I know—whenever I complain about the singing, people whose children have grown up tell me I'll miss it desperately someday. But at the moment, singing night after night gets tedious. I'm tired of my standard repertoire, and so is Simon. He has ruled out "Tender Shepherd" ("No more sheep"), "Hush Little Baby" ("I'm not a baby"), and "I Gave My Love a Cherry" ("Mommy stop singing that boring song!").

Also, almost anything in Hebrew and absolutely everything from "Free To Be … You and Me" http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005OKQT?ie=UTF8&tag=slatmaga-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B00005OKQT.

This is why, in our house, the songbook "Rise Up Singing" http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1881322122?ie=UTF8&tag=slatmaga-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=1881322122 represents a nightly form of deliverance.

How many songs do most of us know by heart—beyond, that is, bits and snatches? How many of those songs wear well with kids? When folk singer Pete Seeger asked the first question of the men he was serving with in the Army in 1943, he was impressed with their responses.

Now he thinks the list would be paltry http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/arts/music/10ratli.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink.

Rise Up Singing, which Seeger helped bring into being, is an answer to the ebbing away of shared lyric and melody. The book, which has sold more than 1 million copies, according to its creators, turns 20 this year.

It is exactly as advertised on its blue, spiral-bound cover: "The Group Singing Songbook" with "Words, Chords, and Sources to 1,200 Songs."

The rest of the article is at http://www.slate.com/id/2207306/

12/21/08 Playlist

Sunday Night Folk Festival 12/21/08 (Hansen)

1. Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum: Wintergrace (Winter's Grace), Signature Sounds 1251 www.signaturesounds.com
2. John McCutcheon: Wintersong (Wintersongs), Rounder 8038
I read "Dear Rebecca, Winter Is Here" by Jean Craighead George, published by HarperTrophy
3. Tim O'Brien / Heritage: Newgrange (A Christmas Heritage), Six Degrees / Koch

4. The Alexandria Kleztet: O Khanuke, O Khanuke (A Chanukah Feast), Hungry for Music 021 www.hungryformusic.com
5. The Klezmatics: Happy Joyous Hanuka (A Chanukah Feast, Vol. II), Hungry for Music 026
I read "Eight Wild Nights" by Brian P. Cleary, published by Kar-Ben
6. 5 Chinese Brothers: Age-Old Story (A Window Shopper's Christmas), Prime CD 035
7. Magpie: The Ballad of Chanukah (Last Month of The Year), Sliced Bread 71305
8. Tish Hinojosa: Hanukia (From Texas for A Christmas Night), Texas Music Group 4012 www.mundotish.com
9. Peter, Paul & Mary: Light One Candle (A Holiday Celebration), Gold Castle LP, 1988
10. Emily Kurn: Light the Lamp (I'm Just Like You), self www.emilykurnmusic.com
I read "One Candle" by Eve Bunting, published by HarperTrophy
11. Shelley Posen: Will Their Children Light the Candles (Menorah), Well Done Music 03 www.shelleyposen.com
12. Hugh Blumenfeld: This Mountain (At Home for The Holidays with The Folk Next Door), WWUH

13. Christine Lavin & The Mistletones: A Christmas / Kwanzaa / Solstice / Chanukah / Ramadan / Boxing Day Song (The Runaway Christmas Tree), Appleseed 1075 www.appleseedmusic.com
14. Roy Zimmerman: Christma-Hanu-Rama-Ka-Dona-Kwanzaa (Peacenick), Metaphor 918 www.royzimmerman.com

15. Margo Hennebach & Mark Saunders: How Far Is It to Bethlehem (Comfort & Joy), self
16. Richard Shindell: Before You Go (Wonderland), Signature Sounds 1266 www.signaturesounds.com
17. Tommy Sands: Among the Bushes of Jerusalem (To Shorten the Winter), Green Linnet 12122
18. The Chieftains / Jackson Browne: The Rebel Jesus (The Bells of Dublin), RCA BMG60824
19. Hugh Blumenfeld: Longhaired Radical Socialist Jew (Rocket Science), Prime CD 43 www.hughblumenfeld.com

