Social Folk Roots of California Rock — Commentary

Featuring Peter Rowan and the Rowan Brothers, Balfa and Schwarz, Pete Sears with Jorma Kaukonen, the Georgia Sea Island Singers, the David Nelson Band, and the Flying Other Brothers.

Performances:

Peter Rowan and the Rowan Brothers: “Rye Whiskey”
David Nelson Band: “Humboldt County Hippie (Hippie from Olema)”
Balfa and Schwarz: “Dirt Farmer”
David Nelson Band: “The Poor Old Dirt Farmer”
Flying Other Brothers: “Constellation Rag”
Pete Sears with Jorma Kaukonen: “Meadway Rag”
Flying Other Brothers: “Take Me With You”
David Nelson Band: “Frankie and Johnny”
Georgia Sea Island Singers: “Hambone, Where You Been?”
Flying Other Brothers: “Clueless”

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This episode is about party music!

The legendary record collector and anthologist Harry Smith, whose Anthology of American Folk Music (Edited by Harry Smith) — a compilation of several dozen folk and country music recordings that were released as 78 rpm records in the 1920s and 1930s — became the bible of the urban folk movement in the early 1960s, divided the Anthology into Ballads, Songs, and Social Music. Episodes 1-3 of this podcast explored the roots in Ballads and Songs of California folk, rock, and jam music; this episode explores social folk music, including whiskey songs, fiddle tunes, piano rags and primitive dance tunes such as “Hambone”.

Rock music gets much of its structure, lyrics, and riffs from country music and the blues, but it also draws dance rhythms, wild attitudes, and loony lyrics from social folk music — specifically, the kind of folk music that inspired dancing and was passed down through families and other small social groups, the largest being the enslaved African-American population of the Southern U.S. in the 18th and 19th centuries. Much of California-based rock, including the country-rock of the Grateful Dead, the New Riders of the Purple Sage (with David Nelson), the Youngbloods, and the Rowan Brothers, can trace its roots to the social folk music of the early 20th century.

Rye Whiskey (Traditional, arranged by Peter Rowan). Performed by the Rowan Brothers on the CD Tree on a Hill (Sugar Hill Records, a Welk Music Group Company). Featuring Chris Rowan (guitar, vocals), Lorin Rowan (guitar, mandolin, vocals), and Peter Rowan (guitar, banjo, and vocals), with Kester Smith (percussion), Viktor Krauss (acoustic bass), and Richard Greene (fiddle). Published by Sea Lion Music. Available on Amazon and iTunes:

Collected by John Lomax and related to “Wagoner’s Lad”, “River Driver’s Lament”, “Moonshiner” and a variety of drinking songs, “Rye Whiskey” and its variant “Jack O’ Diamonds” is also related to the large family of songs originating in the British Isles as “The Cuckoo”. It first appeared in America with the “Rye Whiskey/Jack O’ Diamonds” lyrics in the 1800s as “The Rebel Soldier”. Tex Ritter (father of actor John Ritter) was the first to record the song under the title “Rye Whiskey” in 1932 (see Tex Ritter – Greatest Hits on Amazon or on iTunes). The song was first recorded as “Jack O’ Diamonds” in 1927 by Tommy and Ben Jarrell with Da Costa Woltz’s Southern Broadcasters. “Jack O’ Diamonds” has been covered by folk artists and rock bands as diverse as Fairport Convention, Bob Dylan, and Jerry Garcia.

“Rye Whiskey” (Traditional) lyrics:

Rye whiskey, rye whiskey,
Rye whiskey I cry,
If you don’t give me rye whiskey
I surely will die.

Well if whiskey was a river
And I was a duck
I’d swim to the bottom
And never come up.
Jack o’ diamonds, jack o’ diamonds,
I know you of old,
You’ve robbed my poor pockets
Of silver and gold.

Well your parents don’t like me
Because I am poor,
They say I’m not worthy
To enter your door.
Well my horses ain’t hungry,
They won’t eat your hay,
Fare thee well darling
I’ll be on my way.

