I'd have much rather been at the Newport Folk Festival (or indeed the Jazz Festival) any time in the 1960s than at Woodstock. Much more civilised; and I'd have enjoyed the music more. It's scary to think that the distance between when I bought this (1985) and when the festival took place is now less than that between now and when I bought it. That distance seemed like a lifetime to me then. In my personal terms, after all, it was then slightly more than a lifetime.
This record was my first introduction to Mississippi John Hurt and to the song Stagolee. For sure, his version seems tame in the light of Nick Cave's Tarantinoed update on Murder Ballads, but Hurt still leaves you in no doubt that "he was a bad man", and this will forever be my benchmark. I think the MJH and Sam Hinton songs were the ones that most caught my attention 24 years ago. I know I included Hinton's Arkansas Traveller on a tape I made for Jeremy around that time. But sadly, while his Barnyard Song certainly caught the attention of the Boy when I played it to him on Saturday, the song was over before he could really work out what was going on. (To be honest, he's gone off my version of Old Macdonald Had a Farm too, let alone my Heart of the Sunrise; he craves novelty. After a clutch of CD releases in recent weeks, though, he was glad to see the vinyl spinning again.)
This time round it's the songs on Side 2 by Ian & Sylvia and by Joan Baez that I'm drawn to. I've got a soft spot for Joan Baez: she's just as tireless as Pete Seeger and Billy Bragg, but she doesn't seem to be held in the bosom of your average lefty in the same way they are. It strikes me that three songs of hers on this album are probably all of the material I've ever collected of hers, and that must be an oversight.
I bought this in the same tiny record shop in Cheapside where I got my album of traditional Chinese music. They stocked a canny selection there.
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