Category: The Chieftains


SoundCloud Saturday: Streaming coverfolk from
Frazey Ford, Brian Vander Ark, Bon Iver & The Chieftains, and more!

January 21st, 2012 — 02:48 pm

Winter has finally arrived in mid-New England, dropping just enough snow on the ground to keep us inside while the kids head out for sledding and snowplay. And so we spend a mellow Saturday at home by the pellet stove, coffee in hand and slippers on our feet, letting soft music serve as the soundtrack for our lives. Why not listen in with us?


The Chieftains ft. Bon Iver: Down In The Willow Garden (trad.)


The list of featured collaborators on upcoming 50th anniversary Chieftains album Voice Of Ages makes it the most anticipated album of the year for hipster folkies. Bon Iver turns his familiar shush and whisper to Irish murder balladry to get us started; you can also hear an amazing Irish-influenced original from The Civil Wars at The Chieftains’ Facebook page. Look forward to the Punch Brothers, Low Anthem, Carolina Chocolate Drops and more to come as the mid-February release date approaches.


Frazey Ford: Lovers In A Dangerous Time (orig. Bruce Cockburn)


The recent solo output from Be Good Tanyas founder Frazey Ford is fast finding itself among my most-listened-to tracklists. Here, she totally transforms a Cockburn classic into slow, syrupy Americana blues; if you like what you hear, head over to the Cover Lay Down Facebook page and scroll down for a YouTube Dylan cover posted earlier this month


Message To Bears: Wolves (orig. Phosphorescent)


I’ve already posted this over at Facebook, too, making it a repost, of sorts. And it’s nothing new, though it was Slowcoustic’s recent feature which brought it to my attention. But the stillness and quiet here are an apt reflection of the quiet snow outside, and the beauty of the whitewash world. Stream the new album from Message To Bears for more delicate indiefolk soundscapes from composer and multi-instrumentalist Jerome Alexander.


Brian Vander Ark: Children’s Crusade (orig. Sting)


Brian Vander Ark: Maybe I’m Amazed (orig. Paul McCartney)


Singer-songwriter Brian Vander Ark is far better known as the frontman of The Verve Pipe; unsurprisingly, his 2011 solo album Magazine is highly produced, albeit good stuff if you like radiopop. But his solo acoustic take on one of my favorite obscure Sting songs, released yesterday via his Twitter account, is soulful and polished, a perfect example of the unplugged subgenre at its best, and an apt opening act in his new commitment to social media as a driving force behind his solo career. Combine it with his live version of Paul McCartney classic Maybe I’m Amazed, and you’ve got a harbinger of some great work to come.


Jessica Leanne Middleton: Bring Me Down (orig. Miranda Lambert)


Jessica Leanne Middleton: More Like Her (orig. Miranda Lambert)


Lest we forget that SoundCloud isn’t just a vehicle for the pros, budding Texas-based “singing siren” Jessica Leanne Middleton brings us a pair of beautiful, intimate, aching Miranda Lambert covers that would sound equally at home on folk radio or an in-studio County Music Channel session. Here’s hoping someone picks her up and gives her the full Mindy Smith treatment sometime soon.


Maya Laner: Why Don’t They Let Us Fall In Love (orig. The Ronettes)


Raining Jane: Love Is a Battlefield (orig. Pat Benatar)


Finally, Cover Me already posted this pair of tunes, but I can’t resist passing them along anyway. Berkeley-based Maya Laner’s layered uke-driven take on mid-century classic is cute and dreamy, pushing us to pursue more from her acoustic folkrock band Local Hero; Raining Jane belies their LA roots, combining Celtic elements with folkpop greatness for a solid, enjoyable take on a well-known Pat Benatar wailer.

