Volume 1

Volume 1 is a compilation of various genres on a single CD.  The following in the series will deal primarily one genre at a time.  To obtain this CD click here. 

01 EXCELSIOR BAND OF MOBILE - "MEDLEY"
02 CHILD'S GAME - "WALKING ON THE GREEN GRASS"
03 MOBILE DOCK WORKERS - "CARRIE, CARRIE"
04 CORLY PENNINGTON - "RA-TA-TUM-DE-DUM"
05 "CHILDREN'S PLAY SONG"
06 HARRIET MCCLINTOCK - "COME BUTTER COME"
07 TOM BELL - "CROSS-E SHIMMY DANCE TUNE"
08 NOAH LACY - "HEN CACKLE"
09 JOHN HENRY MEALING - "GIRL IN THE WHITE FOLK'S YARD"
10 BALDWIN COUNTY POLKA BAND - "RED ROSE POLKA-BABY DOLL POLKA"
11 ELDER DONALD SMITH - "GRACE A CHARMING SOUND"
12 SPRING HILL UNION PRIMITIVE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION - "WE SHALL SLEEP BUT NOT FOREVER"
13 THE MELODY MEN - "MY HEAVY BURDENS HAVE ROLLED AWAY"
14 LUELLA HATCHER - "A CHARGE TO KEEP I HAVE"
15 THE SULLIVAN FAMILY - "OLD BRUSH ARBOR"
16 THE BIRMINGHAM SUNLIGHTS - "ANGEL'S WATCHING OVER ME"
17 WIREGRASS SACRED HARP SINGERS - "PISGAH"
18 CAPITOL ROTUNDA SINGING - "SWEET RIVERS"
19 ELDER JAMES COCKRELL - "SURE BEEN GOOD TO ME"
20 DALE COUNTY GOSPEL ASSOCIATION - "LOOK UP"
21 GARY WALDREP - "GOIN' ON THE MOUNTAIN"
22 ALBERT MACON AND ROBERT THOMAS - "GOTTA MOVE"
23 REAGAN NGAMVILAY, KHAMSING DARAPHETH - "SALAWAN"
24 RUSSELL JOHNSON AND J. C. BROCK - "JOHNSON'S OLD GREY MULE"
25 MARIACHI GARIBALDI - "GUADALAJARA"
26 THE STRIPLING BROTHERS - "WOLVES A HOWLING"
27 THE THOMAS SISTERS - "WHAT A DAY OF VICTORY"
28 NOTES AND STRINGS - "GETTING READY TO LEAVE THIS WORLD"
29 THE SOUNDS OF JOY - "FIX IT JESUS"
30 DIXIE BLUEGRASS - "WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS"

Note: all audio file links are MP3 audio files.

In 1936, folksong scholar John Lomax, then head of the archive of American Folksong at the Library of Congress, admired the vital abundance of Alabama's traditional music and referred to the state as "rich in folk music." Sixty years later, Lomax' daughter, Bess Lomax Hawes, former director of the Folk Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts, wrote of "the remarkable flowering of song that characterizes Alabama." And, over the years, scores of folk music collectors and scholars have been drawn to Alabama's abundant and diverse musical traditions--traditions which have, through history, served to define the state and inform our fundamental notions of where and who we are. From worksongs and blues to spirituals and gospel, from fiddle tunes and lullabies to mariachi and polka, the legacy of the Alabama experience has been engraved in the music made by the people who settled this state.

This album is the first of a comprehensive millennium series of recordings--an in-depth documentation of all the traditional musics of Alabama--a series which will feature nearly ten hours of Alabama music. This album celebrates the extraordinary polyphony of musical sounds which resonate across Alabama from Bayou la Batre to Ider, from Waterloo to Ashford. And this album honors those keepers of our culture who have preserved the beauty and vitality of those musical traditions passed down from one generation to the next, giving meaning to our present and continuity to our future.

Henry Willett
Former Director
Alabama Center for Traditional Culture
February 2001

CD Listing

1. EXCELSIOR BAND OF MOBILE - "MEDLEY"

    Considered Mobile's official Mardi Gras musicians, the Excelsior Band marches in more than a dozen parades during Mardi Gras season. According to leader James Seals, whose grandfather was a former Excelsior Band member, the group continues in its 110-year-old, brass band tradition by playing "Dixieland oldies and goodies" for parades, dances, funerals, building dedications, and other special occasions.  John A. Pope founded the Excelsior Band in 1883 with a group of musician friends who had gathered to celebrate the birth of his son. Several original members worked for the Creole Fire Company, so they often practiced their music in a room above the fire station. The presence of the Excelsior Band in Mobile's Creole community inspired many young people to take up instruments and carry on the marching band tradition, including several members of the current group.  top

 
2. CHILD'S GAME - "WALKING ON THE GREEN GRASS"

    Historical pieces are included in this compilation and following volumes to display the diversity of traditional music styles that were, at one time, common in Alabama. Little specific documentation is available on the people featured other than what could be culled from the accompanying notes from collections of the Library of Congress, the Byron Arnold Collection at the University of Alabama Hoole Special Collections Library, and the Ray Browne Collection held at the Sound Archive for the Center for Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio "WALKING ON THE GREEN GRASS" An unknown woman explains how this child's game is played and how the song is sung. A traditional song from the Byron Arnold Collection, Hoole Special Collections Library at the University of Alabama (Tape 3 disk 11B).  top


3. MOBILE DOCK WORKERS - "CARRIE, CARRIE"
   
       Traditional song recorded by John Lomax for the Library of Congress (LC 4029 b2) Led by Maddie Mae Cole of Mt. Pile school near York AL 10-30-40 References. Step It down: Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage by Bessie Jones & Bess Lomax Hawes, U of GA Press:Athens, GA, 1972.   top
   