20. Brett Dennen: The Holidays Are Here -- And We're Still at War (single)
21. Julie Sanderson: Christmas 1864 (A Holiday Feast Volume 2), Hungry for Music 004
I read "Wondering If the Girls Will Marry Them Now," written on December 25, 1863, by Nurse Kate Cumming, a nurse who worked with the Confederate army of Tennessee's medical service, and published in "American Christmases" by Blair.
22. Leslie Ritter & Scott Petito: The Bells of Christmas (This Christmas Morning), Collective Works 0501 www.leslieandscott.com
I read "Truce in The Trenches, 1914" written by W. R. M. Percy, London Rifle Brigade, and included in "A Christmas Celebration" published by Haarper & Row
23. Artisan: Christmas Eve 1914 (Paper Angels), Bedspring Boing 9806
I read "Christmas in Vietnam" by James G. Lubetkin, an opinion piece from The Christian Science Monitor, 12/24/87
24. Jefferson Pepper: Christmas in Fallujah (Christmas in Fallujah), American Fallout 001 www.americanfallout.com
25. Jeff Talmadge: A Soldier's Christmas (single), self www.jefftalmadge.com
26. Roy Zimmerman: I Won't Be Home for Christmas (Peacenick), Metaphor 918 www.royzimmerman.com

27. Nancy White: Tellin' the Christmas Lies (download)
28. Roy Zimmerman: A Merry American Christmas (download), self www.royzimmerman.com
29. Carla Ulbrich: Let It Go, Let It Go, Let It Go (download)
30. Roy Zimmerman: Give Back Everything (download)
31. Lou & Peter Berryman: Christmas Letter (Some Days), Cornbelt 13 louandpeter.com
32. Loudon Wainwright III: Christmas Morning (Bah Humbug), Greentrax 7007 www.greentrax.com
33. Chuck McCabe: Holidaze (Creatures of Habit), Woodshed 7608 www.chuck-mccabe.com
34. The Bobs: Fifty Kilowatt Tree (Too Many Santas), Rounder 9060
35. Kent Aldrich: The Santa Claus Assassin (single), self dogsuhbarking@aol.com

36. Anais Mitchell: Song of The Magi (The Brightness), Righteous Babe 53 [www.righteousbabe.com]
37. New St. George (Lisa Moscatiello, vocals): Time to Remember The Poor (A Holiday Feast), Hungry for Music 002 [www.hungryformusic.com]

38. Cathy Barton & Dave Para: Make My Present Small (Crazy Quilt), self
39. Gretchen Peters: Careful How You Go (Northern Lights), Scarlet Letter 208143 www.gretchenpeters.com
40. John Lennon: Happy Xmas / War Is Over (Legend)
41. Maria Dunn: God Bless Us Every One (Let It Snow! Unique Canadian Winter Music), www.gogetm.ca
42. Eliza Gilkyson et al: Peace Call (Land of Milk and Honey), Red House 174 www.redhouserecords.com

Davey Graham obituary

Davey Graham

Robin Denselow, The Guardian, Wednesday 17 December 2008

Davey Graham, who also recorded as Davy Graham, and has died aged 68 of lung cancer, was the undisputed guitar hero of the British folk-blues clubs in the early and mid-1960s: a remarkable and wildly inventive musician, he transformed the acoustic scene with performances that were startling and unique for their blend of traditional themes with blues, jazz and even Indian or Arabic influences. Years ahead of his time in the way he mixed styles, in doing so he opened the way for many of the great British guitarists who started out in the 60s.

Martin Carthy described him as "an extraordinary, dedicated player, the one everyone followed and watched - I couldn't believe anyone could play like that"; while for Bert Jansch (who would develop Graham's ideas in the band Pentangle), he was "courageous and controversial - he never followed the rules. He was a hard man to hold a conversation with, but he knew how to play the guitar." His influence extended from the folk clubs to the emerging British R&B and rock scene, where his followers included Jimmy Page, of Led Zeppelin, and Ray Davies, of the Kinks, who described him as "an awesome influence". He also influenced the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon, who covered Graham's instrumental piece Anji on the 1966 Simon and Garfunkel album Sounds of Silence - by when this slinky, complex tune had become a crucial part of the repertoire for any aspiring folk-blues guitarist.

