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Saturday, May 29, 2010

For Your Listening Pleasure

I'm a sucker for folk music and I love, love, love The Wailin' Jennys.





5 comments:

Assistant Village Idiot said...

More bluegrass, I'd say. Which is all to the good.

I had never heard of them until two weeks ago when a friend at work suggested them. Thanks for the help.

terri said...

Definitely Bluegrassy...but the first song is an Irish Folk song, and some of their other songs aren't quite as bluegrassy.

Of course, "folk music" can be mean a lot of things. The influence of Irish/Scottish/English music on Bluegrass definitely comes through.

I remember hearing a particular female Irish vocalist, I can't remember who, and thinking "wow that sounds just like "our" bluegrass/folksy music."

Assistant Village Idiot said...

If that enchants, then I recommend Steeleye Span to you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zzwbYyvWiU. Not your generation, though. But my boys, not much younger than you, were forced to grow up with them, and even liked some of it.

There's good reason for the Scots-Irish similarity, as that is who settled Appalachia, which in turn settled south and west, so cowboy songs have that flavor as well. Attend to the similarities of this North-Ireland tune http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q4BrtuM5mU and the lyrics to "Laredo."

Religiously and culturally similar, too. Scots Presbyterians had week-long revival festivals long before they came to America; and think of the general tribal violence levels of Belfast and Glasgow even today - that's the same group as Hatfields (an English Borderer surname) and McCoys (rather obviously Scottish).

Anonymous said...

Thanks for mentioning this group and posting a video link. I've seen ads posted for a concert by them all over my (really) small coastal Maine town. In fact they are performing a couple of blocks from where I live. Other than seeing the handouts I had never heard of them. Now I think I'll see if I can still get a ticket!

-aza-

terri said...

aza

What a coincidence.

I've never been able to see them live. Last time I checked they weren't touring in Florida.

Bummer.