Comment » | Bon Iver, Frazey Ford, Soundcloud Saturday, The Chieftains

Carolina Coverfolk, Vol. 3: The Traditional Folksongs of Doc Watson

April 25th, 2008 — 02:57 am

Elizabeth Cotten and Arthel “Doc” Watson share more than just a connection to the state of North Carolina. Both were culturally disadvantaged — Cotten due to her skin color, and Doc due to a lifelong blindness. Each started performing in childhood, but became truly famous in the great folk revival of the sixties. Both are known for songs which celebrate the hard life and trials of their beloved rural south while addressing universal themes of loss, change, and heartache. And, most importantly, though no one could confuse Cotten’s rural bluesfolk for Doc’s country swing style, each is ranked among the best acoustic fingerpickers of their generation.

But the differences between the two are great, as well. In fact, presenting Doc Watson and Elizabeth Cotten side by side makes for an interesting exercise in folk history, one which allows us to see the great diversity of the strands and influences which came together to make modern folk music in America.


Unlike Elizabeth Cotton, who came back to folk in the sixties after a long hiatus, Doc Watson (b. 1923) was always a musician, busking with his brother for pennies as a child, supporting himself and his family with his work as a piano tuner to pay the bills when he could not find paid work as a sideman. Though he worked through much of the fifties as an electric guitar player with a country and western swing band, when the modern folk scene began to crystalize in the early sixties, Doc switched over to acoustic guitar and banjo exclusively, making a name for himself as one of the best fingerpickers in the business, and finding himself in high demand on the burgeoning folk circuit.

Where Cotten is primarily known for her original songs and original rhythmic style, Doc Watson’s greatest contributions to folk music came from his source material and lightning speed. His ability to blow the socks off every other picker in the room is well known, and his work as a songwriter is honest and respectable. But as folk, his repertoire is most significant for its use of songs from the oral tradition which might otherwise have been lost. We might say that while it was Mike Seeger’s recordings of Elizabeth Cotten which saved her authentic voice, Doc Watson’s recordings and performance of the mountain ballads from the areas around his home of Deep Gap, North Carolina allow us to consider Doc a Seeger to his own people.

This is not to say that the tradsongs of Doc Watson sound anything like Cotten’s originals, stylistically-speaking. While Cotten’s fingerpicking style comes from applying banjo style to the guitar, Watson’s quickfingered picking style is the successful result of moving songs that were traditionally fiddle tunes to the acoustic guitar. Where Cotton was self-taught, Watson learned his trade through the traditional country songs of the south, and the songs of early country greats like the Louvin and Monroe Brothers.

Where Cotton ended up finding a style that sounded more like early blues musicians, Watson’s different approach and experience, plus his apprenticeship in the country and western genres, left him with a wail and a sense of rhythm that call to the same acoustic old-timey country sound that you might hear in the rougher, hippier corners of bluegrass and country festivals today.

Another way of saying this might be to point out that where Cotten shows the blues influence on folk music, Doc Watson shows the country — an influence which, despite its significance, is often the elephant in the room when it comes to folk music. His style and his “mountain music” sound hark to a time back before country and folk music had truly split off from each other, and long before alt-country bands like Uncle Tupelo, newgrass bands like Yonder Mountain String Band, old timey bands like Old Crow Medicine Show, and modern western swing folk musicians like Eilen Jewell went spelunking in the deep well of potential that lies between true country music and the post-sixties folk (and rock) music scenes.

Today, both country and folk music claim Doc Watson as one of their own, and rightfully so. Doc holds multiple Grammy awards in both the Traditional Folk and the Country Instrumental categories; Merlefest — the festival named after Doc’s son and long-time musical partner, who died in a tractor accident in 1985 — is known for attracting the best music and musicians from the intersection of folk, bluegrass, and country. But no matter what you call it, Doc Watson’s sound is instantly recognizable, powerful, and no less potent today, eighty years after it could be heard on the streets of his beloved North Carolina.

Today’s collection is a bit heavier on the tradfolk than cover lovers might ordinarily prefer. But this is no loss. Focusing primarily on the traditional folksongs Watson interpreted allows us to celebrate one of his greatest contributions to American folk music. Though the pickin’s are slim, thanks to some of the great bloggers that have come before me and the luck of a grab-and-go draw before we hit the road last Friday, what follows includes some great and representative tradfolk from a fifty year career, from old live recordings with Merle to Doc’s haunting baritone lead vocals on a beautiful back-porch version of Gershwin’s faux spiritual Summertime.

