Click on the headline to link to a "YouTube" film clip of Rabbit Brown performing the classic "James Alley Blues".
The Other "Roots" Historian
The Harry Smith Connection: A Live Tribute To “The Anthology Of American Folk Music", various artists, Smithsonian Folkways, 1998
John and Alan Lomax are just famous for their herculean efforts over many years to gather “roots” music from sources all over the American continent, the bayous, the hollows, the mountains and the plains. Not as well known but as worthy of praise is the work of the “roots” historian Harry Smith, the subject of this tribute CD. During the 1940’s and 1950’s Smith was working the highways and byways of the South and elsewhere recording whatever music was at hand with whatever recording device he could put to together. No less a later folk historian that the singer Dan Van Ronk remarked that he learned much of his early folk repertoire from the Harry Smith collection. Others, including Bob Dylan, also "cribbed” from the Smith collection. That tells the tale.
This tribute CD is a treasure trove of songs some familiar and some long forgotten by this reviewer. The most interesting point that always catches my attention on these anthologies is how much crossover there is despite the differences in geography, ethnicity or race. For example, listen to the two versions of “The Coo Coo Bird” here. Or consider “The Butcher Boy” that I have heard under the names “The Railroad Boy” or “In London Town” but which however tell the same old tale of abandoned love and its tragic consequences. And how many versions of “John Henry” have been recorded? The one done here by John Jackson, by the way, is excellent. As is his rendition of “Frankie and Johnnie”.
“John The Revelator” done by Ethel Caffie-Austin is the best version I have heard this side of Son House. The lead vocal by Geoff Muldaur of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band makes “Minglewood Blues” pop. Van Ronk’s “Spike Driver Blues" is vintage Dave as is Jeff Tweedy and company on Rabbit Brown’s “James Alley Blues”. The Fugs’ on “Nothing" is just the kind of tune that old Harry was looking for. To top thing off listen to Pete Stampfel on his Harry Smith tribute song “His Tapes Roll On”. That is the kind of tune that latter day cyberspace “roots” historians will pick on to continue the traditions. Listen on.
James Alley Blues
Times right now ain't nothin' like they used to be
Well times right now ain't nothin' like they used to be
You know I'll tell you all the truth, won't you take my word from me
Well I seen better days, but I ain't puttin' up with these
Well I've seen better days, but I ain't puttin' up with these
I had a lot better time with those women down in New Orleans
Well I was born in the country so she thinks I'm easy to lose
Well I was born in the country so she thinks I'm easy to lose
She wants to hitch me to a wagon and drive me like a mule
I bought her a gold ring and I pay the rent
I bought her a gold ring and I pay the rent
She tried to get me to wash her clothes but I got good common sense
Well if you don't want me then why don't you just tell me so?
Well if you don't want me then why don't you just tell me so?
It ain't like I'm a man that ain't got nowhere else to go
I give you sugar for sugar, but all you want is salt for salt
I give you sugar for sugar, but all you want is salt for salt
Well if you can't get along with me, then it's your own fault
Well, you want me to love you, but then you just treat me mean
Yea, you want me to love you, but then you just treat me mean
You're my daily thought and you're my nightly dream
Well, sometimes I think that you're just too sweet to die
Ah, sometimes I think that you're just too sweet to die
And other times I think that you ought to be buried alive
found on: The Harry Smith Connection: A Live Tribute
words: Rabbit Brown (traditional)
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