On Saturday, the mailman brought a wonderful, totally unexpected, surprise: a very generous contribution, in cash, accompanied by a kind letter -- but with no name or return address.
The individual suggested that I use the donation to offset my costs in running this site, to buy some more CDs, or to buy my wife a nice bottle of wine when we go out to dinner. As much as my wife likes the third choice, I think I'll take her out to dinner & buy a nice bottle of wine from my own funds, and funnel this donation back into the station. And how can I resist a few new CDs?
So I just picked up Mississippi John Hurt's D.C. Blues -- The Library Of Congress Recordings, Vol. 1, which is really wonderful and highly recommended. It will likely form a cornerstone of the new playlist I am now working on. I have ordered a few other discs as well: one from Roger Cooper, one from Snake Chapman, a Roane County Ramblers reissue, and a collection of Kentucky Old Time Banjo. I look forward to hearing these, and you should too.
While the costs of running this site are not overly burdensome, they do add up. Donations like these are totally surprising, mind-blowing, and very kind. They also serve as a nice reminder that people appreciate what I am doing.
I wish I knew who to thank but I guess you want to remain anonymous. So whoever you are -- thank you!
John
Jul 19, 2004
Jul 16, 2004
What do you want to hear?
I'm hoping to get a new playlist going in the next few days.
Aside from the current Ed Haley playlist, I've recently had shows focusing on banjo, on West Virginia & Kentucky tunes, and several with less defined themes. I'm thinking the next playlist will feature "rags and blues" (in the old-time sense) -- but I thought I'd throw it out to the listeners -- what do you want to hear?
Other than the "rags and blues" idea, I've thought of doing a show focusing on balladry, or on African-American old-time musicians, or gospel-themed stuff, or I can do mostly "old stuff" from 78s, mostly current stuff -- you get the idea. So post a comment here (see link at the end of this post) or let me know via email -- what do you want to hear?
thanks,
John
Aside from the current Ed Haley playlist, I've recently had shows focusing on banjo, on West Virginia & Kentucky tunes, and several with less defined themes. I'm thinking the next playlist will feature "rags and blues" (in the old-time sense) -- but I thought I'd throw it out to the listeners -- what do you want to hear?
Other than the "rags and blues" idea, I've thought of doing a show focusing on balladry, or on African-American old-time musicians, or gospel-themed stuff, or I can do mostly "old stuff" from 78s, mostly current stuff -- you get the idea. So post a comment here (see link at the end of this post) or let me know via email -- what do you want to hear?
thanks,
John
Jul 9, 2004
Ed Haley
Mac Benford just sent me a wonderful new CD of Ed Haley tunes played on clawhammer banjo. A day earlier, I had received a great new CD from Rhys Jones, Jeff Miller, and Jim Nelson, which also features exciting renditions of a few Haley tunes. So I figured it's time for an Ed Haley tribute playlist.
This new playlist features a lot of Haley's recordings (warning: some are of very poor sound quality -- if you find these too hard to listen to, just let me know), as well as tracks from the above two albums, John Hartford's two Haley tribute albums, and other versions of tunes Haley played from simpatico artists (not necessarily the Haley versions, but interesting as points of comparison).
I'm still monkeying with the track order, so what's playing right now isn't quite final, but please give a listen and let me know what you think. (You can use the "comments" link below if you'd like to post a public comment.)
Best wishes,
John
This new playlist features a lot of Haley's recordings (warning: some are of very poor sound quality -- if you find these too hard to listen to, just let me know), as well as tracks from the above two albums, John Hartford's two Haley tribute albums, and other versions of tunes Haley played from simpatico artists (not necessarily the Haley versions, but interesting as points of comparison).
I'm still monkeying with the track order, so what's playing right now isn't quite final, but please give a listen and let me know what you think. (You can use the "comments" link below if you'd like to post a public comment.)
Best wishes,
John