Peter Rowan is one of the major cult bluegrass artists with a devoted, international fan base. In 1964, after performing with Jim Rooney and Bill Keith, Rowan became a rhythm guitarist and lead singer with Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys. He remained with them through 1967, leaving to join mandolinist David Grisman in the folk-rock band Earth Opera. After leaving Earth Opera, he became a part of Seatrain, a rock-fusion unit whose records were produced by George Martin (Seatrain/Marblehead Messenger).

Rowan left the band in 1972 to form the Rowan Brothers with siblings Chris and Lorin, and recorded one eponymous album. After the group disbanded Rowan recorded Old & In the Way (along with Breakdown: Live Recordings 1973 and That High Lonesome Sound) with Grisman, Jerry Garcia, Vassar Clements and John Kahn (see collection on iTunes). The Rowan Brothers (Chris and Lorin) opened for the Grateful Dead at the closing of the Fillmore West in 1971. All three brothers played in folk, bluegrass and pop bands. They joined together as The Rowans for a series of albums, including Tree on a Hill.

Take a sidestep from this simple melody, and you have a variety of similar melodies that found their way into popular songs, including the next one.

“Humboldt County Hippie (Hippie from Olema)” (David Nelson, adapted from “Hippie from Olema” by “Banana” Lowell Levinger). Performed by the David Nelson Band at the Six Rivers Brewery in McKinleyville, CA on 7/3/05. Featuring David Nelson (guitar), Barry Sless (pedal steel guitar), Pete Sears (bass), Charlie Crane (drums), Mookie Siegel (keyboards), and TBone Tony Bove (harmonica). Recording by Dan Ward (house mix Howard Danchik).

Do you remember the country and western backlash to the hippies in the late 1960s? Of course you remember “Okie From Muskogee”, that tongue-in-cheek reprimand by Merle Haggard.

See Merle Haggard – 20 Greatest Hits

It starts out, “We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee; / We don’t take our trips on LSD / We don’t burn our draft cards down on Main Street; / We like livin’ right, and bein’ free.” The Youngbloods released “Hippie from Olema No. 5” in 1971 as both a parody and an “answer” on the record Good and Dusty

Written by the Youngbloods’ guitarist “Banana” Lowell Levinger, the song skewers Haggard’s famous ditty by transporting the town to Olema, in West Marin on the Northern California coast. David Nelson takes this theme one step further and two counties north, to Humboldt County in Northern California. And yes, we play our instruments in a laid-back, corny style and even an occasional bad note.

“Humboldt County Hippie (Hippie from Olema)” lyrics, adapted by David Nelson from “Hippie from Olema” by “Banana” Lowell Levinger:

We might smoke marijuana if we wanna
Now and then a trip on LSD
But we still burn Ol’ Glory down at the White House
‘Cause we like living right and being free

We don’t watch commercials in old Humboldt
We don’t buy the plastic crap they sell
We still wear our hair long like folks used to
And we bathe often, therefore we don’t smell

I’m proud to be a Humboldt County hippie
Where we’re friendly to the squares and all the straights
We still take in strangers if they’re ragged
We can’t think of anyone to hate

We don’t throw our beer cans on the highway
We don’t slide a man because he’s black
We don’t spill our oil out on the ocean
‘Cause we love birds and fish too much for that

We still love our neighbors in old Humboldt
We still take in the sunshine and the stars
We don’t send our sons off to the slaughter
And we don’t care if you go to the moon or Mars

I’m proud to be a Humboldt County hippie
Where we’re friendly to the squares and all the straights
We still take in strangers if they’re Haggard [get it?]
In Humboldt County, California Planet Earth.

