#string band

[evergreensounds]

in the first half of the 20th century (and probably before, but that's when this music started being recorded in audio) there were quite different "rules" around switching pronouns when playing songs originally from the perspective of another gender. it was not inherently queer to sing songs from a cross-gender perspective, but it might have given people a way to express themselves or to feel seen

i yap about this a lot but finally made some playlists

[galleryofart]

The Musicale, Barber Shop, Trenton Falls, New York

Artist: Thomas Hicks (American, 1823-1890)

Date: 1866

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, United States

Description

In The Musicale, Barber Shop, Trenton Falls, New York, a string band performs on a summer evening for the guests and staff of the Trenton Falls Hotel. City life in 1866 America was crowded, dirty, and dangerous, but affluent travelers could get away from it all at this rustic resort in upstate New York. It stood at the edge of a pine forest, surrounded by rose gardens, a greenhouse, and an open-air pavilion for dancing. Most guests arrived by train and were driven from the depot to the hotel in a four-horse coach called the “Tally-Ho.” Up the steps from the porte cochere and across the broad veranda was the hotel office, where guests would sign the register and be shown to their rooms, furnished with pine beds, chairs, chiffonieres, mirrors, pitchers of water, and bound copies of the Psalms. After refreshing themselves from the journey, they could tour the Falls or relax in the parlor, which displayed a life-size portrait of Michael Moore, the proprietor of the hotel, with his wife Maria and their nine children, superimposed on a picture of the Falls.

[mahgnib]

1930’s Kentucky string band, Walker’s Corbin Ramblers

[babyrhinestone]

the pickard family circa 1932

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

All-Ears Review, Vol. 4 1988 Folk / String Band / Americana / Blues / Reggae

Folks, this late 80s CD here may have tried to present itself as something so eclectic that it would naturally be broadly appealing to 'all ears,' but who it really seems to have been geared towards is the type of person who gets a chill up their spine whenever they hear the word 'ethnomusicologist.' Basically, I feel like I've just listened to about an uninterrupted hour's worth of what the non-current affairs portion of NPR sounded like back in 1988—a contemporaneous selection of rootsy and bluesy Americana-type fare, along with some more worldly stuff too. 

And while I'm not sure that this unfortunately extremely bland CD itself was ever entitled to a nanosecond of shelf life in the first place, there's still one track on it that does manage to stand out among the rest: "Zouk Attack," by a Los Angeles band who calls themselves The Bonedaddys. 

Now, a name like The Bonedaddys might have you thinking that what you're about to hear is some of the worst middle-aged white guy blues-rock imaginable, but what they manage to deliver here is actually a pretty enjoyably peppy and upbeat soca-fusion kind of jam that's brimming with a heaping pile of 80s positivity instead. Compositionally, "Zouk Attack" doesn't really sound anything like two-tone ska, but the overall lighthearted attitude that gets put on display, with its blend of squealy steel guitar strands, some horns, and worldbeat kind of drumming, is certainly reminiscent of it. And part of what made some of that two-tone stuff so irresistibly good in the first place was just how cheerfully infectious it all was, which is a quality that this tune definitely seems to have in common with it. Plus, it probably kills whenever it's performed live 😤.

So, overall, this is a pretty awful installment in the All-Ears Review series, but thankfully, it still has one fun tune on it that I think is ultimately worth a listen.

Highlights:

The Bonedaddys - "Zouk Attack" 

[davidisen]

Dom Flemmons at The Narrows

On Valentines Day, my sweetie and I went to our favorite restaurant and then caught Dom Flemmons at The Narrows in Fall River. He's a master of instruments and a scholar of songs.

He's a member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, the great band, following in the footsteps of Martin, Bogan, and Armstrong, to remind us where country music, hillbilly music, string band music, jug band music, came from. One Chocolate Drop, Rhiannon Giddens, became a MacArthur "genius" fellow. Another, Hubby Jenkins, recently graced a Woods Hole living room with his playing and singing. It was a treat to spend an evening with Dom!

[dustedmagazine]

West of Roan — Queen of Eyes (Spinster)

There’s a Roan Mountain in Eastern Tennessee, an area steeped in Appalachian tradition: string bands, murder ballads, mountain hops and frolics. It’s not clear if that’s the Roan that these two members of Doran are referencing, or if it’s a corruption or Rona, an island in the Hebrides. Both seem plausible and also a little off since West of Roan’s music exists not on a map but in a twilight space of imagination and reverie. These songs are fed by the old tunes and tales but drift loose from them in misty trance. The music of West of Roan is tragic, and also, a bit of magic, a dark fairy tale of loss and longing, etched in guitar picking, plangent drones and minor-key harmonies.

The two musicians in West of Roan were key members of Doran, the alt-traditionalist quartet whose self-titled debut made my best of list for 2021. It appears that West of Roan predates Doran, since my review references the band as a predecessor for Annie Schermer and Channing Showalter.  In any case, it is very much of the same fog-bound, spirit-haunted world. The wheeze of pump organ works a spell, the keening violins weave hypnotically, and their fluttering voices sound both ancient and fresh, as if those hearts had been broken just today.

