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TweedBlog: the Tangleweed blog
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The blog was started by the Chicago-based acoustic Americana group Tangleweed to document their activities as working musicians. It has since expanded its mission to help engender greater interest and understanding of American vernacular music. The blog i
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John Hardy was a desperate little man
The song John Hardy has long been a staple of the bluegrass canon. Tony Russell’s Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921-1942; lists seven prewar recordings by five different performers: Eva Davis: April, 1924 Ernest Stoneman: August, 1925...
O’Donoghue’s Opera, starring the Dubliners
This 37-minute film from 1965 captures the Dubliners in their native habitat, O’Donoghue’s Pub in Dublin. According to the Irish Film Institute’s website, O’Donoghue’s Opera was the first Irish musical film. The plot lo...
Jawharp virtuoso Obed Pickard playing Sally Goodin
Here’s a remarkable display of jawharp virtuosity by Obed Pickard, one of the early performers on WSM radio’s Grand Ole Opry. His earliest commercial recordings were in 1927. This is from 1929, cut for Banner and affiliated cut-price labe...
Video of Clarence Ashley playing the Coo Coo Bird
Here’s some wonderful footage of Clarence Ashley playing his best-known tune, the Coo Coo Bird, some time in the 1960s. Ashley’s skills don’t seem have diminished a bit in the 30+ years since his landmark recording of the tune....
Henry Whitter playing Rain Crow Bill
Virginian Henry Whitter was one of the earliest country music performers to record extensively. While many of his solo recordings are unexceptional, his work with G.B. Grayson was often excellent. Rain Crow Bill was an old Minstrel harmonica solo tha...
Bascom Lamar Lunsford playing Doggett’s Gap
I’ve raved about Bascom Lamar Lunsford’s work several times before on this site. This is an early video clip of Lunsford’s fiddle playing. The tune is, for all intents and purposes, Cumberland Gap. His vocal performance in this ense...
Fun with drunken Irish Karaoke
Here’s a fun little artifact from the Where You Been So Long sessions: a version of the Leaving of Liverpool (MP3) without vocals. When we record our tunes, we usually do the instrumental tracks as a group, and then overdub vocals. We had done ...
The Bothy Band playing Old Hag, You Have Killed Me
Since their out-of-print LPs and CDs command staggering prices on eBay, YouTube clips may be as close as new fans can get to the Bothy Band these days. Their work has held up well, as this thirty-year-old clip will attest....
The Clancy Brothers playing the Wild Rover
The Wild Rover has been my daughter’s favorite song for as long as I can remember. This is a great version performed by the Clancys and Tommy Makem on Pete Seeger’s old Rainbow Quest program. Beautiful....
The Reverend Gary Davis playing If I Had My Way
This is some good 1960s footage of the good Reverend playing one of the tunes he first recorded much earlier in his career. I’m continually in awe at how well Davis moves around on the neck of the guitar. This is a man who knew his chord voicin...
The Dubliners playing Off to Dublin in the Green
Here’s another great old Dubliners clip, from what appears to be a German television program. The song is a rousing rebel song, delivered with conviction by the inimitable Ronnie Drew. Also, behold the majesty that is Luke Kelly’s celt-fr...
Planxty playing The Little Drummer
Here’s a great Planxty clip from 1974 with a wonderful Christy Moore vocal and some very sensitive mandola accompaniment from Andy Irvine. Here’s an interesting bit on the mandola from Andy Irvine’s web site: Classicly, a mandola...