4. CORLY PENNINGTON - "RA-TA-TUM-DE-DUM"
   
       Sung by Corly Pennington from Fernbank, AL Recorded by Ray Browne 8-14-52. Dr. Browne recounts that Pennington was from Fernbank, just west of Millport in North Alabama. She lived in Alabama almost all of her life. She was about forty years old at the time of the recording. She learned all of her songs from her father. Her vocal style is unique with the upturned pitch ornamentations she delivers at the end of certain phrases. This short piece is a fragmented rendition of a well known ballad "Black Jack Davey". Nonsense words are used between the verses. The melody is basically the same as other renditions of "Black Jack Davey," or American variant, "Gypsy Davey."   top
   
   
5. "CHILDREN'S PLAY SONG"

   Traditional song recorded by John Lomax for the Library of Congress (LC 4029 b2) Led by Maddie Mae Cole of Mt. Pile school near York AL 10-30-40 References. Step It down: Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage by Bessie Jones & Bess Lomax Hawes, U of GA Press:Athens, GA 1972.   top
 
6. HARRIET MCCLINTOCK - "COME BUTTER COME"

    Traditional song performed by Harriet McClintock near Sumterville, Alabama. Recorded by John A and Ruby T Lomax 1940 for the Library of Congress in Washington. 4034 A1 "Come Butter Come" is a type of work song that one would use to ease the monotony of churning butter. Note the song goes a bit faster and faster after each verse, the churner urges the cream to become butter by pressing the dasher faster and faster down into the churn filled with cream. One can picture the aspiration of the churning action. The dasher would be down in on the word 'come' and pulled up on the word 'butter'.   top


7. TOM BELL - "CROSS-E SHIMMY DANCE TUNE"

   A traditional tune recorded by John A. and Ruby T. Lomax in Livingston, Alabama November 3, 1940 for the Library of Congress (LC ref 4069-A-1.) Vocal and guitar by Tom Bell. This is a song that Tom Bell would play at a juke joint, dance party or festive gathering for people to dance or "shimmy" to. "The Shimmy, was probably derived from a Nigerian dance, the "Shika", brought to America by the African slaves. It was mentioned in the song "The Bullfrog Hop" in 1909 by Perry Bradford. It became very popular in the USA 1910 to 1920, and became a national craze after Gilda Gray introduced it in the Zeigfeld Follies in 1922, and claims the name comes from "chemise", having been asked by a reporter what she shook in the dance. However, Mae West claims to have done it in the show "Sometime" in 1919. It was described by the singer Ethel Waters, saying she put her hands on her hips and worked her body fast without moving the feet." (Groves Music and Musicians editor Stanley Sadie, 1980, 17/257).   top
 

8. NOAH LACY - "HEN CACKLE"

    Noah Lacy was born in Jackson County in 1908. He grew up in the 1920s and '30s in the era of string bands. Originally he patterned his musical style after Clayton McMichen and Lowe Stokes of the Skillet Lickers, a band popular at the time of early county music recordings. Lacy and his band played for dances in the homes of friends and neighbors. He also won many fiddle contests in the region.
    Noah Lacy died in 1993 at the age of 85. He was treasured both by fellow musicians and singers and by music scholars for his dedication to the musical heritage of his community. In 1991, he received the State Arts Council's highest honor for the traditional arts, the Alabama Folk Heritage Award.
    It is not surprising that music was such an important part of Noah Lacy's life. It was a Lacy family tradition. Noah's grandparents sang shape-note hymns from The Sacred Harp, by B. F. White, and his father was a singing school master who taught this distinctive, four-part, a cappella singing style in the small farming communities on Sand Mountain. In a 1991 interview, Noah Lacy recalled, "I was just born to it. I don't remember learning. Just as far back as I can remember, I could sing. Of course my family always sung. They would sing at home and go to singings too. And I just learned from them." Until the last year or two Noah Lacy and his wife Margie were very active singers, traveling the state every weekend to attend Sacred Harp singings. These are typically all-day community events held in rural churches featuring a noontime feast knows as "dinner-on-the-grounds."
    A favorite story recalls the time his band provided music at country fairs for riders on a mule-powered, merry-go-round knows as a flying jenny. If the operator had a full load of passengers, Lacy said, "he'd drop a nickel in each one of our shirt pockets. But if he didn't get a good load, he'd just drop one nickel in one pocket and then we had to divide that. We'd make five or six dollars a day a piece. Of course, that was big money then. We'd just get a dollar a day working on the farm for anybody."
    Noah Lacy never made music his main profession. He farmed for a living and sawed lumber between crops. Until his death, he and his son Chester operated a small sawmill on their property. Chester, who is also a musician, is one reason Noah Lacy remained such a strong fiddler. The two played music together for more than 40 years.
    His recordings are preserved in the Birmingham Public Library archive and in the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. "Hen Cackle" is from that collection. Another tune played by Noah Lacy is featured on Joyce Cauthens CD production "Possum Up a Gum Stump: Home, Field, and Commercial Recordings of Alabama Fiddlers." (by Anne Kimzey)
    "Hen Cackle" A traditional fiddle tune recorded by Joyce Cauthen in Mentone, Alabama 12-6-1986. Noah Lacy is accompanied by Chester Lacy on guitar.   top
  
