WHAT NYMITH SAYS
Pete Seeger put out dozens of records on the Folkways label in the 1950s and trying to follow them all is as ridiculous as trying to keep up with all the albums jazz artists were releasing. He released children's records, political records, historical records and political historical records. I chose the more or less neutral American Ballads from 1957 as a likely starting point, though Seeger is more famous for individual songs ('Where Have All the Flowers Gone? ; 'Little Boxes') and for being on the scene than he is for any particular record. American Ballads is a misleading title as practically every song has its roots in the old country but maybe titles like 'Jesse James' and 'John Henry' gave the whole thing an American flavour for the Folkways people. At any rate, American Ballads does offer a minor compendium of many different types of balladry.
Folk heroes are represented by 'John Henry and outlaws by 'Jesse James' and 'John Hardy.' 'Jesse' is where the political undercurrent really gets out of hand as the song paints James as an economic justice warrior and modern day Robin Hood. The man was in no way fit for the lionization he received in songs like this one. "Jesse had a wife / to mourn for his life?" So did men he killed, etc. I much prefer 'John Hardy,' a more dramatic and fatalistic tale with a swifter pace and stronger melody.
Then there are the gallant love ballads in which men and women drop like flies (back in the days of yore when love caused people to mysteriously sicken and die). These in particular have no American vibe, being based solidly in the older traditions like 'Barbara Allen' (sung a capella and meant for singers with sweeter voices than Seeger was blessed with) and 'Fair Margaret and Sweet William.'
Deathbed laments are given a showing with 'St. James Hospital' a stark precursor to the more famous 'St. James Infirmary' that bears little similarity, being a folk song where the latter is blues. Train songs get their due with the lullabyish 'Jay Gould's Daughter' which sweeps up hobos, engineers and the death of Jay Gould the robber baron's daughter (the veiled politics of American Ballads strikes again, as his daughter dies complaining to him of hobos riding the trains - never mind that Gould had two daughters, both of whom long outlived him).
Disasters at sea! Seeger selects 'The Titanic Disaster' to commemorate, a horrible little ditty set to a sunny melody that will leave you fighting the urge to sing "husbands and wives / little children lost their lives / it was sad when that great ship went down" for the rest of the day. 'The Golden Vanity' is a more sober experience with a lulling, hypnotic melody and again pits the martyred poor against the rich.
The straight-up murder ballads are actual highlights from the record and are smartly placed at the very start. 'Pretty Polly' has Seeger's most intricately gothic banjo work and a suitably chilling tale of a girl murdered by her sweetheart while 'The Three Butchers' involves the betrayal of a good Samaritan. Fun factoid: The original English versions had the butchers as the protagonists but in the modern age where "butcher" has dark connotations, Seeger or someone else switched the roles so there's only one protagonist and precisely three men instead of an unnumbered group. Neither offers any clear motive for the awful murders they relate nor is any justice done or moral given.
That leaves only two songs to lighten the mood, which is admittedly a bit unbalanced. Five minutes of 'Gypsy Davy' with its hyper-repetitive chorus and trivial plot is a bit much, but 'Farmer's Curst Wife' is actually pretty funny and you can hear Seeger smiling as he tells the tale.
So, obviously American Ballads isn't the lightest listen (only 3 out of 14 tracks avoid a body count) and it contains only modest amounts of energy in its performances. I mean, it's only one man and his banjo and Seeger never really lets go and starts howling and thrashing and raising the dead, if you know what I mean. This was the era when folk music was considered pure and had to be kept that way. His technical skill with the banjo can't be doubted and I enjoyed American Ballads but its main use is educational. If you're already a fan of traditional music you'll get plenty out of this but it doesn't work so good as an introduction.
WHAT TICHARU SAYS
A guy with a banjo singing some dopey old last century folkies shouldn't be as cool as this. Was it this cool when he recorded it? Probably not, of course not, no way! Otherwise I'd have been into it. Obviously I wasn't into this sort of thing back in the day. For one thing it's on Folkways Records. If you've ever handled a Folkways record album, they are unlovely things right down to the vinyl and they sound like they were recorded by a dust covered twentysomething in 1933 with a microphone and a box, glasses and a hat, the hipster of the day. People tried to enlighten me, tried to get me to listen to them, but I wasn't having it. "Put them in the 99 cent bin!" I said in my arrogance and ignorance.
Getting back to a guy with a banjo (stop laughing) and crusty voice, no I didn't mention the crusty voice, wow... again you could marvel at Pete's ability to sing out of tune and out of time, it's definitely part of the charm, part of the coolness. And Pete was a cool guy, have banjo will travel, will show up anywhere and sing some songs in support of a good cause.
I suspect if one was to explore the Pete Seeger catalogue, a vast treasure trove of quirky old time dusty folk songs would delight your ears. American Ballads is a fabulous place to start! I kid you not, it's a pretty cool record.
COVER CRITIQUE: Horrible cut-out of a banjo. Saloon style font. The small letters that say "sung by" ... "and his five string banjo" I actually mistook for decorative curlicues until closer inspection for this critique. Golden tan colour. Someone signed this bit of art. Very conscientious. It does paint a rather accurate picture of the starkness of the record, so it does its job. Two stars. Nymith
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