I’m no expert on the works of Doc Watson, and as you can see from the diverse source albums listed above, his catalog is especially prolific. But if you’re new to his sound, and want to begin a collection, purists tell me the best place to start is Smithsonian Folkways for the older stuff, and Doc Watson and David Holt’s page for his most recent Grammy-winning work. Also recommended, since we missed Record Store Day last Saturday: head to your local record store and, after searching fruitlessly for sections labeled “Traditional Folk” or “Traditional Country”, ask for any of the above-mentioned disks by name.

Cover Lay Down will be heading from North Carolina to Massachusetts on Saturday, and will return Sunday evening with a feature on an artist who made the same transition. Keep pickin’ and grinnin’, and we’ll see you then.

857 comments » | David Grisman, Doc Watson, Merle Watson, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Chieftains, Tradfolk

Caroline Herring, Lantana: covers of Kate Wolf and All The Pretty Little Horses

February 19th, 2008 — 08:46 pm


Ever wonder what happens to the artists who win Best New Artist at SXSW? If they’re Caroline Herring, they release a strong second album and then disappear, putting their recording career on hold to focus on marriage and motherhood. Now, after a long hiatus, Herring returns to the forefront of the folkworld with Lantana, a stunning, intimate collection which I’ve already shortlisted as one of my top ten folk/roots/Americana albums of 2008.

Taking time off for family is an especially risky move in today’s music world, where momentum is king — bloggers, who constantly seek “the next big thing”, share no small responsibility for accelerating this process. But with true genius, Herring turns her time out of the limelight to her advantage, treating it as both subject and sustenance, crafting a strong, polished set of tunes which speak to the the complex balance between traditional family roles and career ambitions which women are asked to internalize in modern society.

The result is a revelation. Herring’s five years out of the studio only intensified what was already a stellar ability to create and deliver poignant, powerful songs about the world around her in a pure, rich southern-twanged voice reminiscent of some of the the best female folksingers of the past thirty years. The songs on Lantana are simultaneously authentic and new, applying traditional folk storytelling and verse structure to stories of women in today’s rural South who, like Herring herself, have struggled to find their place between the demands of the heart and post-feminist possibility.

At its best, this album is haunting and beautiful, combining strong songwriting with solid, effective production and stunning vocal delivery. Paper Gown, a murder ballad of the finest order which retells the chilling story of Susan Smith, is especially gorgeous example of Herring’s ability to create song of the first order: catchy, thoughtful, sympathetic, and deep, the song roots itself in your soul, lingering long after the music has faded from the ears. Even in her quieter, more peaceful numbers — including a deceptively simple cover of traditional lullaby All the Pretty Little Horses and a beautiful, wistful version of Kate Wolf’s Midnight on the Water, both of which we feature below — Herring brings a depth of emotion which few contemporaries can muster

Universally accessible yet rooted deeply in the sounds of Herring’s native south, Lantana is the best singer-songwriter CD I’ve heard in a very long time. Let’s hope it’s the first of many more to come from this up-and-second-coming talent.

  • Caroline Herring, Midnight on the Water (orig. Kate Wolf)
  • Caroline Herring, All The Pretty Little Horses (trad.)

Lantana doesn’t come out until March 4th, but you want more of Caroline Herring as soon as possible, so pre-order Lantana over at Signature Sounds today. Act now, and you can pick up this magnificent album for under ten dollars — a real steal in today’s market.

Still not convinced? Check out Paper Gown over at fellow folkblog Here Comes The Flood. Their description of Caroline Herring’s sound as “gothic country” is right on the money.

Today’s bonus coversongs include another take on Kate Wolf, and a set of songs which used to be my favorite versions of the slave lullaby All The Pretty Little Horses before Caroline Herring hit it on the nose:

  • Nanci Griffith, Across The Great Divide (orig. Kate Wolf)

  • Calexico, All The Pretty Horses (trad.)
  • Shawn Colvin, All The Pretty Li’l Horses (trad.)
  • The Chieftains w/ Patty Griffin, Whole Heap of Little Horses (trad.)