9. JOHN HENRY MEALING - "GIRL IN THE WHITE FOLK'S YARD"

    Abraham Parker, Aurthur James, Cornelius Wright Jr., Willie Henderson, John Henry Mealing, Henry Caffey, John Cole The African-American musical legacy includes a rich worksong tradition. One of these traditions is that of the railroad "gandy dancers." Gandy dancers (from the Chicago-based Gandy Manufacturing Company, maker of railroad tools, and the "dancing" movements of the workers using them) were those men teamed in groups of 8 to 14 whose responsibility it was to lay or care for the tracks of the southern railroads.
    Prior to the 1960s, the all-black gandy dancer crews used songs and chants to help accomplish specific tasks and to send coded messages to each other so as not to be understood by the foreman and others. Different songs and tempos were for different jobs-lancing calls to coordinate the dragging of 39-foot rails; slower "dogging" calls to direct the picking up and manipulating of the steel rails; more rhythmic songs for spiking the rails, tamping the bed of gravel beneath them, or lining the rails with long iron crowbars. The lead singer, or caller, would chant to his crew, for example, to realign a rail to a certain position. His purpose was to uplift his crew, both physically and emotionally, while seeing to the coordination of the work at hand.
    It took a skilled, sensitive caller to raise the right chant to fit the task at hand and the mood of the men. Using tonal boundaries and melodic style typical of the blues, each caller had his own signature. The effectiveness of a caller to move his men has been compared to how a preacher can move a congregation.
    I Got a Girl in the White Folks' Yard Traditional chant recorded in 1988 by Maggie Holtzberg and Joey Brackner in Birmingham, Alabama.   top


10. BALDWIN COUNTY POLKA BAND - "RED ROSE POLKA-BABY DOLL POLKA"

    The Baldwin County Polka band, established in 1977 formerly performed at weddings, Mayfests, Octoberfests, senior citizens centers and other Baldwin County gatherings, such as the Elberta Sausage Festival. Playing drums in the band was Clara Prochazka, who was born to Czech parents in Silverhill in 1922. After marrying the late Frank Prochazka, she began teaching their two children and others of Czech descent to perform the folk dances she had learned as a child. Frank provided recorded music for the resulting dance troupe and also began a weekly "Polka Party" on Radio Station WHEP in Foley, which continued for 27 years. The Prochazkas also saw to it that their son and daughter learned to play accordion from older musicians in the community. While the band is no longer together, James still plays the accordion as a hobby. He often travels to New Branfiels, TX to play with various polka bands during the town's "Wurstfest" held in the Fall. He also travels to Wilber Nebraska to attend a large Czechoslovakian gathering each year.
    The polka song "Cervena Ruzicka," translated as "Red Rose," is a traditional Czechoslovakian folk song. Clara thinks the song comes from Czechoslovakia in the mid-1800s. Mrs. Prochazka relates that most Czech folksongs are pastoral in nature. Many tell about animals, rivers, flowers and things beauty. In this rendition, "Red Rose Polka" is linked together with "Baby Doll Polka," another Czech folksong. It tells a story of a child's doll. This polka example is performed as an instrumental.
    The band at the time of this recording consisted of Mrs. Prochazka, her son James on accordion, her daughter Georgi Kichler on tenor saxophone and clarinet. James Boring on bass guitar emulates the traditional tuba sound of the Czech music. The piano accordion plays some additional bass lines. James states that when there is no other bass accompaniment, microphones are set on each side of the piano accordion. James then plays both the melody and bass.
    "Red Rose Polka-Baby Doll Polka" Traditional Czech folksongs. Recorded by Dan Gainey at the Alabama Folklife Festival in Montgomery, May 1991.   top
 
11. ELDER DONALD SMITH - "GRACE A CHARMING SOUND"

    The hymn "Grace a Charming Sound" is "lined" out by Elder Smith and sung by members of the Deason family who were present in 1994 at the annual Deason family reunion. The tradition of "lining" a hymn is centuries old. It is achieved by a leader speaking or chanting a line of text which is then sung by the congregation. The history behind lining hymns goes back as early as 17th century England were church pastors were required to recite the text of a hymn line by line due to lack of literacy in their congregations. Notable hymnist Isaac Watts decried the fact that hymn singing in church was "horrendous and lamentable." To improve this condition he began composing hymns in basic poetic meters that allows them to be sung to familiar tunes. Thus, it was up to the pastor to recite the text of a hymn line by line and the congregation to sing it to a tune that was either suggested in the hymn book or agreed upon beforehand. As is stated at the beginning of the musical example, Elder Smith remembers his grand-father Wiley Deason reciting and singing the same hymn in a similar fashion. Reference to this hymn can be found titled "Ninety-Third Psalm" on page 31 of the Cooper edition of The B. F. White Sacred Harp, and on page 26 in Christian Harmony, titled "Ninety-Third."
    Elder Donald Smith is an avid conveyor of traditional Christian hymnody in Alabama. Traditional tunes used for this text only edition of Benjamin Lloyd's The Primitive Hymns, Spiritual Songs, and Sacred Poems are held in the memories of Primitive Baptist adherents. Many of the traditional tunes are closely connected to those found in B. F. White's Sacred Harp and other Christian tune-books including Christian Harmony. Elder Smith is deeply-rooted in the tradition of Christian Harmony (a publication of seven shape-note music), as well as the four shape-note Sacred Harp. The Christian Harmony publication is closely associated with the Deason family. Elder Smith's mother Clara is a Deason. John Deason (Donald Smith's uncle) and O. A. Parris published the 1958 revision of Christian Harmony. Art Deason and Donald Smith served on the committee that revised the 1994 edition.
    "Grace a Charming Sound" The text is from Benjamin Lloyd's Primitive Tunes #5. The melody is traditional. Recorded by Anne Kimzey 10-1-94 at the Deason Family reunion Little Hope Baptist Church, Eoline, Alabama. Thanks to Tish Crocker for information about her family.   top