For the record: “Hippie from Olema No. 5” (“Banana” Lowell Levinger) lyrics:

Well I’m proud to be a hippie from Olema
Where we’re friendly to the squares and all the straights
We still take in strangers if they’re ragged
We can’t think of anyone to hate

We don’t watch commercials in Olema
We don’t buy the plastic crap they sell
We still wear our hair long like folks used to
And we bathe often, therefore we don’t smell

We don’t throw our beer cans on the highway
We don’t slide a man because he’s black
We don’t spill our oil out in the ocean
‘Cause we love birds and fish too much for that

And I’m proud to be a hippie from Olema
Where we’re friendly to the squares and all the straights
We still take in strangers if they’re Haggard
In Olema, California, Planet Earth.

The David Nelson Band temporarily lost its bass player Billy Laymon due to illness, so Pete Sears (Flying Other Brothers, Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship, Rod Stewart, solo performer, and guest artist with a hundred other performers) stepped in to play bass, and Tony Bove (yours truly) played harmonica. As mock country songs go, this one is a typical treatment; coming up next is yet another way to spin the “Rye Whiskey” melody that is recognizable and irresistible.

“Dirt Farmer“ (Tracy Schwarz), performed by Balfa and Schwarz, from the recording entitled Les Quatre Vieux Garcons on the Folkways Records label (FW02626), provided courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Copyright (c) 1984. Used by Permission. Dewey Balfa (fiddle), Tracy Schwarz (lead vocal and fiddle in low D tuning), Tony Balfa (guitar), Peter Schwarz (bass). Published by Coal Creek Music.

Dewey Balfa of the Balfa Brothers, and Tracy Schwarz of the New Lost City Ramblers and Ginny and Tracy, are known for their respective works in bringing traditional folk music to more popular audiences, especially the French-influenced American Cajun music (see The Balfa Brothers Play Traditional Cajun Music, Vols. 1-2

Playing fiddle and singing with the Balfa Brothers (Rodney, Burkman, Harry, and Will), Dewey was a fervent activist for the preservation of Cajun music and culture, and contributed greatly to the revival of Cajun pride in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A farmer by trade, Tracy Schwarz worked with Balfa on fiddle instruction records for Folkways in 1964. They are joined by Dewey’s nephew Tony Balfa and Tracy’s son Peter. Tracy plays fiddle and sings the sardonic lyrics that he wrote in 1966, while attending a drought-ridden Pennsylvania farm. The melody is another derivative of the “Rye Whiskey” formula and a famous Cajun song (written by Dewey’s father) called “Uncle Bob”. And how about that repetitive outro?

“Dirt Farmer” (Tracy Schwarz) lyrics:

Now the poor old dirt farmer, he lost all his corn
And now where’s the money to pay off his loan?
The loan that he signed to pay off his corn
To pay off his loan.

Now the poor old dirt farmer, he’s dry as a bone
And the only thing growin’ is a ten-pound stone
And when it gets round he rolled it down
To the tax man in town.

Now the poor old dirt farmer, he lives all alone
His wife and kids left him, and took all he owned
And on the next round, they took all they found
That wasn’t nailed down.

Now the poor old dirt farmer how bad he must feel
He upset his tractor, got caught in the wheel
And now his head is the shape of the tread
But he still isn’t dead.

Now the poor old dirt farmer, he lost all his corn
And now where’s the money to pay off his loan?
The loan that he signed to pay off his corn.
To pay off his loan.
To pay off his corn.
To pay off his loan. Etc.

The Poor Old Dirt Farmer“ (Tracy Schwarz, Coal Creek Music), performed by the David Nelson Band at the Six Rivers Brewery in McKinleyville, CA on 7/3/05. Featuring David Nelson (guitar), Barry Sless (pedal steel guitar), Pete Sears (bass), Charlie Crane (drums), Mookie Siegel (keyboards), and TBone Tony Bove (harmonica). Recording by Dan Ward (house mix Howard Danchik).

David Nelson updates the poor old dirt farmer’s plight, swapping a country-rock pedal steel guitar and harmonica for two fiddles, and demonstrating how easy Cajun styles fit into country-rock dance music. The David Nelson Band has been on the road for over 13 years. David Nelson, an old friend of Jerry Garcia’s and one of the founders of the New Riders of the Purple Sage, also worked with the Grateful Dead on the Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty albums. He played with Robert Hunter and Garcia in the Thunder Mountain Tub Thumpers in 1962. The band had temporarily lost its bass player Billy Laymon due to illness, so Pete Sears stepped in.

