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Posted by: Stephanie Hall
My mother did not like the taste of game, and wouldn’t cook it. To her wild meat recalled childhood poverty, when her father was short of work and so would pick up his rifle and go into the Maine woods to hunt. As an adult I had opportunities to try several kinds of wildfowl prepared …
Posted in: Animals, Foodways, Hunting, Mary Hufford, Narratives, Storytelling
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
June eighth is World Oceans Day, and an opportunity to look at a few examples of folksongs that relate to the interconnection between humans and the sea from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. In this recording, available via the link, James H. Gibbs of Nantucket, Massachusetts sings an untitled song about sperm whaling, …
Posted in: African Americans, Animals, Folk Music, Folksong, Massachusetts, Stetson Kennedy
Posted by: Stephen Winick
In my last post, I discussed the more serious side of songs about Noah’s ark. As I mentioned, though, there are other songs too, often with more celebratory messages–or even silly ones. We’ll look at some of those Noah songs in this post. Celebratory songs tend to focus on the joy felt by Noah when …
Posted in: African Americans, Alan Lomax, Animals, Folk Music, Folksong, Languages and Dialects, Uncategorized
Posted by: Stephen Winick
Last month, there were several sightings of a fox on and around the grounds of the Capitol complex, where the Library of Congress is located. Also, sadly, the wonderful American folksinger Pete Seeger died, and I wrote about him for this blog. These two events both made me think of the old folksong often just …
Posted in: Alan Lomax, Animals, England, Folksong, Medieval Folklore, Pete Seeger