12. SPRING HILL UNION PRIMITIVE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION - "WE SHALL SLEEP BUT NOT FOREVER"
    
        Mount Hebrew Primitive Baptist Church belongs to the Spring Hill Union Association founded in 1892. Its five churches are in the vicinity of Titus, Tuskegee, Notasulga, and Camp Hill, Alabama. The style in which the hymns are sung by this association is a unique and beautiful. Many of their songs are first lined out by the congregation and sung line by line. This is not the case for this example which is sung in regular verse form. The Spring Hill Union congregation is featured using the lined style in the Alabama Folklife Association publication, Benjamin Lloyd's Hymn Book: A Primitive Baptist Song Tradition, Joyce Cauthen editor.   
        "We Shall Sleep But Not Forever" Hymn #688 from Benjamin Lloyd's The Primitive Hymns, Spiritual Songs, and Sacred Poems, Sung by the congregation of Mt. Hebrew Primitive Baptist Church, Notasulga, Alabama, July 20, 1997. Recorded and digitally mastered by Steve Grauberger at the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture.  top
     
13. THE MELODY MEN - "MY HEAVY BURDENS HAVE ROLLED AWAY"

    The Melody Men are led by Al Malone, a resident of Lebanon, Alabama. The group has been singing together since 1994, performing small concerts and making appearances in area churches and schools. The Melody Men are: Al Malone, Milford Cushen, Dennis George (guitar), and F.L. Pierce. Jimi Hall performs the piano accompaniment on this piece. The Melody Men excel in four-part harmony singing in the fashion of old-style Southern Gospel groups. Most of the group's members were brought up on shape-note gospel convention singing on Sand Mountain, a geographic area in Northeastern Alabama. The Melody Men show the best characteristics typical of Southern Gospel such as the high tenor and the low bass, pushing to the extreme the range of vocal harmony. Instrumentation used is a minimum of electric guitar and electric keyboard.  top
 
14. LUELLA HATCHER - "A CHARGE TO KEEP I HAVE"

    Luella Hatcher of Orrville, near Selma, does not own a hymnal but sings, from memory, hymns she learned in childhood. She was born in 1930 in Westgreen, Alabama, 20 miles from Eutaw, and as a young girl joined the Salem Primitive Baptist Church near Aliceville, a congregation belonging to the Sipsey River Association. There she learned to sing hymns in the "Dr. Watts" style by listening to her father, a deacon, and other men in the church.
    "Moaning" or "Mourning" hymns are often sung during the devotional session at the beginning of a worship service. Hymns of this type are commonly known as "Dr. Watts" in Alabama. The term "Dr. Watts" is derived from Isaac Watts (1674-1748), an Englishman who is an important figure in Protestant hymnody. Albeit, he did not write "A Charge to Keep I Have."
    "A Charge To Keep I Have" is one of the more popular "Dr. Watts" hymns and may be heard in both Missionary and Primitive Baptist African American services, and in other events of worship in Alabama. The song text is found in the National Baptist Hymn Book #89. The book directs the hymn to be sung to the tune "Boylston," and gives the poetic form to be S. M. or "Short Meter," syllabic form of 6-6-8-6 for each verse. The melismatic (highly ornamented) melody sung in this example, while it is fixed in the hearts of those who sing the hymn, may or may not relate to the tune of "Boylston" specified by the National Baptist Hymn Book. 
    "A Charge to Keep I Have" is a traditional song lead by Luella Hatcher and sung by her family, friends and members of Mt. Mariah Primitive Baptist Church in Orrville, Alabama. The text was written by Charles Wesley (1707-1788). It was recorded by Steve Grauberger with acoustic mixing by Dan Gainey at the "In the Spirit Concert" held May 13, 1995 at the Gadsden Amphitheater in Gadsden, Alabama.  top
 

15. THE SULLIVAN FAMILY - "OLD BRUSH ARBOR"

    The Sullivan Family began performing as a band when it was invited to have a regular program on the first radio station in Jackson, Alabama, in 1949. But long before that its members had been playing traditional music. The family had settled near St. Stephens when it was the capital of the Alabama Territory.
    Through the decades, many family members played fiddles and provided music for frolics or country dances in the area. In 1939, when Arthur Sullivan converted to the Pentecostal faith and became a preacher, his family gave up "worldly" music and dedicated their musical talents to the Lord. His son Enoch still honors this commitment with bluegrass gospel music.
    Similarly Margie Brewster, who became Enoch's wife, was the daughter of a poor but proud sharecropper, father of 12 children. After her father's death, she traveled the South with evangelist Hazel Chain, playing guitar and singing gospel music in her resonant alto voice.
    Throughout their long career the Sullivans have had two long-lasting and popular radio shows in Jackson and Thomasville, plus a highly-rated television program in Jackson, Mississippi. They have recorded scores of albums and performed at thousands of small churches around the world as well as at major bluegrass festivals in the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands. Yet their delight in pleasing and inspiring audiences is still evident in their performances.
    The song "Old Brush Arbor" by George Jones is one of Margie Sullivan's signature songs depicting a once common practice in Alabama of holding Christian revival services in the rural countryside under structures made out of tree branches to shade the worshipers at a "camp meeting" site. "Old Brush Arbor" Recorded Steve Grauberger with sound mixing by Dan Gainey 5-13-1995 at the Gadsden, Alabama Amphitheater.
    REFERENCES The Sullivan Family: Fifty Years in Bluegrass Gospel Music by Enoch and Margie Sullivan with Robert Gentry edited by Patricia Martinez.  top
 