929 comments » | Calexico, Caroline Herring, Kate Wolf, Nanci Griffith, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, The Chieftains

Single Song Sunday: Rain and Snow (On Traditional Folksongs as Tabula Rosa) Plus 3 bonus Grateful Dead rainsongs

December 16th, 2007 — 03:01 am


Whether stripped-down so as not to overwhelm the authenticity of the song and singer, or jazzed up to resonate with modern musical sensibilities, it is the passage of familiar song, motif, and situation between audience and performer which makes the “folk” in folk music. Songs about trains are ultimately songs about longing; songs about the road resonate with those who wander and those who long for a change, though in different ways. Such songs play broadly to universal themes, the better to leave room for such connection. In collapsing the participant/observer gap, the songs have connected folk artists and folk audiences for a century or more.

We might say, then, that traditional songs like Rain and Snow (also called Cold Rain and Snow in some collections) are both heart and origin of folk music. Problematically, however, these same qualities which make tradfolk accessible can make writing about traditional songs an exercise in futility.

Many tradfolk songs have loose lyrics, thin and incomplete, which drift from interpretation to interpretation, and thus invite the sort of minute lyrical analysis only a music historian could love. Today’s featured song is perhaps an extreme example of the problem of interpretation. It contains only twelve lines, four of which are merely repetitions of the previous line, and its lyrics are vague, naming lifelong trouble between narrator and spouse without ascribing cause.

Similarly, since the origins of traditional american folk songs like Rain and Snow are murky at best, historical analysis is no better an approach to understanding. Even the best write-ups can end up an exercise in cover geneology, offering little more than a litany of who-sang-and-when, ad infinitum. And this is the anathema of blogging, I suppose, which seems to me most specifically a medium of anecdotal small-scale sharing and interpretation, not mere enumeration.

But this is not to say that there is nothing we can say. The best approach to traditional song interpretation, I think, begins with a simple acknowledgement of what a song is. It is the parameters of possibility which make traditional folk song unique and interesting.

Rain and Snow, for example, is a beautiful, simple, melancholy song of spousal dissatisfaction which can be interpreted as many ways as humans can express such emotion. The way the doubled-lyrics degrade from storylyric to simple image to repeated, strung-out phrase at each verse’s end requires singers to howl their emotional choices open-voweled. The song’s last line leaves open the possibility that the song’s narrator has been the cause of his own resolution, without necessarily calling it either way.

When combined, these traits make for powerful potential in the hands of the coverartist. The unresolved narrative, coupled with the simple lyrical and chord patterns, leaves ample room for true interpretation. Indeed, it is the tonality and approach of a given coverartist which will ultimately determine whether we take these lyrics as melancholy or resigned, the narrative as sinister or merely regretful.

Rain and Snow is generally considered a traditional fiddle-and-folk appalachian folksong, though old folkies likely know it best from the works of Pentagle and the Grateful Dead; it is so much a part of the Deadhead canon, in fact, that it was included on jazz/folk/world music label Shanachie‘s “The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead”. Rather than rehash those old familiars, here’s a set of six stellar post-millenial versions, from folk to roots to celtic to true blue bluegrass, just to prove that there’s always more life to be had in tradsongs, the lifeblood of folk.


As always, wherever possible, artist and album links on Cover Lay Down go directly to each artist’s preferred sources for purchase — the best way to support musicians without giving money to unecessary middlemen. Order now, and put some tradition under the tree.

