My dad put "Moonshine Man" on mixtapes when I was a kid, and I've finally gotten around to hearing New Wood, and there's all this wonderful stuff - "Gone Gonna Rise Again," "Like Butter Loves Bread," real heartbreaking songs. And "Moonshine Man" is still great: "when I get to heaven gonna dress all in white/gonna sell it to the angels on a Saturday night." Had no idea he was a big union organizer.
So, anyone care about this dude? Any of his other albums good? Is his collaboration with Dutch harmony folk singing duo Ygdrassil worth hearing?
― clotpoll, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 07:47 (fifteen years ago) link
What a great songwriter. Be sure to check out his "Aregon Mill" performed by the Red Clay Ramblers on "Chuckin' the Frizz".
― banjoboy, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 08:02 (fifteen years ago) link
i know this guy! he was a big knoxville folkie for a while, hung out with guy carawan, john mccutcheon, rich kirby, tommy bledsoe. not the greatest singing voice let's be fair though it's certainly his own and some of his songs are fantastic. my favorite growing up was "government on horseback", but i think i just liked it cause it was jaunty.
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 08:17 (fifteen years ago) link
"gonna rise again" or whatever it was called, was the other big "hit" i remember from countless times seeing si at the jubilee center in knoxville, or elsewhere
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 08:25 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm massively biased here (Si is a friend of the family who used to stay over at our place when he'd play Chicago and I love his early stuff: "who is watching the man who's watching me?" etc.) so I will just relate the experience of other reliable sources: a friend who worked in a folk club raved about Si's live shows, and our kids have been known to listen to his Goodnight Moon/Runaway Bunny audiobooks and demand hours of repeat play. He's got a book called Fox in the Henhouse that pretty well sums up the current administration.
― dad a, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 08:32 (fifteen years ago) link
wow - he has stayed over at my parents' place too! that is pretty crazy.
i forgot about all the great kids' albums.
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 10:53 (fifteen years ago) link
Crazy small world!
― dad a, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 12:41 (fifteen years ago) link
didja ever hear michael kline? he's my best friend's dad.
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 12:52 (fifteen years ago) link
Nope, what's he like?
― dad a, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 13:18 (fifteen years ago) link
mountain music, union solidarity stuff. he's pretty old now. i guess all these guys are.
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 16:21 (fifteen years ago) link
Cool, I'll check him out. Looked up his bio, it seems he worked at the Pioneer Valley Folklore Society at or around the time as my pal Jessamyn. Small world again!
― dad a, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 18:35 (fifteen years ago) link
I always liked the album Home, from '79; wish I still had my copy. The one from a year later, Doing My Job, apparently a concept album about work, is also supposed to be good...
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 19:41 (fifteen years ago) link
Here's a New Mexico radio show that starts with about 40 minutes of Si Kahn recordings and conversation, lots of great stories about his roots. It aired earlier this month at the preposterous hour of 5:30 AM here in Boston. "People Like You," an old favorite, comes in about the 37 minute mark.
http://www.artofthesong.org/tune-in/shows/show-193/
― dad a, Tuesday, 23 September 2008 05:27 (fifteen years ago) link