16. THE BIRMINGHAM SUNLIGHTS - "ANGEL'S WATCHING OVER ME"

    The Birmingham Sunlights developed their four-part a cappella style within the Church of Christ, where no musical instruments are permitted. Three brothers, James, Barry and Steve Taylor founded the group and are joined by Reginald Speights and Wayne Williams (replaced by current member Bill Graves) in performing well-known hymns as well as original pieces. Upon becoming aware of the rich Jefferson County gospel quartet tradition they sought training from a senior quartet, the Sterling Jubilees, to learn songs traditional to the area.
    Besides appearing at numerous festivals across the nation, such as the National Folk Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts, the Sunlights have toured five countries in Africa and performed extensively in the Caribbean and Australia under the auspices of the U. S. Department of Information. Their recent dynamic performance on Garrison Keillor's American Radio Theater on National Public Radio won them many more fans across the nation. They recently performed in France as ambassadors of Alabama traditional culture. "Angels' Watching Over Me" is a traditional song and original arrangement by the Birmingham Sunlights. Recorded by Steve Grauberger with sound mixing by Dan Gainey at the "In the Spirit" Concert at the Gadsden Alabama Amphitheater, May 13, 1995.  top
 
17. WIREGRASS SACRED HARP SINGERS - "PISGAH"
  top

 
18. CAPITOL ROTUNDA SINGING - "SWEET RIVERS"

    At a Sacred Harp gathering, singers sit facing each other in a "hollow square," organized by the four voice parts: tenor (melody), bass, treble (soprano), and alto. They use oblong songbooks in which the notes are indicated by geometrically shaped symbols on a musical scale--fa, sol, la, mi. Singers vocalize the notes to the tune first, then proceed with the lyrical verses. Individual singers take turns selecting and leading songs. The singing is strong and loud, the singers singing more for each other (and for God) than for an audience. Participation and fellowship is the order of the day. The art of Sacred Harp singing is often taught at "singing schools."
    Many singing conventions and singing schools take place throughout the year. One singing school is sponsored by the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture and is held every third Thursday in July and the Grange Hall in Old Town Alabama. The Capitol Rotunda Singing is sponsored by the Alabama State Council on the Arts and is held at the Capitol every Saturday before the first Sunday in February. (Erin Kellen)
    "Sweet Rivers" Recorded by Steve Grauberger At the Montgomery State Capitol Rotunda Feb 1999. The song is sung from B.F. White Sacred Harp, either the Cooper edition or James\Denson edition, Page 61. Lyrics are by John Adam Granade (d.1807) with music by William Moore (d.1825) (originally from Wm. Moore's 1925 edition of Columbian Harmony. Both Moore and Granade lived in Wilson County, TN. top
 
19. ELDER JAMES COCKRELL - "SURE BEEN GOOD TO ME"

    Elder Fred Cockrell, the song leader on "Sure Been Good to Me," is the pastor of Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church in Eutaw, AL and the Moderator of the Sispey River Primitive Baptist Association. He and his wife Nellie are vitally interested in preserving the "Dr. Watts" style of singing as well as the spirituals sung by his ancestors. While some members of the Sipsey River Association do not believe spirituals belong in church services, Elder Cockrell remembers that his parents sang them and he sees to it that various people in his congregation start them at times during the service. He also tries to introduce other spirituals into the repertoire by inviting visitors at the Annual meeting of the Association to lead hymns and spirituals in the way they are sung in their home congregations.
    The traditional song variety here, known as the "spiritual" in African American churches in Alabama, is a subject area in need of more documentation and study. While many spirituals were collected in the past there still are many individuals who remember a good number of these songs. Most were learned regionally through a strong oral tradition in an individual's church and at home from elder family members.
    The form of this spiritual "Sure Been Good To Me" is strophic. Each strophe exhibits a repetition of the phrase "all of these years" between Elder Cockrell's more spontaneous interjections. After the phrase is repeated three times the end tag of "Sure been Good to Me" is sung at a concluding cadence. This simple but heartfelt poetic form is typical of many spirituals. The same formulaic device may have been an inspiration for the secular blues poetic structure.
    "Sure Been Good to Me" was led by Elder Fred Cockrell at Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church. Recorded by Joyce Cauthen on May 12, 1996 during the field work for the Alabama Folklife Association publication Benjamin Lloyd’s Hymn Book: A Primitive Baptist Song Tradition, a book of essays with a CD recording documenting the history and current use of an historic hymn book. top
 