An imposing, powerful-looking man with a moustache and almost military bearing that contrasted strangely with his wild lifestyle, Graham was a genial, enigmatic and complex figure who first appeared on the London folk scene at a time when it provided a home for an eclectic mixture of maverick musicians, as well as great traditional singers, writers or instrumentalists. For years he was well ahead of the pack. No one else in the early 60s took an interest in North African styles, but then no other musician wandered off to travel around Morocco, or even thought of experimenting with alternative guitar tunings. But despite his importance to the music scene, Graham earned little from playing, and for the past 32 years lived in a small house near the canal in Camden Town, London.

the rest is at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/dec/17/folk-blues-music

Cool Story about Cowboy Singer Will Dudley

December 17th, 2008

Dudley Earns Cap and Gown for his Brother

Luke Mehall, Western State College of Colorado News

When asked what he is graduating in, Will Dudley joked, “A cap and a gown.” It is this sort of humor, among his other traits, that the 57 year old has won the hearts of his fellow students at Western State College. Dudley will graduate this Saturday with a degree in English.

The motivation for his return to studies at such a late age was his younger brother, Jon Dublin, a U.S. Diplomat who died in Iraq in February 2006. Dudley, a Vietnam veteran himself, had always told his brother that he would one day return to school, to which his brother replied, “not in my lifetime.”

“Well I guess he was right,” Dudley said. His upcoming graduation is a tribute to his brother.“To honor my brother means the world to me,” Dudley said. “I would not have done this if it wasn’t for him.”

Dudley, a traveling musician, attended Belmont College in Nashville, Tenn., in the 80s but dropped out to tour with Tanya Tucker, a famous country music star. Other musicians that Dudley has worked with or has befriended include Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, and Charlie Daniels.

After his brother died, Dudley enrolled at Adams State College in Alamosa, the closest school to Walsenburg, Colo., where he was living. His friends, Rod and Ryan Pringle, who own and operate the Waunita Hot Springs Ranch, enabled Dudley to move up to Gunnison. They offered him a free place to stay at the ranch while he completed his studies. Starting at Western in the fall of 2007, Dudley figured that he would be able to relate to his teachers, but not to the students, most of whom are half his age. But with his wit and involvement in campus and community activities, Dudley fit right in with his peers.

“Will quickly became a favorite among students,” remarked Mark Todd, an English professor and Dudley’s adviser. “There has never been a sense of separation from them.” Todd says that Dudley’s popularity is due in part to his musical and lyrical talents, as well as his participation in extracurricular programming. Dudley is a popular act at the Gunnison Arts Center, and has performed there often over the last year and a half.

Krista Ehasz, a senior at Western, remembered how Dudley was nervous at first about fitting in. But as she has gotten to know him through English classes, and extracurricular activities like Wordhorde open-mic nights and playing music together at the Folksong Coffeehouse, she now considers him a close friend. “What’s great about Will is that he recognizes the importance of passion,” she shared. “Will has taught me by example how to just live for what’s here.” Tiara Lopez, a junior at Western, shared that sentiment. “He has been a pleasure in my classes and always has something nice to say to me.”

“That has been the biggest surprise to me that I have been accepted among the wonderful young people here,” Dudley said. Dudley notes that integrating into the world of computers was one of the major challenges that he faced. His last year and a half in Gunnison was also the first time he has stayed in one place in the last 20 years.

In the midst of finals week, days away from graduation, Dudley isn’t quick to praise his efforts, or to say that his effort is complete. “I won’t believe it till it happens,” he reflected. He added that he is extremely thankful for the students and teachers at Western and for the Pringle family.

“We’ve all taken away a lot from getting to know Will,” Ehasz shared. “He could be anywhere in the world right now making music and traveling and he chose to ride it out at Western. We all could learn something from the heart and determination he brings with that.” “I for one will be sorry to see him graduate,” Todd added. “I hope he continues to think as fondly of us as we do of him. It’s rare to have an alum who has already made his mark as opposed to preparing to make that mark. We can already call him one of our famous alums – just as soon as he walks across that stage to get his diploma at Commencement.”

More about Will Dudley and his music can be found at www.willdudley.com

Americana Top 100

The top 100 most-played albums, as charted on the Americana Airplay Chart:

1) Hayes Carll
2) James McMurtry
3) Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
4) Steve Earle
5) Tift Merritt
6) Ryan Bingham
7) John Hiatt
8) Band of Heathens
9) Levon Helm
10) Alejandro Escovedo

and the rest are at
http://americanamusic.org/site.php?content=2008_Top_100