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Show Wednesday, June 30, 1976 Pego5 USIC NOTES ByJayMeehan M o irffifc , lifllll ffl EBl ffl WSmBflP B il -j r . C s In . Park City it's the It M je i it cnn rrF ill MOT Eft? MM G3 FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY Stan Smith Memorial Band $1 .00 Cover Charge all Three Nights pitchers of beer $1.00 SUNDAY July 9, 10, 11 Will Feature Special thanks to all who made ; Mose Allison a successful engagement. C'est Bon Entertainment Lounge on the second floor at the C'est Bon Hotel, Park City. Professor Jan H. Brunvand of the University of Utah in his "Guide for Collectors of Folklore In Utah" states: "...the material creations of a folk culture are those things which are made in traditional ways and according to traditional design." The architectural, fencing, quilting and tool styles of a culture are just a few of the lasting records which demonstrate now a people especially pioneers adapted to their new environment. en-vironment. ' Since the folk-song style of the early Utah pioneers (Mormons) evolved only within the oral tradition, was no written compilation of this music until 1936, the year Thomas E. Cheney's master's thesis on Mormon Folksongs was submitted at the University of Idaho. Subsequent collectors such as Hector Lee of the University of New Mexico (Thre Three Nephites: The Substance and Significance of the Legend in Folklore, 1949), Lester Hubbard of the University of Utah (Ballads and Songs from Utah, 1961), and the prolific husband and wife team of Austin and Alta Fife (Saints of Sage and Saddle, 1956," among many others) continued con-tinued to document Utahs folk heritage.1 By utilizing matching grants from the University of Utah and the National Endowment for the Arts Hal Cannon of the Deseret String Band and about the closest thing we have to a working Utah folklorist, along with good friend and fellow traditional musician Tom Carter and the afore-mentioned Prof. Brunvand have put together a two volume collection of early Utah music entitled "The New Beehive Songster." The title is "Borrowed" from an 1860 pamphlet of songs." Volume One, issued last December contains sixteen songs, and comes with a well documented yet easy-to-read 36 page booklet. The music, engineered at the Brigham Young University sound studio, was taken exclusively from the Hubbard and Fife collections of "non-commericial field recordings (1943-1951) of the folk music found in the Mormon culture region." The Mormon influence is of course pervasive, but other traditions, such as cowboy and miner, are also present. , The beauty of the booklet lies in the way it takes you beyond the songs and into that most important realm of folk music, the artists who sang and lived them. The notes, written by Mr. Carter, do not get lost in, nor do they forget the positive aspects of the academics love affair with folklife. Otho Murphy's original "broadside" ballad "The Double Tragedy" is performed acapella by the composer as the collections first offering. The narrative relates the events surrounding a double murder in Monticello during the Pioneer Days celebration of 1891. Otho is a pictured by by a long time friend as pne who "can sing you sixty-seven nversesotCaliforoia Joe but he might just .forget to set aJtehay inso. dedicated to,thearts,.was he." ' oi-Long ., Pete . Anderson's minstrel oriented "Watermelon Smiling on the Vine" is followed by the tall-tale "Gay Paree" during which Effie M. Carmack accompanies herself on guitar. (This tune has recently been recorded by the Deseret String Band and released as a 45 rpm disc with bantoist Lonaird Colson on the vocal). K. C. Kartchner's fiddle version of "Black Hills Waltz and the Mormon emmigrant "a-Handcart "a-Handcart Song" performed by Mr. Margret Y. Boyle two months before her ninety-seventh birthday follow. The transitional existance of the Mormons during the first half of the nineteenth century is chronicled in the melodious "Tittery-Ire-Aye. Performed unac-compained unac-compained in 1846, this rendition features 85 year old Joseph H. Watkins of Box Elder county. Side one winds up with Myron Crandall's "folk-epic" "This is the Place," the saga of "Brigham Young, the western f)ioneer." Incorporating a Casey-Jonesish melody ine, the composer, with piano accompaniment by his wife, sings of the. arrival in the promised vallev. Jim Bridger, the Mormon Batallion, temple construction and Johnstons Army, all within the framework of a folk biography. Side two is initiated with "Brigham, Brigham Young," a ditty with less reverence than Crandalls tune. Lewis W. Jone's recording concerns itself with the "joke-lore" surrounding the prophet's many wives. There is no ridicule to be found in the next selection, however, as Abraham Busby reaffirms the principles of his church in "None Can Preach the Gospel Like the Mormons Do." The harsh realities which greeted Mormon settlers of the Virgin River Valley of Utah's "Dixie" is told by Geo. T. Thompson in "Once I lived in Cottonwood." The fact that church leaders thought the song might stir up unrest among the faithful coupled with his insistance that the true story surrounding the Mountain Meadow Massacre be released caused composer George Hicks to be excommunicated ex-communicated from the Mormon church in the 1870's, The bloodless Utah War of 1857-58, proclaimed by Brigham Young in response to President Buchanan's anti-polygamist order sending "Johnston's Army" into Utah, is believed by many to have seeded the emotional climate which led to the Mountain Meadow Massacre. "All are Talking of Utah," performed here by Mr. Ella J. SeegmiUer and by the Deseret String, Band on their first Okehdokee LP, Utah Trail, is a sort of GeorgeM. Cohen-like patriot tune in which the old metaphor of the Mormon being as industrious as the bee is changed somewhat in the line... "if hurt we'll sting together." K. C. Kartchner's second fiddle of-fersing of-fersing is "Rattlesnake." Again he is accompanied on piano by his daughter Merle Shumway. "The Bullwhacker," an occupational ballad "of the early freight industry, is performed unaccompnied by 92 year old James Jepson. The rowdy atmosphere of the "goldcamp" is re-lived in George S. Taggarts rendition ren-dition of "Days of 49". The classic "Strawberry Roan" gives us a hint as to the real cowboy's self-image as opposed to that sung about by western garb clad "country" singers.. Andrew Somerville of Moab performs the Curley Fletcher composition. Volume One ends with Buck Lee's "The Gol Darned Wheel," a song relating the bronk-bustin cowboys misadventures misad-ventures on that, new "contrivance" the, bicycle, -n. Hal is currently at wprk oQevTowhch will include his own field recordings It should be out this summer "The New Beehive Songster, Volume One," , the collectors item discussed in this column, is available at many Salt Lake City record stores including in-cluding Round Records and Intermountain Guitar and Banjo. Pick one up it'll make a more complete Utahah put of you. Also, a reminder that Tarwater is holding their 3rd Annual 4th of July Picnic at Idaho City, Idaho this Sunday. Should be a stompin' good time. n, . w i . - . - vi il if W ft ! JL -'IWX it Mm v .III r A I"" w " r lllf II I I I l-'Alfllll I UU U yU ViiJVU XSZy UWll U U U QOJ i rx n n n a nn u W'o ccn the Union Pacific railroad people iuj z 2 HI X UJ a GC z GC H III Z UJ I I- LU Q DC Z oc H LU Z UJ I I- UJ Q OC z DC UJ TRAIN RIDE THE MIN TRAIN RIDE THE MINE TRAIN 2 Ma the line ftite Now making daily runs to the underground museum 11 a.m. 1 p.m. 3p.m. TICKETS: $3 Adults, $2 children 12 and under. Kids under 5 ride free Group rates and special tours are available. Ph. 649-8741 Enjoy the 90-minute round-trip Silver King Mine Museum tour in Park City soon. 5 . UJ I ' h-LU h-LU Q cc NIVm3Nllfl3H13Qlfcl NlVdl 3NIIV 3H1 3Qld NIVdim m H m z m H z o m H X m z m H z 3 O m i m z m ADVERTISING INP BRINGS RESULTS! BOX 738 PARKCITY, UTAH 84060 |