Schermer and Showalter made these songs with the barest of equipment, according to them, “one microphone, one computer, one cord, and one bench the two sat on.” And still the textures are rich and varied, an agile patter of picked guitar, a vibrant wash of fiddle, a breathy, vibrato-laced melody. The harmonies in “Let No One Steal Your Thyme” are dizzyingly beautiful, tight, dark, and melancholy. That’s the lone actual traditional song in an album that sounds like it’s full of them; it’s dedicated to Annie Briggs, a clear touchstone for these artists.

“The Queen of Eyes” is likewise, slow and flickering, the steady progression of guitar notes marking the passage of time, the fiddle and intertwined voices making it stop altogether. “Sing, sing to me,” Schermer trills, in a voice so quiet, so filled with feeling that it seems it must overflow. And then the echo comes, “Sing, sing to me,” an answer, a comfort, a bit of reassurance that one it not entirely solitary.

Some of these songs edge so far into minimalism that they hardly seem like folk at all, more like a religious rite or meditation. A single pulsing drone runs all the way through “The White Crow,” for instance, shifting in little surges of volume, tiny alterations of tone, but fundamentally constant, like the hum of the universe, an anchor under human mutability.

This is a lovely record, rich and sorrowful in parts, playful and quick-fingered in others. It will not make you sad, but rather locate your own sadness and echo it back like a tuning fork, a reminder that we share the struggle and transcend it only together.

Jennifer Kelly

[evidenceof]

Grace Nixon's letter to Dick Winters, 9 Feb. 1995

Dear Dick, This little card says very little of my deepest appreciation, affection, and gratitude for all you have done for me—for your thoughtfulness to even write Miguel about his grandfather, his great grandfather, etc. touched me greatly. You are and always have been all these years such a true friend in all respects. I do not know anyone whom Lewis respected more than you, Dick Winters. [...]—and again, thank you, Dick Winters. Much love, Grace

Quotes taken from: Dick Winters letter to Deetta Almon (April 20, 1945) | Dick Winters' eulogy for Lewis Nixon, January 1995 | Grace Nixon's letter to Dick Winters (February 9, 1995)

[distant-echoss]

ELECTRIC FEEL NOW!

Inspired by this song

Karaoke night 🥺

[sohannabarberaesque]

Can you imagine the Cattanooga Cats doing a jam session with this string band? And in a seedy billiard hall, besides?

A string band at A.P. Boksha Billiard Room.

[gravehags]

cardinal copia really was the pinnacle of erotic costume design like on one hand, floor length religious vestments that mask everything, on the other hand leggings tight enough to discern the size, shape, and cut of his cock. both equally slutty.

[idiopathicsmile]

To celebrate hitting 66.6% on my Kickstarter for an audio drama about a rock band secretly solving monster-related problems, I took prompts for a song about the devil. Check out the annotated video above!

If we can reach 75% by the end of the weekend, I will take song prompts again. Looking forward to it!

Lyrics under the cut:

The devil got tired of Georgia He said, “I’m good on souls,” Said “earth’s a wreck, so I’ll just perfect sex drugs and rock n roll”

“But the demons run my schedule and torture is their sport so holy cow, I’m touching down in Atlanta’s own Airport”

CHORUS "That Hartsfield Jackson Airport, well it’s poorly designed ‘Cause the gates are far apart and it’s hard to parse the signs But if you win you get another fiddle made of gold and if I win, leave me the hell alone"

The devil got tired of Georgia or the US generally said “I brought the light, but you wanna fight, no thanks for Halloween?”

“From Henry Ford to Elon, you love theft and your machines and you’ll chainsaw the rule of law to chase efficiency”

CHORUS Johnny said, “Now hang on dude, don’t paint us with one brush you’re killing the whole damn mood and most of us hate Musk So if you win, you get my soul, and I guess that is that And if I win, no more self-righteous rant

The devil pulled out his fiddle he played like a whole string band Johnny tried, and he played alright but he knew he was damned

CHORUS Johnny took a deep breath and tried to keep his cool The devil sipped his soy latte and they both knew the rules but Satan said, “keep your soul, you need it more than me” and then retired to go farm walnut trees

Johnny found the devil again Who didn’t know what to think John said “no catch and no rematch, can I buy you a drink?”

the devil blinked and then he said “sure that would be nice” and that whole bargaining souls thing kind of broke the ice

CHORUS Now Satan slings the cocktails every Saturday night as Johnny fixes dinner— his chili hits new heights so they live in harmony, grow walnuts by the ton and sometimes they crush cybertrucks for fun

[johnnyshrine]

★ 062 // “Mozzarella”

[ryllen]

Bride & Groom of Halloween ...𖥔 ݁ ˖🦇 ݁˖ ݁𖥔…

[maggotmessiah0]

Some of my favorite bracelets so far woo hell yeah second ones fnaf inspired and last ones msi inspired

YO THSI POST GOT BOTTED SO BAD THAT WAS CRAZY

[distant-echoss]

THE FIRST CHAPTER IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO READ IT RIGHT HERE

I’ve never been more nervous and excited about something in years

EGFGFUDDBCJDTUTRJDGJRDRJGDGFJCDRJGDGJDDGFDNGFDGRJDHGRDHRGDJRTHDRRGDDHTR

I can’t believe it’s actually out

NYMVJI’m shakINGUYGJYKVNGV