20. DALE COUNTY GOSPEL ASSOCIATION - "LOOK UP"

    Shape-note singing conventions have flourished in Alabama since the mid 19th century. Usually not associated with church services, organized Christian singing conventions in the past were often the most popular events occurring in rural communities. These regional singing conventions filled churches or singing halls to capacity, even to overflowing. These were the times to renew acquaintances and make new friends. Many a young man or woman found a mate during a singing and many friendships were cemented.
    People rode on horseback and in mule-drawn wagons or walked for miles to attend a much-anticipated weekend singing once the crops were "laid by" for the summer. There often were so many singers in attendance that not everyone could have his turn to lead a song before the two-to-three day convention ended. Singing schools, teaching the rudiments of music to children, were often set up in advance of an annual convention. Convention hosts would put up "devoted" singers the nights when they could not possibly make the trip back after a day of singing. Singing would last all day and some conventioneers would gather again to sing late into the night after supper.
    Shape-note music is a method designed to aid singers in sight reading music by assigning a geometric shape to each note on a scale. The oldest method of this type is the four-shape notation found in Sacred Harp music, sometimes called "fa-so-la." The American four-shape system derived from the Old World usage of syllables "faw-sol-law-faw-sol-law-me" when singing the major scale. Four-shape singing began in New England in the early 1800s and eventually flowered in the rural South. Only four shapes are used, since only four syllables are used for the seven primary notes of the scale. Various books were written using the four-shape system in the United States. Later editions and revisions of B. F. White's Sacred Harp, originally published in 1844, are used by most Alabama's Sacred Harp singers.
    A closely related shape-note singing tradition, sometimes called "new book gospel singing," began soon after the Civil War when the Reubusch-Kieffer Company in Dayton, Virginia began printing books of newly-composed music based on a system of seven different geometric shapes for the do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti solemnization of the musical scale. According to gospel scholar Charles Wolfe, "The newer songbooks were designed not so much for formal church service, but for special singings and for 'singing conventions' in which many of the singers in a county-wide area might gather to try their hand at sight reading the songs in the new books. In some areas, competitions were held to see who could sight sing or direct songs they had never seen before."
    Conventions were set up similar to Sacred Harp four-shape conventions already in existence. The new book seven-shape songs were (and still are) composed by those devoted to local singing conventions. They mail their compositions to a variety of different companies in the hopes of being published, and without remuneration. The song below is an example of a newly composed song. Note that between the verse the leader directs the group to speed up the rhythm because she thinks it's too slow. Most singers in conventions are excellent sight readers of music, some may be singing the song for the first time.
    "Look Up," Glen Wilson music, Gerald A Beathard lyrics, 1998. Cumberland Valley Music Company (Eugene McKinnon), used by permission. Recorded by Steve Grauberger 7-18-98 at Pleasant Hill Methodist Church in Ozark, Alabama.  top
 
21. GARY WALDREP - "GOIN' ON THE MOUNTAIN"

    Gary Waldrep was raised on the musical traditions of Sand Mountain in Northeast Alabama, including old-time claw-hammer banjo playing, fiddling and close harmony singing. Gary, grew up on their 80-acre family farm in Dekalb County in the town of Kilpatrick near Boaz, where they all still live. Gary attributes much of his musicality to his mother, Carolyn Waldrep, and to her side of the family, the McCulloughs. It was Gary's uncle the late Wayne McCullough who inspired many family musical performances, and who first pushed Gary up on stage at the age of five years old using a silver dollar as incentive. Gary traces his McCullough musical roots back further to the Watsons of Gainesville, GA. The Watsons, Gary's grandmother's, (the late Mrs. Maurice McCullough) grandparents, were music makers. Mrs. McCullough's grandfather Watson was an old-time fiddler and her grandmother a five-string banjo player. Gary's great-grandfather Leonard Watson, (Mrs. McCullough's father), played the organ in Church. Mrs. McCullough played the piano. Gary's mother, a fine singer in her own right, taught Gary and his sister Susan to sing gospel harmonies and traditional country music as children.
    Gary has created a name for himself outside of Alabama as a purveyor of traditional "old-time" banjo styles. He was nominated for a Grammy in 1989 for the tape cassette recording, "Gary Waldrep Vintage Bluegrass." He previously performed with the Warrior River Boys (1981-1989), Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters (1985), and The Sand Mountain Boys (1990-1994). Gary was the recipient of the Old Time Banjo Award from the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPGMA) in 1993 and 1994. top


22. ALBERT MACON AND ROBERT THOMAS - "GOTTA MOVE"

    Macon, born in 1920 in Society Hill, played a type of music he called "boogie and blues," which he learned from his father, Buster Macon, at house parties and frolics in the rural Macon County community. They played old-time, country blues tunes, such as "John Henry," and "Staggerlee," in a rousing style intended for dancing. Albert Macon began teaching Robert Thomas to play blues guitar when Thomas, who was nine years younger than Macon, was about 15 years old. For over 40 years the two men played music together at fish fries, parties and festivals in the greater Auburn, Tuskegee, and Columbus, Georgia area. The two men also received national and international attention, playing such venues as the Knoxville World's Fair and the American Blues Festival in the Netherlands and the WDR Blues Festival in Bonn, Germany. Macon and Thomas recorded "Blues and Boogie from Alabama," on the Dutch Swingmaster label, and are also featured on "In Celebration of a Legacy: Traditional Music of the Chattahoochee River Valley," a two CD set of field recordings by George Mitchell.
    "Got to Move" is a traditional song arranged by Albert Macon. The same song was recorded on a 45rpm by McKinley James. McKinley lived near Notasulga, Alabama (Macon County) and was a friend of Albert Macon. Fred Fussel remembers hearing this song performed at the Georgia Sea Island Festival at St. Simons Island, Georgia, back around 1987 by, he believes, John Lee Zeigler. Zeigler called it
    "Ain't Gone Drag No Sack." Recorded May 23, 1992 at the Alabama Folklife Festival by Phil Foster at the Music Stage in Montgomery, AL.  top


23. REAGAN NGAMVILAY, KHAMSING DARAPHETH - "SALAWAN"

    Khamsing Darapheth begins this "salawan" with a slow introductory passage in a recitative like manner in free rhythm. The song then progresses into a rhythmic section where he begins more melodic singing. Lao singing is directly related to the natural tonal inflections of the language. Therefore, the melody changes as the lyrics change. Lao singing is almost always based upon Lao literature, most often derived from Buddhist Jataka (tales of Buddha's 547 former lives). However, this song sung by Mr. Darapheth describes the customs and lifestyle of people in Laos. It is a folksong and is not based primarily on Buddhist literature.
    Reagan Ngamvilay of Mobile plays the khene (or kaen), the primary instrument used in the folk music of Laos. It is a wind instrument made from bamboo canes that produce an accordion-like tone. Music performed on the khene accompanies singing and dancing during many Lao celebrations and ceremonies. Mr. Reagan received his musical training from his uncle with whom he apprenticed for three years.
    He has performed on the khene at past festivals accompanied by his friend Khamsing Darapheth, a singer. Mr. Reagan also sings and plays the Lao three-stringed "guitar." ("guitar" is not in the example below) His musical talent is often in demand at parties and celebrations, especially during the Lao New Year.
    Reagan Ngamvilay grew up in Laos and received his musical training from his uncle with whom he apprenticed for three years. He grew up in a farming community and served as a captain in the Lao army. He was jailed after the communist takeover of his country and escaped from prison in 1979, leading 11 other political refugees to freedom in Thailand. In 1981, he was sent from the refugee camp to live in Mobile, AL. He became a U.S. citizen and officially adopted President Reagan's name.
    "Salawan" Traditional song recorded by Anne Kimzey in Mobile 1991. top


