The New Lost Times

John Cohen at the Virginia Film Society

Last night, the Virginia Film Society featured a screening of John Cohen's films The High Lonesome Sound and Dancing With the Incas at the Vinegar Hill Theatre in Charlottesville, VA. Cohen was there in person to present the films.

The OFFscreen blog wrote:

Tonight, Cohen will exhibit his first and last films: The High Lonesome Sound (1963, 30 min.) explores how the music of church-goers, miners, and farmers of eastern Kentucky express the joys and sorrows of life among the rural poor; Dancing with the Incas (1992, 58 min.) documents the most popular music of the Andes -- Huayno music -- and explores the lives of three Huayno musicians in a contemporary Peru torn between the military and the Shining Path guerrillas.

The screening cosponsored by the McIntire Department of Art.

Mike Seeger on NPR with Ry Cooder

From the Jazz News Press Service:

On March 24, Ry Cooder will give a rare live performance at NYC’s Town Hall, as part of a broadcast of the popular radio program A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. Cooder will perform songs from his critically acclaimed new album ‘My Name is Buddy, ’ and be backed by many of the musicians - known collectively as The New Cardboard Avenue Jaywalkers - who contribute to this unique recording: Mike Seeger on banjo, Paddy Maloney of the Chieftains on whistles/pipes, Roland White on mandolin, and Joachim Cooder on drums.

A Prairie Home Companion is heard by over 4 million listeners weekly, and airs on over 580 public radio stations nationwide. In addition, it is heard abroad on America One and the Armed Forces Networks In Europe and the Far East. See the PHC website for a complete list of affiliates.

‘Buddy, ’ the follow-up to Cooder’s Grammy-nominated 2005 album ‘Chavez Ravine, ’ was released on March 6 to great critical acclaim.

“An eccentric but musically sublime concept album ... casually brilliant.” - BOSTON GLOBE

“A sweeping piece played out in intimate detail, reminding us that at the bottom of everything Cooder does, he is most of all a social historian.” - SF CHRONICLE

Mike Seeger on new Ry Cooder CD

Ry Cooder has released a CD which the critics say is in the spirit of his early career, before the Cuban stuff. They say it has the feel of Woody Guthrie's dust bowl ballads and the songs are politically pointed. It's a theme album and follows three characters -- Buddy Red Cat, Lefty Mouse, and the Reverend Tom Toad.

In any case, Mike Seeger and his half brother play on the album. The Globe and Mail writes:

Cooder, always the superb curator, uses Dylan-hero Mike Seeger (fiddle, harmonica, jaw harp) on "Strike!" And that's Mike and half-brother Pete Seeger doubling up on banjos for "J. Edgar," a hillbilly toe-tapper concerning an insatiable (Big Business) hog who can never be fed enough.

It sounds like a great album, from what I'm reading about it.

24 hours of Folkways

Smithsonian-Folkways recently posted 24 one-hour podcasts exploring the history and archives of Folkways Records, a good candidate for the most important record label of the 20th century. And if you're a fan of the New Lost City Ramblers ... there pretty much are no other candidates.

I haven't explored these yet, but I sure want to. If you do some listening, let me know what you think. Episodes 3 and 11 seem to have the most NLCR.

NLCR documentaries online

Folkstreams.net provides documentary films about American folk culture, streamed over the internet. It's an amazing thing.

I notice two films that fans of the New Lost City Ramblers may enjoy. Mike Seeger's documentary about oldtime dancing styles -- Talking Feet: Solo Southern Dance: Buck, Flatfoot and Tap -- is available here.

And then there's a movie about the making of John Cohen's classic film about Kentucky singers. This "making of" film is called Remembering the High Lonesome and is available here.

There's also a film that seems to be a kind of update of Cohen's documentary film work in KY in the 1960's.