American Songcatcher
Nicholas Edward Williams
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Top 10 American Songcatcher Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best American Songcatcher episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to American Songcatcher for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite American Songcatcher episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
S2:E5 // That Bad Man
American Songcatcher
02/21/22 • 69 min
Celebrating Black History Month!
Featured in this Episode:
Traditional - “Stagger Lee” (:42)
Memphis Minnie (15:45)
Lightnin’ Hopkins (29:21)
Taj Mahal (48:55)
Teaser:
This notorious murder story has been covered in more genres, by more artists and across more multi-media platforms than any other in history, while somehow remaining relatively obscure. She’s known as the queen of the country blues, and queen of the Chicago blues, though she got her start while homeless and playing on the streets full time in Memphis. One of the last links that remained of the original country blues past the folk and blues revival, this Texas bluesman’s personal life was shrouded in mystery during both pinnacles in his near 60-year career. Born of Caribbean descent, he would go on to be a liaison between cultures and sounds from all over the world, wrapping it all into a tight package that makes the blues feel like an altogether human experience.
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Collaboration | Basic Folk Podcast
"Shine A Light" | Blues Foundation
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Credits:
Nicholas Edward Williams - Production, research, writing, editing, recording and distribution
Jack Browning - Writer
Ryan Eastridge - Writer
Source Credits:
Stagger Lee: Missouri Life | StaggerLee.com | American Blues Scene | StLouis-mo.gov
Memphis Minnie: Black Past | Musicians Guide | 64 Parishes
Lightnin’ Hopkins: Black Past | | Texas Monthly | Udiscovermusic | THSA.org
Taj Mahal: Berklee Interview | Harlem World Magazine | Hawaii Public Radio | New York Times
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/americansongcatcher/supportS3:E5 // Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
American Songcatcher
06/04/24 • 45 min
Today on the program, we’re proud to present the story behind the King of Western Swing, Bob Wills. One of the most influential and iconic bandleaders and musicians of the 1930’s-1950’s, Bob came from a humble life of a poor sharecropping family, and was deeply influenced by old time and breakdown fiddle through his Texas state champion family of fiddlers in his father and uncle. Bob also loved all the turn of the century and 1920’s black music, and this confluence of cultures would help him create the craze that became Western swing, and the details of his journey to get there will surprise you.
Story by Brent Davis and Nicholas Edward Williams
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Story Credits:
Brent Davis - Research, Writing
Nicholas Edward Williams - Production, research, writing editing, recording and distribution
Homecoming: Reflections on Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, 1915-1973, Charles R.
Townsend.
The Life and Times of Bob Wills
Country Music, an Illustrated History, Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns.
Country Music, a PBS documentary by Florentine Films, Ken Burns, director; Dayton Duncan,
writer.
Life and Times of Bob Wills (TNN)
The Country Music Pop-Up Book, by the staff of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Hag: The Life, Times, and Music of Merle Haggard, Marc Elliot.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/americansongcatcher/supportTalkin' Blues // Charlie Hunter
American Songcatcher
04/20/24 • 60 min
Today, I’m sharing a conversation I had with GRAMMY-NOMINATED American guitarist, composer, producer and bandleader Charlie Hunter. He first came on to the scene in the early 1990s, and simultaneously plays bass lines, chords, and melodies, on custom seven and eight-string guitars, as featured in trios and quintet projects, as well as Garage-A-Trois. Notably, Charlie is also a student of ragtime guitar, using the true two finger technique pioneered by Arthur Blind Blake and very different from what he’s known for. We talked about Charlie’s upbringing in a musical family, finding his own path, the groove and authenticity, all things Blind Blake, and as usual, we geeked out on some music history. Enjoy!
Charlie's Links:
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Credits:
Nicholas Edward Williams - Production, research, editing, recording and distribution
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/americansongcatcher/supportLOCAL FOCAL // The Pine Barrens Folk Music
American Songcatcher
10/29/23 • 24 min
Today, we proudly present the sixth installment of the LOCAL FOCAL series, where we’re collaborating with artists around the country to share unique and lesser-known musical history. Our narrator today is Joe Makoviecki (mackavecky) who brings to the surface a near century-old lineage, the story of New Jersey's own first family of folk music, The Ridgeways, who settled in a territory deep in South Jersey known as The Pine Barrens, and whose music faded into obscurity for several decades until recently.
Merce Ridgeway - Library of Congress
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Credits:
Nicholas Edward Williams - Editing, Recording and Distribution
Joe Makoviecki - Narration, Research
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/americansongcatcher/supportLOCAL FOCAL // Swamp Pop with Dustin Dale Gaspard
American Songcatcher
08/27/23 • 23 min
Today, we proudly present the fifth installment of the LOCAL FOCAL series, where we’re collaborating with artists around the country to share unique and lesser-known musical history. Our narrator today is Dustin Dale Gaspard, a 9th generation cajun who comes from the deep, deep South, the Acadian region of Louisiana. Dustin shares the very unique history of the genre Swamp Pop, with detailed context of the cajun heritage it was born out of. Let’s head to the swamp.
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Credits:
Nicholas Edward Williams - Editing, Recording and Distribution
Dustin Dale Gaspard - Narration, Research
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/americansongcatcher/supportLOCAL FOCAL // The Other Side
American Songcatcher
05/28/23 • 59 min
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.
Gathering Sounds - Tenali's New Book
Mikail Graham - The Other Side
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Credits:
Nicholas Edward Williams - Editing, Recording and Distribution
Tenali Hrenak - Production
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/americansongcatcher/supportLOCAL FOCAL // Doc Watson & Over Home
American Songcatcher
04/23/23 • 37 min
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.
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Over Home Archive - Berea College
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
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/americansongcatcher/supportANNOUNCEMENT // SEASON 3
American Songcatcher
03/16/23 • 2 min
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.
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Credits:
Nicholas Edward Williams - Production, Editing, Recording and Distribution
S2:E9 // Moses Asch and Folkways Records (Part 2 - SEASON FINALE)
American Songcatcher
12/20/22 • 74 min
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.
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Collaboration Credits:
Full Moses Asch interview with Arhoolie Records’ founder Chris Strachwitz
Interviewees:
Richard Carlin - Worlds of Sound: The Story of Smithsonian Folkways
Jeff Place (Smithsonian Folkways)
John Smith (Smithsonian Folkways)
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Media Credits:
Making people's music : Moe Asch and Folkways records - Peter D Goldsmith
Smithsonian | SF2 | NY Times | Redalyc | Arhoolie | Jstor.com | NPR | Routledge
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/americansongcatcher/supportLOCAL FOCAL // Cowboy Song Collector Jack Thorp
American Songcatcher
07/08/23 • 18 min
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’s Podcast “Cowboy Crossroads”
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Credits:
Nicholas Edward Williams - Editing, Recording and Distribution
Andy Hedges - Narration
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/americansongcatcher/supportShow more best episodes
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FAQ
How many episodes does American Songcatcher have?
American Songcatcher currently has 58 episodes available.
What topics does American Songcatcher cover?
The podcast is about Music, Music History and Podcasts.
What is the most popular episode on American Songcatcher?
The episode title 'Talkin' Blues // Charlie Hunter' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on American Songcatcher?
The average episode length on American Songcatcher is 51 minutes.
How often are episodes of American Songcatcher released?
Episodes of American Songcatcher are typically released every 25 days, 1 hour.
When was the first episode of American Songcatcher?
The first episode of American Songcatcher was released on Jun 30, 2020.
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