Podcasts about Roscoe Holcomb

Join me as I recognize and appreciate our musical heritage. From traditional Mountain Music to more modern day Bluegrass Music I explore the sounds of the fiddle, banjo, guitars, mandolin and of course string bands. Traditional mountain music includes lively strains of old-time, bluegrass, ballad singing, blues, and sacred music. The tradition of Appalachian vocal tunes will be featured each week with pure appreciation of the unique storytelling through song as the forefront of this program. This week, The Lonesome Sisters, Riley Baugus, Hilary Hawke, Doc Watson, Aubrey Atwater and Roscoe Holcomb are among the artists featured on this weeks program.

Dan gets a new mountain bike called a Trek "Roscoe" so he takes it to prom for their first date. It's all 'Roscoe' related songs on the ride this week. Included: James McMurtry, Roscoe and Etta, a nice pair from Roscoe Holcomb, Poppy Roscoe, Roscoe Parker Band, Midlake and another twisted slice of Texas toast from McMurtry on top.

This week's show, after a 1968 Bee Gees weeper: brand new The House of Love, Wedding Present (with Amelia Fletcher), Sadies, Sansyou, Valery Trails, I Was a King, and Death Cab For Cutie; plus Arthur Alexander, Small Faces, Kitty Wells, Roscoe Holcomb,...

A version closer to Roscoe Holcomb's setting, in G tuning rather than D.

A version closer to Roscoe Holcomb's setting, in G tuning rather than D.

My take on Roscoe Holcomb's (Rosko Halcomb's) classic 2ftl version of "Single Girl" in open D tuning (f#DF#AD)

My take on Roscoe Holcomb's (Rosko Halcomb's) classic 2ftl version of "Single Girl" in open D tuning (f#DF#AD)

Singles Going Around- Roscoe Holcomb- Live 1972This week's episode features live recordings of Roscoe Holcomb taken from 1972.Single Girl (MRI- 135)Graveyard Blues (TSQ 5227)East Virginia Blues (MRI- 135)Little Birdie (TSQ 5227)Rocky Mountain (MRI- 135)Hook and Line (TSQ 5227)Black Eyed Suzie (TSQ 5227)John Henry (MRI- 135)Swanno Mountain (MRI- 135)*All selections taken from the original lp's.

It's our annual Bob Dylan birthday episode and this year Dylan is 80, so we have brought along critic and author Michael Gray to mark the occasion. Gray is one of the most important literary critics to write about Dylan and has produced the landmark volumes SONG AND DANCE MAN: THE ART OF BOB DYLAN and THE BOB DYLAN ENCYCLOPEDIA, as well as books on Blind Willie McTell, Elvis Presley, and Frank Zappa. Gray has a new book of essays on Dylan out called OUTTAKES ON BOB DYLAN: SELECTED WRITINGS 1967-2021 available from Route-Online.com. In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we round up news from the world of Bob Dylan and in "Who Did It Better?" we ask you who did "Moonshiner" better: Roscoe Holcomb or Bob Dylan. There are so many versions of "Moonshiner" that this will be the first week that we do a "Who Did It Better?" tournament that will extend the next two weeks. Go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!

This week, we take the show to the countryside of Sweden for an intimate talk with Kristian Matsson, poet-songwriter and masterful acoustic multi-instrumentalist who has released five acclaimed albums and two EPs over the last decade and a half, performing as The Tallest Man on Earth. Growing up in the small hamlet of Leksand, a three hour trek from Stockholm, Mattson was in rowdier indie-rock outfits like Montezumas before breaking out with his own dreamier acoustic material - gaining international notice with his breakout solo offering 'Shallow Grave' in 2008. Tours with Bon Iver across North America gained Matsson an adoring audience in the states, where he ended up setting up shop in Brooklyn. Most often performing solo even on the biggest stages, Matsson is known to have seven or more intricate tunings for his guitars and banjos, and with his high, cutting voice and cryptic, nature-inspired lyrics, he has been compared to some of his heroes like Roscoe Holcomb, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon but with a Swedish-naturalist touch. Songs like “Love Is All” or “The Gardener,” while gaining tens of millions of steams on folky playlists, pack quite a punch, often detailing how the cold cruelty of the animal kingdom filters into human life with its many frailties. In 2019, Matsson found his marriage to a fellow Swedish singer-songwriter ending and he holed up in his Brooklyn apartment to write, produce and engineer his newest Tallest Man On Earth LP, 'I Love You. It's A Fever Dream.' Like Springsteen's eerie and emotional 'Nebraska,' Matsson's collection is a clear-eyed view of our current state of interpersonal (and even societal) isolations. Standout songs like the warm guitar and echoey harmonica opener “Hotel Bar” - though written before he knew what would happen with our current pandemic - seem to capture the lost closeness and romance of our very recent past, where one could fall in love with a new stranger every night in a new town and think nothing of it. Sequestered in a small house in the middle of Sweden since the world shifted last year, a new Tallest Man On Earth album is sure to be on its way. Admittedly Matsson is going a bit stir-crazy away from the road, but really he's grateful to be able to have the time to explore and create new sounds without any distractions. A fall tour of the states is in the works (fingers crossed), including an opening slot at Red Rocks joining Mandolin Orange and Bonny Light Horseman.