24. RUSSELL JOHNSON AND J. C. BROCK - "JOHNSON'S OLD GREY MULE"

    Russell Johnson the singer of "Johnson's Old Grey Mule" had known this song since early 1900s ("teens"). He believes he learned it off a recording of Gid Tanner's Skillet Lickers Band. Johnson is 85 years old and lives in Millport, Alabama. He was born in Lamar County near Millport and has lived there his whole life.
    J.C. Brock was born in 1918 in the Mt. Vernon Community in Lamar County, Alabama. He learned to play from renowned fiddler Charlie Stripling as well as picking up tunes from 78 recordings and off the radio. Brock said he learned in the "brush arbor" time when all "beginners carried their fiddles in a flour sack with the bow sticking out the end." He had two brothers who played the guitar and mandolin. Together, with J. C. on fiddle, they were known as the Brock Brothers. They were wholly an instrumental group and played together for 8 years winning prizes at a number of regional fiddler conventions in Fayette, Sulligent, Winfield, Vernon, Greensboro, and Selma. J.C. Brock passed away in 1995.
    "Johnson's Old Grey Mule" is a traditional tune, recorded by Joyce Cauthen 1-28-87 in Vernon, Alabama. Fiddling is by J.C. Brock, singing by Russell Johnson accompanied by Floyd Bryant and Maurice Langley on guitar.  top


25. MARIACHI GARIBALDI - "GUADALAJARA"

    A new group of immigrants to Alabama have recently appeared to fill various labor markets, construction, landscaping and most notably, poultry production work. With these new Hispanic immigrants comes a need for traditional as well as contemporary musical entertainment for dances, festivals and other cultural events. The Mariachi Garibaldi travels all over Alabama as well as Mississippi, Georgia, Florida performing their music. Everesto Hernandez, the group's leader, is a recent recipient of a Folk Art Apprenticeship Grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts.
    "The song "Guadalajara" is in the rhythm of the traditional son. It was written by the late, very well-known Mexican songwriter Jose (Pepe) Guizar, most likely in 1937. It is among the most requested of songs played by the Mariachi ensemble." (Dan Sheehy).  top


26. THE STRIPLING BROTHERS - "WOLVES A HOWLING"

    Excerpted with permission from With Fiddle & Well-Rosined Bow by Joyce Cauthen, University of Alabama Press
    Charlie Melvin Stripling (b. 1896) and his guitar-playing brother Ira "climbed to the heights of music fame from a beginning as inauspicious as a human mind can imagine," reported the Commercial Dispatch [Columbus, Mississippi] in 1929, on the occasion of the brothers' first recording trip to Chicago: Born twelve miles east of Kennedy in North Pickens County...the Striplings grew up among those sturdy self-reliant...unassuming young men. Musical instruments did not have a place in the early years of the Stripling boys' lives...and it was through sheer accident that Charlie discovered his talent for music. At the age of 18 years, he ordered a toy violin costing forty-seven cents for a Christmas present for his nephew. The toy arrived several days before Christmas and Charlie, giving over to childish instincts, used the miniature violin while awaiting the proper time for its disposal, finding that he could "strike tunes" easily. {Inspired by his brief time with the toy fiddle, Charlie bought his own fiddle and bow from one of his neighbors. He paid a dollar for it.}
    Charlie and Ira practiced together for almost a year before entering a fiddle contest at Kennedy. At that contest, Charlie was surprised to take first place over a large number of fiddlers. Thereafter, said the Commercial Dispatch, it was "about as easy to win first prize off Stripling at a fiddlers convention as for the proverbial camel to gallop through the eye of a very small needle."
    Stripling started getting invitations to contests further away from his home town. At first, Charlie didn't feel like he could go off to communities where he wasn't known and take the prize. But he soon found out how easy it was. "The further away from home, the easier it was to win...!" Charlie declared. Though Charlie wasn't accustomed to playing without his brother, he still won $25 at the 1925 fiddlers' convention in Birmingham, through a contest rule which didn't permit a guitar accompanist. Charlie had to play solo again at the 1926 DIxie Fiddlers' Convention, and though he was up against scores of the South's top fiddlers, playing to audiences of 8,000, he still won second place.}
    Stripling's success at fiddle conventions made him something of a local hero. His admirers in the community saw to it that Stripling was not passed over by the commercial recording companies, as were so many Alabama fiddlers.
    "Wolves A'Howling was a Carroll family tune. For more information on the Stripling Brothers, see With Fiddle and Well-Rosined Bow: The History of Old-Time Fiddling in Alabama (University of Alabama Press, 1989) by Joyce Cauthen. "Wolves a Howling" Recorded by Ray Browne in 1952. REFERENCES Order With Fiddle & Well-Rosined Bow by Joyce Cauthen, University of Alabama Press.  top