“Constellation Rag” (Roger McNamee), performed by the Flying Other Brothers with Pete Sears, live at the Brookdale Lodge in Brookdale, CA on May 26, 2006. Featuring Bill Bennett (bass), TBone Tony Bove (harmonica), Bert Keely (guitar), Ann McNamee (percussion, vocals), Roger McNamee (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Sanchez (drums), Barry Sless (guitar), and Pete Sears (keyboards). Recording by Stacy Parrish (house mix Howard Danchik).

The Flying Other Brothers are from Northern California and include the legendary Pete Sears on keyboards (Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, Rod Stewart, John Lee Hooker, and many others) and stellar lead and pedal steel guitarist Barry Sless (Phil Lesh & Friends). The FOBs have played with Country Joe, Mickey Hart, Steve Kimock, Leftover Salmon, Little Feat, David Nelson, String Cheese Incident, and Bob Weir.

This song, which originally appeared in studio version form on the Flying Other Brothers’ 52-Week High, is a tribute to the style of Jefferson Airplane’s spinoff band Hot Tuna. While not a true rag (more like folk/blues ragtime), the song demonstrates the influence of ragtime on the country blues music of the Carolinas (notably the Rev. Gary Davis — see episode #3). Ragtime offers a type of syncopation with melodic accents occurring between metrical beats, emphasizing notes that either anticipate or follow the beat — thereby accentuating the beat, thereby inducing the listener to move to the music. Scott Joplin, the composer/pianist known as the King of Ragtime, called the effect “weird and intoxicating.” Ragtime originated in the antebellum black communities in the late 19th century. A distinctly American musical style, ragtime may be considered a synthesis of African-American syncopation and European classical music.

This song bears some resemblance (especially in Pete’s piano parts) to Jelly Roll Morton’s “London Blues” and “Tomcat Blues” (check out the box set, Jelly Roll Morton: 1926-1930). And it’s a short steamboat ride down the Mississippi to New Orleans, where ragtime and jazz combine in an intoxicating brew that anticipates rhythm and blues…

“Meadway Rag” (Pete Sears), from the recording entitled The Long Haul by Pete Sears (Alien Music, 2000). Featuring Jorma Kaukonen (guitar), Mal Sharpe (trombone), Ralph Carney (clarinet), Jim Gannon (trumpet), Chris Baker (tuba), Jimmy Sanchez (drums), and Pete Sears (piano and accordion). Published by Alien Music.

A classic rag with a full-on New Orleans horn section, “Meadway Rag” demonstrates how close to rock ‘n’ roll you can get with a New Orleans-flavored ragtime — you can almost hear that rockin’ pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu. The Long Haul produced by Pete Sears and Paul Stubblebine, includes guest appearances by a who’s who of San Francisco-based rock and blues, including Charlie Musselwhite, Levon Helm, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Steve Kimock, Francis Clay, Maria Muldaur, Shanna Morrison, Davey Pattison, Wavy Gravy, Rich Kirch and John Lee Hooker. Pete played piano and bass on Rod Stewart’s classic early British solo albums, bass with the Long John Baldry Blues Band, and keyboards and bass with Jefferson Starship as well as keyboards with Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady in Hot Tuna. He has recorded or performed with many other notable artists including Jerry Garcia, John Cipollina, David Nelson, Phil Lesh, Warren Haynes, Leigh Stephens, Nick Gravenites, Peter Rowen, Roy Harper, Zydeco Flames, Ron Wood, Leftover Salmon, Bob Weir and Mickey Hart.