Weihnachtlich inspirierte Musik gibt es diesmal u.a. von Cinder Well, Calexico & Bombino, Roscoe Holcomb, Annie Heger und Andrew Bird. Präsentiert von Johannes Paetzold.

In this week's episode, I reflect on lessons I learned from my old buddy Pigeye and the banjo savant Roscoe Holcomb. I hope you enjoy listening and, as always, I really appreciate the support and encouragement. Please don't forget to like and subscribe--it really helps me promote the podcast. Don't forget to check Spotify for the playlist, it's a good one this week if you love the banjo!

UK guitarist Gwenifer Raymond has adapted the sounds of the American South for her own intricate, and sometimes riotous, acoustic compositions. In this episode, she discusses how tunes from the Pixies, Roscoe Holcomb, and John Fahey guided her work.

From the singing of Roscoe Holcomb, I admit having a hard time with his banjo 2-finger picking. Even his singing has a timing I can't get -- it's very irregular. But for the Tune of the Week I gave it a try and used his singing to arrange a clawhammer solo instead. Singing here is included, though it's not my fort? to sing solo, so be kind. The interesting thing about this song is that it's related to the familiar one via the lyrics and title, On Top of Old Smokey. There are many more lyrics.

From the singing of Roscoe Holcomb, I admit having a hard time with his banjo 2-finger picking. Even his singing has a timing I can't get -- it's very irregular. But for the Tune of the Week I gave it a try and used his singing to arrange a clawhammer solo instead. Singing here is included, though it's not my fort? to sing solo, so be kind. The interesting thing about this song is that it's related to the familiar one via the lyrics and title, On Top of Old Smokey. There are many more lyrics.

From the singing of Roscoe Holcomb, I admit having a hard time with his banjo 2-finger picking. Even his singing has a timing I can't get -- it's very irregular. But for the Tune of the Week I gave it a try and used his singing to arrange a clawhammer solo instead. Singing here is included, though it's not my fort? to sing solo, so be kind. The interesting thing about this song is that it's related to the familiar one via the lyrics and title, On Top of Old Smokey. There are many more lyrics.

From the singing of Roscoe Holcomb, I admit having a hard time with his banjo 2-finger picking. Even his singing has a timing I can't get -- it's very irregular. But for the Tune of the Week I gave it a try and used his singing to arrange a clawhammer solo instead. Singing here is included, though it's not my fort? to sing solo, so be kind. The interesting thing about this song is that it's related to the familiar one via the lyrics and title, On Top of Old Smokey. There are many more lyrics.

Inspired by RG for this week's TOTW and listening to Roscoe Holcomb, Bruce Molsky, Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby, here's a version of the ballad Hills of Mexico.

Inspired by RG for this week's TOTW and listening to Roscoe Holcomb, Bruce Molsky, Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby, here's a version of the ballad Hills of Mexico.

Inspired by RG for this week's TOTW and listening to Roscoe Holcomb, Bruce Molsky, Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby, here's a version of the ballad Hills of Mexico.

In pt. 2 of our conversation with John Cohen he discusses his trips to Kentucky to record Roscoe Holcomb, his collaboration with Ralph Rinzler for the first concerts for The Friends of Old Time Music, Doc Watson's trips to New York, The New Lost City Ramblers residency at The Ash Grove in L A where Johnny Cash stood in for Mother Maybelle and The Ramblers road trips with Ms Carter, Newport "65, and printing books with Steidl. A wonderful summation of a rich lifetime of creative projects revolving around music.

