"The Cuckoo," Clarence Ashley
This is one of those grand old songs from across the seas
that is timeless and transcends the limits of our current mode of
musical thought.
"See That My Grave is Kept Clean," Blind Lemon Jefferson
A tale of imminent death, as told from the eyes of the
dying, as white horses, golden chains, coughing sounds, the ringing toll
of the church bell and other poor boys going down into the perpetual
ground fill the still, dense air.
âFishinâ Blues,â Henry Thomas
Who would think that in these times, one of the most
amazing songs in American history would be written about fishing by a
man playing a set of pan pipes on a harmonica rack?
"Stackalee," Frank Hutchison
A feared American myth of the American South, Stackalee is
the baddest man in the land. Many tales of killers fill the anthology,
but this man is bad to the bone.
"Gonna Die With My Hammer in My Hand," The Williamson Brothers and Curry
The harsh result of the Industrial
Revolution on the common man. Man meets machine, machine roars, man
huffs, machine squeals, man bleeds, steel bends, hammer breaks, mountain
falls, people cry, boy learns.
WWeek 2015