American Songcatcher

For our third installment of the LOCAL FOCAL series, we present the following audio-rich piece - described as "sound painting" - brought to you by Muddy Boots Radio, a podcast that I only recently came into contact with by way of its creator, Tenali Hrenak. This particular episode honored a legend of radio from Grass Valley, CA - Mikail Graham. A composer, performer, producer, music promoter, advocate, consultant and beta tester for numerous pro-audio and MIDI companies. He was with the community radio station KVMR since its inception in the 1970s. For decades, he produced a radio show called The Other Side, and for many years he put on a yearly event called Night of Giving, which helped raise money for the Hospitality House, a shelter for the un-housed. He also produced the album Loafer's Glory for folk legend Utah Phillips. To say that he was influential to that region of California is an understatement.

As Tenali put it:

"With Mikail’s passing on July 12th, 2022, several of us regular contributors to The Other Side were tasked with producing a series of final shows, a send-off episode, to our dear friend. Mikail and I both loved the 1960s anthology series The Twilight Zone. So with that in mind, I whipped up an episode - aptly titled See U On The Other Side - that cut-up some dialogue from the episode Kick the Can, which I felt captured Mikail’s carpe diem and playful spirit. And, of course, I decorated the playlist with an assortment of Tweeners and songs that I’m sure he’d love and that hopefully honor the legacy he leaves behind."

Enjoy this experience of sound, titled “See U On The Other Side (Side A)” from the Muddy Boots Radio podcast.

Muddy Boots Website

Gathering Sounds - Tenali's New Book

Mikail Graham - The Other Side

Support this independent program:

• Join the Patreon
• Send a one-time donation through Venmo or PayPal

Follow American Songcatcher on Instagram & TikTok

Credits:

Nicholas Edward Williams - Editing, Recording and Distribution

Tenali Hrenak - Production

In honor of the 35th annual MerleFest coming up this week, American Songcatcher presents a very special LOCAL FOCAL - a relatively unknown live recording from May of 1989 of North Carolina’s own Doc Watson, telling stories and singing songs passed through his family - only this show he was asked to perform without his guitar, until the very end.

This concert was part of a historical series called Over Home, which aired on the well-known WNCW radio in Spindale, NC between 1988 and 1990. The show featured Western North Carolina traditional musicians and storytellers, and variety of musical styles, such as ballad singing, old-time fiddle tunes, Cherokee oral traditions and dances, and Irish jigs and reels, ghost stories, fox hunting tales, Civil War stories, and moonshine tales.

This is unlike any of the episodes we’ve put out on American Songcatcher. There are no overdubs, no editing, just the seamless experience of Doc Watson, live, without his guitar.

Support American Songcatcher:

Join the Patreon community

Send a one-time donation via Venmo or PayPal

Over Home Archive - Berea College

WNCW

Southern Songs and Stories Podcast

Over Home Credits:

Hosted by Sheila Kay Adams and Taylor Barnhill

Recorded by Sheila Kay Adams

Engineered by WNCW and Burr Beard - Manager

American Songcatcher Credits:Hosted and produced by Nicholas Edward Williams

ANNOUNCEMENTS!
1. Season 3 NEEDS your financial support! Can you commit to $1 a month via Patreon? - OR - Send a one-time donation through Venmo or PayPal

2. We're changing the format next season to SINGLE STORIES released every few weeks, so we can give each story full attention, and put out content more frequently.

3. CALLING ALL WRITERS! Do you love human stories? Love music history? Do you have any writing experience? If you'd like to be a volunteer writer on American Songcatcher, email us at [email protected]

4. The first installment of our off-season series, LOCAL FOCAL will air MARCH 26! These special episodes pay homage to the parts that make up the whole fabric of American music history, featuring different presenters from around the world sharing a hyper-localized story.

5. Season 3 release date coming soon.

Follow American Songcatcher | Instagram | TikTok

Credits:
Nicholas Edward Williams - Production, Editing, Recording and Distribution

This is our season finale, part two of a special audio-documentary series on Folkways Records founder Moses Asch, in collaboration with Smithsonian Folkways. Part one walked us through Moe’s childhood, teenage years, early career, the first two labels he created, bankruptcy, as well as the early years of Folkways Records. In part two, we traverse 40 years of iconic recordings with pioneering and lesser known artists, business hardships, milestones, the fledgling years of Folkways, and Moe’s death. We’ll also examine the acquisition of the massive Folkways catalog by Smithsonian, illustrate how Moe’s legacy has intertwined with the identity of American music, and highlight some of the incredible work that Smithsonian has done to preserve and expand on what Moe accomplished.

Support Independent Programming | Join the Patreon OR send a one-time donation through Venmo or PayPal

Collaboration Credits:

Smithsonian Folkways

Full Moses Asch interview with Arhoolie Records’ founder Chris Strachwitz

Interviewees:

Richard Carlin - Worlds of Sound: The Story of Smithsonian Folkways

Michael Asch

Jeff Place (Smithsonian Folkways)

John Smith (Smithsonian Folkways)

Dom Flemons

Charlie Parr

—

Follow American Songcatcher

Media Credits:

Making people's music : Moe Asch and Folkways records - Peter D Goldsmith

Smithsonian | SF2 | NY Times | Redalyc | Arhoolie | Jstor.com | NPR | Routledge

Today, we proudly present the fourth installment of the LOCAL FOCAL series, where we’re collaborating with artists around the country to share unique and lesser-known musical history. Our storyteller is cowboy & poet Andy Hedges, who hails from Lubbock, TX and is doing his part to keep the old cowboy song traditions alive. Andy takes us back to the late 1800’s, in the vast Western plains to the first collector of cowboy songs, a roving Easterner by the name of Jack Thorp, who printed the first book of Folk Songs, titled Songs of the Cowboys in 1908, forever changing the scope and trajectory of western and cowboy music.

In March 1889, Jack Thorp, a born-to-privilege Easterner who had grown into a leather-tough, saddle-wise trail hand, decided to track down the words to songs about cowboy life from cowboys singing in cow camps, at chuck wagons and line camps, in saloons—anywhere he could find them, mostly in New Mexico and Texas. His course proved crucial to the evolution of cowboy culture and the publication of his Songs of the Cowboys, the first collection of folk songs in America in 1908.

Andy Hedges Website

Andy’s Podcast “Cowboy Crossroads”

Roll On, Cowboys

Jack Thorpe

Support Independent Programming!

• Join the Patreon!
• Send a one-time donation through Venmo or PayPal

Follow: American Songcatcher

Instagram | TikTok

Credits:

Nicholas Edward Williams - Editing, Recording and Distribution

Andy Hedges - Narration