Season 239 - Country Folk

thank you for the week, Keith.
this is a song from Shannon Lyon's latest album.
 
Hi Rob! Couple of things! It was me (or should I say "It was I") that did it in TCK's bird week! And though I am originally from the Black Country, the song is about a pigeon and his owner from Derby - which isn't! Sorry about that Rob! ... happened to notice - gotta put it right! Cheers- Lesley

Lesley my love, apologies for getting the geographical location of Derby wrong... you sort of twist the truth
so you can write an introduction to the song, I was never good at geography anyway, and I think
your song may have inspired TCK to do Charlie and the King

I looked around for your version but could not find it, though I do remember hearing you sing it.
Did you delete it or give it another name? It is a great song and I love the version by the Unthanks
with that brass band.

Peace and joy to you.

Rob.
 
Although folk songs from the British Isles and related traditions generally tell a story, it's not necessary for them to tell a story. The original definition of a folk song was a song that had been transmitted orally down the generations within a community. This was where our traditional songs came from and we know about them through the efforts of collectors going looking for the songs and publishing them. This movement started in the late 19th century and continued well into 20th century

The Blues originated as an African American tradition, so in that sense, Blues songs are folk songs. This is especially true of the older country blues.

What constitutes folk song has broadened somewhat over the years, mainly through people who started out singing traditional songs and then starting to write their own songs reflecting the world as they saw it influenced by the traditional songs they had been singing. There are a number of "purists" who insist on sticking strictly to the original definition but many take a more relaxed view. The folk clubs I go to range from those where most of the songs - or at least a significant portion of them - are traditional to ones where most of the songs are contemporary, though traditional songs are welcome in all of them.

Country had its origins in North American traditional song but evolved away from that, though its forms do still reflect its ultimate origins. The evolution of Country Music will much better explained by our members in North America as it's ultimately their music after all even though many of us on this side of the pond enjoy listening to it and playing it.

Horse! (well, almost ;) )
 
Hi, and welcome to The Seasons. If oyu are looking for easy country songs, there are hundreds here - http://www.classic-country-song-lyrics.com/ - and the chords are there too - usually C F & G!

That's my go to page for Country Music lyrics and chords. I've noticed that the chords are nearly always given in either the key of C or the key of G. If those keys don't suit your voice you need to transpose but they give a link to a page which enables you to paste in a song with its chords and tell what key you want it transposed to.

This site is my main reference source, and not just for this forum. I use it all the time.

Thanks! I think I have a few ideas now. :)

Once more, welcome to the Seasons/Willkommen in den Jahreszeiten!
If you are looking for more ideas, my personal go-to site is http://www.cowboylyrics.com/. I'm not saying for a moment that there's anything wrong with the Classic Country Song Lyrics site, just that their country is exactly that - 'classic': not much room for modern, or 'alt-Country' artists there. No Rodney Crowell, no Rosanne Cash, no Lucinda Williams, no Townes Van Zandt, no Dwight Yoakam, no Nanci Griffiths, no Gram Parsons, no Sara Petite, no Deana Carter, no Eric Church - and these are just the names of artists included on my iTunes 'country' playlist; there are many more that could be mentioned (OK, a couple of these names do get a songwriting credits if their material has been covered by a 'classic' country artist, but my general point stands. Do be aware that when they call their site "Classic" country, they mean exactly what they say :) ).
 
Lesley my love, apologies for getting the geographical location of Derby wrong... you sort of twist the truth
so you can write an introduction to the song, I was never good at geography anyway, and I think
your song may have inspired TCK to do Charlie and the King

I looked around for your version but could not find it, though I do remember hearing you sing it.
Did you delete it or give it another name? It is a great song and I love the version by the Unthanks
with that brass band.

Peace and joy to you.

Rob.
Aw, bless you Rob! No worries, seriously! You know what, I forgot that I deleted that video, some time last year I think - I really didn't like my efforts with it at all, though I love the song and especially the Unthanks version! Just popping in to check things out - no videos forthcoming.
 
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Once more, welcome to the Seasons/Willkommen in den Jahreszeiten!
If you are looking for more ideas, my personal go-to site is http://www.cowboylyrics.com/. ).
Danke! :)

For the moment I've decided to stick with Scarborough Fair, because I've found a tutorial for it that I find very helpful. But I'm also going to listen to some more Country over the next few days, just in case I have time for second video.
 
Danke! :)

For the moment I've decided to stick with Scarborough Fair, because I've found a tutorial for it that I find very helpful. But I'm also going to listen to some more Country over the next few days, just in case I have time for second video.

Scarborough fair is a good choice of folk song. It's a version of Child Ballad 2, The Elfin Knight. The Elfin Knight dates back at least to the 17th century and the various impossible tasks are to prevent the Elfin Knight having his wicked way with a young lady. It's been collected several times in various versions. Mostly in the North of England and the Elfin Knight has disappeared from the scene. Check out the Elfin Knight here
 
Drinking to remember

Having mentioned Sarah Petite earlier, thought it only right I should try and learn one of her songs...



This is from her 3rd album, Circus Comes To Town. If I were you I'd give that a listen instead of this :)
 
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Gillian Welch's Revival came out 20 years ago. Time flies. This is the first song I ever heard from it. A singer/songwritter performed it at an open mic in '96 and I was floored. I love this song to this day!
 
Geoff has given us a superb explanation of "what is folk music". I have gone for a song which most people would definitely pick out as a folk song, but which was written relatively recently, by Jim Mackie, from Pontefract here in Yorkshire. It has been handed down and passed around in folk clubs for 20+ years (and more recently on YouTube...). No doubt the melody has changed since he wrote it, possibly the words too, and I have probably continued that particular tradition.

The song concerns a Yorkshire couple, Amos & Martha. For those Seasonistas not familiar with all of the language used, half a crown was a coin we used to have, and the Dog & Gun is a pub.

 
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Season 239. Submission 1 "It's Gonna Rain" written by Lucinda Williams


from her album "Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone" (2014)


 
Greetings,

Weather Report - Sharknado is now wrapped. Now with your regularly scheduled program.


:)
 
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