“Take Me With You” (Tony Bove, Pete Sears), performed by the Flying Other Brothers with Pete Sears, live at the Brookdale Lodge in Brookdale, CA on May 26, 2006. Featuring Bill Bennett (bass), TBone Tony Bove (harmonica, lead vocals), Bert Keely (guitar, vocals), Ann McNamee (percussion, vocals), Roger McNamee (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Sanchez (drums), Barry Sless (guitar), and Pete Sears (keyboards). Recording by Stacy Parrish (house mix Howard Danchik).

The Flying Other Brothers have taken on a variety of rock styles in its 10-year history (so far), including this New Orleans flavored boogie written by Pete Sears (music) and yours truly (lyrics). The studio version of this song appeared on the Flying Other Brothers’ San Francisco Sounds. We include a kicking live version on an exclusive iTunes album:

For lyrics, I was inspired by Muddy Waters’ “Louisiana Blues” and in particular Little Walter’s harmonica and his shout, in the middle of the song — right after Muddy says he’s going to New Orleans to get a “mojo hand,” Little Walter stops playing and shouts, “Aw, take me with you man, when you go.”

“Take Me With You” (Tony Bove/Pete Sears) lyrics:

Life is a gamble, ain’t gonna cut you no slack
Spend all your money, bring nothing back
Come to me you say you need a buck
Well I think you need a little luck
I got my rabbit’s foot, and my bottle of Crow
So take me with you when you go!

Take me with you…. take me when you go
I got no other place I know
This life of mine is moving slow
So take me with you…. take me when you go

Walkin’ to New Orleans with a whole new band
Crawling around, looking for your mojo hand
I see old Muddy standing tall
I hear Little Walter in the hall
Yes it’s the music…. and the songs that I know
So take me with you when you go!

Take me with you…. take me when you go
And let me join you in the show
Now I can sing and I can blow
So take me with you…. when you go

I feel the magic rising and it won’t last
I gotta go, I see that carnival moving fast
I read the writing on the wall
I got the note, I heard your call
Fifty miles by the flight of a crow
So take me with you when you go

Don’t know the reason, what’s come over me
Down at the crossroads, I’m on my bended knee
Fortune and fame, I had none
You can stick a fork in me, I’m done!
My yeast is rising, but I ain’t got no dough
So take me with you when you go!

Take me with you…. take me when you go
I got no other place I know
This life of mine is moving slow
So take me with you….
When you go….
When you go!
Take me with you… When you go!

Pete Sears opens the song with a piano solo and a few notes from yours truly on harmonica (I had to stop playing to sing). Pete Sears and Barry Sless trade solos on the instrumental break. The outro has Pete reminding us of that Meadway Rag again.

“Frankie and Johnny” (Traditional), performed by the David Nelson Band at Dead on the Creek (Uncle John’s Camp), Willits, CA, 8/14/2005. David Nelson (guitar, lead vocal), Barry Sless (pedal steel guitar), and Vince Littleton (drums), with Pete Sears (bass) and TBone Tony Bove (harmonica). Recording by Dan Ward (house mix Howard Danchik).

A long-standing figure in American blues folklore, Frankie is a woman willing to defend her passion with a gun. And Johnny, well, “he was her man, but he done her wrong.” Also known as “Frankie and Albert”, the first published version appeared in 1904 as “He Done Me Wrong” and subtitled “Death of Bill Bailey”, credited to and copyrighted by Hughie Cannon, the composer of “Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey”. The song has been linked to Frances Silver, convicted in 1832 of murdering her husband Charles Silver in Burke County, North Carolina.

The basic story of Frankie and Johnny has been the inspiration for several feature films, including Her Man (1930, starring Helen Twelvetrees), Frankie and Johnnie (1936, starring Helen Morgan), and Frankie and Johnny (1966, starring Elvis Presley). The song has been covered extensively in the same or similar style as the David Nelson Band’s version — such as “Frankie” by Mississippi John Hurt.

Anthology of American Folk Music

Also “Frankie and Johnny” by Champion Jack Dupree.