No Fences by Garth Brooks. Cameron and Nathan discuss Garth Brook’s second album, No Fences. Garth’s biggest-selling album, No Fences is a solid improvement on his self-titled. Learnin’ Links: No Fences Country and Western music in a Boston accent at Faneuil Hall Roscoe Holcomb Poe’s Law The Fleetwoods’ version of “Mr. Blue” countrygenius.com Support us by buying No Fences on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2xbsbFO.

This week on StoryWeb: Jean Ritchie’s book Singing Family of the Cumberlands. If you’re looking for bona fide old-time mountain music – the real deal, before bluegrass, before the Carter Family even – then look no further than Jean Ritchie. Perhaps more than any other performer of her generation, Jean Ritchie gives us the traditional old-time stories and songs and the story of the lived experience of growing up in a family in the Cumberland Mountains of Eastern Kentucky. Many Americans know Jean Ritchie from her singing and songwriting career. In addition to songs she wrote (such as “The L & N Don’t Stop Here Anymore”), Ritchie took special delight in preserving, performing, and passing down traditional ballads and other old-time songs. She sings “play party” game songs, she sings murder ballads, and of course, like any mountain balladeer worth her salt, she has her own version of “Barbary Allen.” In her performances, she both told stories and sang songs, accompanying herself on lap dulcimer. I had the great fortune of hosting Jean Ritchie at Shepherd University’s Appalachian Heritage Festival in 1997. That October I got to not only see and hear her perform (complete with “Skin and Bones,” a spooky game song), but I also had the privilege of spending time with her backstage. I found her to be shy, quiet, soft-spoken, completely unassuming. She seemed to know she was “the” Jean Ritchie, but she was remarkably humble about that – both proud of her heritage and her ability to share it and receptive to meeting new folks who appreciated that heritage. If you want to experience Jean Ritchie as a performer, I highly recommend the following CDs: Jean Ritchie: Ballads from Her Appalachian Family Tradition; Jean Ritchie: The Most Dulcimer; Mountain Hearth & Home; Jean Ritchie: Singing the Traditional Songs of Her Kentucky Mountain Family; British Traditional Ballads in the Southern Mountains, Volumes 1 and 2 (both recorded for Smithsonian Folkways); and her fiftieth anniversary album, Mountain Born, which she recorded with her sons. Collaborations include Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson at Folk City; A Folk Concert in Town Hall, New York, featuring Ritchie along with Oscar Brand and David Sear; and American Folk Tales and Songs, recorded with Paul Clayton. Recordings of carols and children’s songs are also available. If you want to try your hand at singing mountain ballads and playing dulcimer, check out Ritchie’s instructional album, The Appalachian Dulcimer, as well as The Dulcimer Book. A book/CD combo, Traditional Mountain Dulcimer, also provides instruction. Once you’ve gotten the hang of the dulcimer, you’ll want to buy the collection by famed folklorist Alan Lomax: Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians as Sung by Jean Ritchie. The second edition of this volume features eighty-one songs, including “the Child ballads, lyric folksongs, play party or frolic songs, Old Regular Baptist lined hymns, Native American ballads, ‘hant’ songs, and carols” as passed down through the famous American ballad-singing family, the Ritchie family of Perry County, Kentucky. To go deeper in your exploration of Jean Ritchie, consider reading her 1955 book, Singing Family of the Cumberlands, part autobiography, part family songbook. Born in 1922 as the youngest of fourteen children in the Singing Ritchie Family, Jean Ritchie tells the stories behind the songs, the rich family context that gave life and meaning to these songs. Be forewarned: once you pick up Singing Family of the Cumberlands, you won’t be able to put it down. Ritchie’s writing voice is engaging, sweet, light-hearted, even light-spirited in a way. She invites you in to share her world in the Cumberland Mountains. Though she hailed from Kentucky, Jean Ritchie spent most of her adult life living in New York, both in New York City and in Port Washington. She was married to photographer and filmmaker George Pickow, who hailed from Brooklyn. Together, they raised two sons. George, too, was warm and unassuming – and completely devoted to Jean. In the 1950s, she began to record albums and became friends with Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and Alan Lomax, each of whom had an immense impact on American folk music. By the early 1960s, Greenwich Village was the site of a lively folk music revival. Alan Lomax gathered many of the leading musicians in 1961 and invited them to his apartment on West 3rd Avenue to swap songs. Ritchie’s husband, George Pickow, filmed the impromptu jam session. Of course, you’ll find Jean Ritchie in this rare film, but you’ll also see Roscoe Holcomb, Clarence Ashley, Doc Watson, Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon, Ramblin Jack Elliott, Guy Carawan, and the New Lost City Ramblers. And if you look closely in the film’s opening moments, you’ll spy Bob Dylan clogging in the audience. In the 1960s, Jean Ritchie won a Fulbright scholarship to collect traditional songs in the United Kingdom and Ireland and to trace their links to American ballads. In preparation, Ritchie wrote down 300 songs she had learned from her mother. During her Fulbright travels, she spent eighteen months recording and interviewing British and Irish singers. Some of these recordings are collected on Field Trip. In 2015, Jean Ritchie died at age 92 in Berea, Kentucky – and by that time, she had accumulated numerous awards and accolades, including a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship, the United States’ highest honor for folk and traditional artists. A wonderful tribute to Jean Ritchie – including many outstanding recordings as well as photographs by George Pickow – is featured on the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center website. Also notable are the New York Times and NPR obituaries. Widely known as “The Mother of Folk,” Ritchie had an immeasurable impact on other musicians who came after her, as evidenced by the 2014 two-CD set titled Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie, which features Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Janis Ian, Kathy Mattea, Tim O’Brien, John McCutcheon, Suzy Bogguss, and others. Her songs have also been recorded by the likes of Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, and Johnny Cash. Awards, honors, and tributes aside, in the end it all comes back to Jean Ritchie singing a spare, simple ballad like “Barbary Allen.” Take my advice, and check out Jean Ritchie’s recordings and writing. You won’t be disappointed. Visit thestoryweb.com/Ritchie for links to all these resources, to listen to recordings of Jean Ritchie singing “Barbry Allen,” “Shady Grove,” and “Skin and Bones,” and to listen to her talk about writing Singing Family of the Cumberlands. Listen now as Jean Ritchie talks about and sings the song “Nottamun Town.”