Today’s bonus rainsongs have all been performed by members of the Grateful Dead at one time or another, according to the Grateful Dead Lyric and Songfinder:

  • New Riders of the Purple Sage founder Dave Nelson covers the Grateful Dead’s Box of Rain (live)
  • Folk supergroup Redbird do a jangly version of Dylan’s Buckets of Rain
  • Neo-folkgrassers Crooked Still cover softly tradsong Wind and Rain

Previously on Cover Lay Down: Folk covers of songs of snow and winter

192 comments » | Be Good Tanyas, Blue Mountain, Crooked Still, Dave Nelson, Del McCoury, Grateful Dead, Peter Mulvey, Redbird, Single Song Sunday, solas, The Chieftains

Covered in Fluff…I Mean, Folk: Songs from Disney’s Winnie the Pooh

November 26th, 2007 — 04:15 pm

This is Kurtis from Covering the Mouse sharing a little bit of my Disney collection with all of you folk lovers! Boyhowdy has been a guest poster on my site a few times and now he has asked me to be one for his site! And I am more than happy to help him out! And if you’re looking for Boyhowdy, then you’d better head on over to Fong Songs where he is today’s guest poster!

I have chosen a trio of Winnie the Pooh songs for today’s post by three very different acts. But first let me bring everyone who has been living under a rock up to speed about Winnie the Pooh:

Winnie the Pooh is a book series by A.A. Milne from the 20s. The bear in the book is based on a stuffed bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milne. The stuffed bear is based on Winnipeg, a bear from the London Zoo originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Christopher named his bear Winnie and asked his dad to write some stories about him.

In the sixties, the Walt Disney company adapted the stories into a trio of animated shorts. It is here that we are introduced to the characters as we now know them as well as the classic theme song.

The theme song was written by Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman for the 1966 short Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. It is one of the most recognized of all Disney songs and is heard in almost every Pooh production ever made by Disney.

But enough about history, let’s get to the covers!

  • Carly Simon, Winnie the Pooh
    While Simon’s main body of work filled the rock world in the 70s and 80s, she has really mellowed out having released albums of standard, lullabies and two soundtracks for Winnie the Pooh movies. This cover was written for the 2003 feature film Piglet’s Big Movie and was heard again in Pooh’s Heffalump Movie in 2005. She adds a really nice folk touch to the song and the only part that I really don’t like is when it breaks into the string bridge. Otherwise, it’s a great cover! The track can be found on both soundtrack albums.

  • The Chieftains, Winnie the Pooh
    Boyhowdy wrote up a review of this cover on my site and reviewed it better than I could so I encourage you to visit that post by clicking here.
  • Tommy and Amanda Emmanuel, Pooh Bear Medley
    It is said that Tommy Emmanuel is the best guitar player in Australia. He started playing when he was four and never stopped learning and practicing. He has had several albums since the seventies and if you listen to them you will hear that they he is an excellent guitarist. In the cover, off the sadly out-of-print Disney Duets: A Family Celebration, he plays a medley of two songs: The classic Winnie the Pooh theme as well as his version of the theme song from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh television series from 1988. Interspersed throughout the track are readings from the book by Tommy’s daughter Amanda. The father/daughter team up is very touching and really captures the essence of the silly old bear.

Today’s bonus coversongs:

I’ve included two Jungle Book tunes for you to hear. Please check out my site for more information about these artists.

  • Michelle Shocked, Bare Necessities
  • Gabriel Rios, I Wanna Be Like You

850 comments » | Carly Simon, Disney, Gabriel Rios, Guest Posts, Michelle Shocked, The Chieftains, Tommy Emmanuel, Winnie The Pooh

Elseblogging: over at Covering The Mouse The Chieftains cover Winnie the Pooh

November 5th, 2007 — 09:20 pm

Just a quick between-post redirect to Covering The Mouse, where Kurtis is king of the obscure, the odd, and the occasionally awful Disney cover. My guestblog there today covers the Chieftains doing Winnie The Pooh; if you like Disney, or Irish jigs, I highly recommend a visit. (Why? Because we like you!)

Disney lovers may also have noted that yesterday’s kidsong post also includes bluegrass goddess Alison Krauss’ sweet cover of Baby Mine, originally from Dumbo. And our previous post about a certain ex-mouseketeer continues to get hits. So much Disneyfolk, so little time…

1,125 comments » | Covering The Mouse, Disney, Elseblog, The Chieftains, Winnie The Pooh