Blues from the Gutter

It was also covered by Roscoe Holcomb (see episode #1), Milt Jackson, and many others; as “Frankie’s Man, Johnny” by Johnny Cash; and as “Frankie and Albert” by Charley Patton, Bob Dylan, and Taj Mahal, to name a few.

This combination of musicians forming the David Nelson Band was somewhat unique as the band’s regular drummer, keyboard player, and bass player were not available. Vince Littleton stepped in on drums and Pete Sears on bass. Lacking a keyboard, we went for broke to fill out the sound with the other instruments. This version starts out like a country blues but ends of pure rock ‘n’ roll. Of course, it either did or didn’t help that we were partying all day and night at Dead on the Creek, a unique celebration of the music of the Grateful Dead and friends at Uncle John’s Camp in the backwoods of Humboldt County, California, Planet Earth.

“Hambone, Where You Been?” (Traditional), performed by the Georgia Sea Island Singers, from the recording entitled Blues Routes: Heroes and Tricksters: Blues and Jazz Work Songs and Street Music (SFW40118), provided courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Copyright (c) 1999. Used by Permission.

Recorded March 11, 1995. Doug Quimby (lead vocal) with Frankie Quimby, Tony Merrell, Van Merrell, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Jones, Joangela Stevens, and Albert Stevens (background vocals).

The Georgia Sea Island Singers perform music as it was performed two centuries ago by American blacks on the Southeast Coast (Georgia and Florida). The group has toured throughout the world, including performances at the Olympic Games in Mexico and Lillehammer.

The Georgia Sea Island Singers Presents: Gullah-Geechee Live Concert

Group leader Frankie Quimby learned the old slave games and songs from relatives. Doug Quimby (who died in 2006) performs the traditional body percussion known as “hambone” — named after the bone left over for slaves after the plantation owners butchered hogs and took all the meat. Boiled into soup with scraps of vegetables and spices, a single hambone would be passed around among families and used repeatedly. Also known as the Juba dance or Pattin’ Juba (Djouba), it is a style of dance created by slaves (who were forbidden to use drums) that involves stomping as well as slapping and patting the arms, legs, chest, and cheeks. Sometimes the “lyrics” are nonsense rhymes, and sometimes the singer tells a story in the middle of the song, but most hambones start with:

Hambone Hambone where you been?
Around the world and back again!

The Buck Dance was performed by minstrel and vaudeville performers in the mid-1800s portraying black males, known as “bucks”, dancing to the hambone rhythm. Combined with a rhumba-like pause for syncopation, the hambone produces that well known “shave and a haircut — two bits” phrase associated with Bo Diddley, best known for ‘Hey Bo Diddley” and the seminal “Who Do You Love”. You can find it everywhere, from Johnny Otis on “Willie and the Hand Jive” to U2’s “Desire” and everyone’s version of “Iko Iko” — and of course Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” (covered so convincingly by the Grateful Dead that many believe “Love is comin’ not fade away” is an original Dead tune).

“Clueless” (Bill Bennett), performed by the Flying Other Brothers with Pete Sears, live at the Brookdale Lodge in Brookdale, CA on May 26, 2006. Featuring Bill Bennett (bass, lead vocals), TBone Tony Bove (harmonica), Bert Keely (guitar), Ann McNamee (percussion, vocals), Roger McNamee (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Sanchez (drums), Barry Sless (guitar), and Pete Sears (keyboards). Recording by Stacy Parrish (house mix Howard Danchik).

Jimmy Sanchez leads this off, demonstrating how far the simple hambone can go in the hands of a master.  This song features the sad story of deception and betrayal as sung by the Sex Symbol of Foster City himself. It also features a round a solos by yours truly (harmonica), Barry Sless (guitar), Pete Sears (keyboards), and Bert Keely (slide guitar). The song originally appeared in studio version form on the Flying Other Brothers’ 52-Week High. “Clueless” brings together all the styles — you can hear “Rye Whiskey” and “Dirt Farmer” in the melody as well as “Frankie and Johnny” all set to the hambone rhythm. You can only call it rock.