For our 96th podcast, we talk to Josh Rosenthal of Tompkins Square records. In its first decade, Tompkins Square has released dozens of essential albums for guitar lovers, including the Imaginational Anthem series, records by E.C. Ball, Max Ochs, Roscoe Holcomb and others. On this podcast, we chat with Rosenthal about how this label started, his love for acoustic guitar music and why he decided to celebrate the label's tenth anniversary with a custom guitar commission from builder Trevor Healy. It's a fun chat with one of the true visionaries of the modern music industry. 

Episode 5 of the Archives features excerpts from a workshop on Appalachian balladry by Elizabeth Laprelle and Anna Roberts-Gevalt of the duo Anna & Elizabeth, conducted in the Old Town School's Maurer Hall on September 28, 2015. Links to music referenced in this episode: - Roscoe Holcomb demonstrating traditional Appalachian ballad singing style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoJkndLVcqM - Example of Scottish sacred singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3MzZgPBL3Q - Example of American sacred singing (lined-out hymnody): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-f9OFNsagY - Example of sacred harp singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWQDl6cyj2Y - "Lonesome Night" by the Stanley Brothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg_ViHZwuqY Recordings featured in this episode: - “Glory of Love” as performed by Big Bill Broonzy at Circle Pines Center, Mich., 1950s

Sad song. From Cousin Emmy, Roscoe Holcomb, and Frank Proffitt. G tuning, two-finger thumb lead. Rose Maddox recorded a lighthearted version.

Sad song. From Cousin Emmy, Roscoe Holcomb, and Frank Proffitt. G tuning, two-finger thumb lead. Rose Maddox recorded a lighthearted version.

Sad song. From Cousin Emmy, Roscoe Holcomb, and Frank Proffitt. G tuning, two-finger thumb lead. Rose Maddox recorded a lighthearted version.

Blues piano from Memphis Slim, marimba music from Guatemala, labor union songs, World War II anthems, Tuvan throat singing, and classic old-time tunes from Dock Boggs and Roscoe Holcomb. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.

In this musical pub-crawl, we explore the joys and perils of the drinking life; songs about beer, wine, whiskey and moonshine; sad drunks, mad drunks, mean drunks, and just plain stupid drunks; booze-soaked classics from Memphis Slim, Roscoe Holcomb, Lead Belly, Dock Boggs and more.

The barrelhouse blues of Little Brother Montgomery, Roscoe Holcomb unleashes his ‘untamed sense of control,’ Malian rappers launch a lyrical assault on music piracy, we remember Odetta, the “Voice of the Civil Rights Movement” and listen back to the radio documentary work of the late great Studs Terkel.