27. THE THOMAS SISTERS - "WHAT A DAY OF VICTORY"

The history below from the Thomas Sisters 60th Anniversary Singing gives the story behind the Thomas Sisters, their link to the Alexander City community and their reputation for quality presentations. Represented now by Margie, Bernice and Margie's daughter Phyllis, The Thomas Sisters are always in demand at choir anniversaries, and local events where gospel music is involved. The sisters grew up in a family where music was very important. Their father was an avid shape-note singer, both four-shape Sacred Harp and seven-shape convention styles. It is from their father they learned to sing many of the numerous songs they now perform from memory. Phyllis, a later addition to the group, learned much of the repertory and fills in for those sisters who have passed and Marie who has health problems. Most of the Thomas Sisters repertory comes originally from convention singing books published by Ben Speer, James Vaughn, and Stamps Baxter.  top


28. NOTES AND STRINGS - "GETTING READY TO LEAVE THIS WORLD"

    The song "Getting Ready to Leave This World" comes from seven shape-note gospel convention repertory, often called "Southern Gospel." The term shape-note indicates a type of musical staff notation that displays seven varied shapes, each specific to the seven tones on a typical musical scale. Published seven shape-note convention music is written vocal harmony in four parts; bass, tenor, alto and soprano (or treble), usually sung in a "convention" or "class" of singers. It is almost always accompanied by a piano. Often during conventions there is a time set aside for "special" music where a quartet is featured. (click for more similar information)
    Originally, book publishing companies would send auditioned quartets to local county and state conventions in the South to sing selections out of their "new book" offered each year by publishers, primarily Stamps-Baxter and Vaughn, to promote sales. For example, early members of the extended Speer Family and the Blackwood Brothers started their quartet careers singing at regional conventions for gospel music book companies. A few were hired to write gospel songs for the publishers as well.
    Sometime people who were avid convention singers would start their own quartet groups to perform for their church and in surrounding communities. Notes and Strings was one such group.
    Due to the popularity of gospel quartets of many of the songs that came from the repertory of the "new book" publications, the practice of four-part harmony singing migrated to regional gospel quartets and to secular country music as well. Some groups use a variety of instruments typical to old-time county and bluegrass music to accompany gospel singing, such as fiddle, guitar, mandolin and bass. Almost every bluegrass gathering will have gospel music interspersed within a mostly secular repertory. Often there will be songs taken from seven shape-note sources and rearranged for the band, for example, songs like "I'll Fly Away" or "Turn Your Radio On" would be featured at sometime during a day of bluegrass music.
    While the group, Notes and Strings, is a gospel quartet they do use a variety of musical instruments to accompany their singing. In this example an electric organ and a acoustic guitar are used.
    "Getting Ready to Leave This World" is by Luther Presley 1937 Stamps-Baxter/BMI used by permission of Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc. Recorded by Joyce Cauthen 1-28-1987 in Vernon, AL. Personnel of "Notes and Strings": Lead singer, Jack Rushing: other singers: Russell Johnson, Floyd and Patschal Bryant, (Fiddle) J.C. Brock, (Guitar) Maurice Langley, (Electric Keyboard) Lily Johnson Ashcraft.   top
 
29. THE SOUNDS OF JOY - "FIX IT JESUS"

    The Sounds of Joy of Gadsden include Rev. J. C. Jenkins, Norman and Janette Harkness, and Rev. Anthony Jelks. Instrumental accompaniment is provided by Walter Gunn, Music Director, Patrick Dupress, Jesse Robertson and Rafus Cox.
    This example is an original arrangement of a song originally recorded by the Canton Spirituals of Canton Mississippi. The arrangement presents the driving rhythm typical of modern African-American gospel groups. The strong vocals are backed by a virtuosic three-piece rhythm section. The Reverend Anthony Jelks of Gadsden, Alabama is the lead vocalist for this song.
    "Fix It Jesus" Recorded by Steve Grauberger with acoustic mixing by Dan Gainey at the Gadsden Ampitheater May 1995. The song was witten by Harvey Lee Watkins Jr. and originally recorded by the Canton Spirituals of Canton Mississippi.  top
 

30. DIXIE BLUEGRASS - "WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS"

    Dixie Bluegrass is a prize-winning band known for good fiddling and smooth harmony singing. Among its repertoire are bluegrass favorites, gospel, folk ballads, old-time fiddle and banjo tunes and buckdancing. The group is made up of Betty Ray and husband, Dwight, from Holly Pond and David Black, Junior Saint, and Wayne Burgette from Arab. Betty is the daughter of fiddler/instrument-maker Arlin Moon of Holly Pond. Tina Ray Miller, Betty and Dwight's daughter played fiddle with them for this performance. Tina, a champion fiddler, who has been playing since she was 6 years old, learned from her grandfather.
    The song is a trusted favorite of many bluegrass and gospel groups. This particular rendition is an instrumental. The piece presents a lovely twin fiddle duet by Junior and Tina. Each year the Moons host a music festival at the city park in Holly Pond.
    "What a Friend We Have In Jesus" Recorded by Steve Grauberger with sound mixing by Dan Gainey May 13,1995 at the Gadsden, Alabama Amphitheater
    "This hymn was written by Joseph Scriven (1819-1886) in 1855, near Port Hope, Ontario. He sent it to his mother in Ireland to comfort her in her time of sorrow. It was not intended for wider use. Ira Sankey in his My Life and Sacred Songs, wrote this about "What A Friend We Have In Jesus." The hymn was first published in Social Hymns, Original and Selected, in l865. Ira Sankey and Philip Bliss popularized it. A.W.Mahon states in his Canadian Hymns and Hymnwriters, 1908, "that this is undoubtedly the most popular Canadian contribution to Christian hymnody."" (excerpted from http://hymnuts.luthersem.edu/hcompan/texts/hymn439.htm).  top