{"id":206,"date":"2016-02-07T07:00:41","date_gmt":"2016-02-07T12:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?p=206"},"modified":"2016-02-07T13:55:04","modified_gmt":"2016-02-07T18:55:04","slug":"pay-me-my-money-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Pay Me My Money Down"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pay Me My Money Down\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/i7FgKZ2xT54?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I play this in an African-influenced guitar style I developed much later, but it is one of those songs I &#8220;always&#8221; knew. My original source was Phyllis Switzer (later Goldstein), who led a folksong singalong for kids at the MBL (Marine Biological Laboratories) Club in Woods Hole every summer. Phyllis&#8217;s repertoire was overwhelmingly <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-356\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Phyllis-Switzer-209x300.jpg?resize=209%2C300\" alt=\"Phyllis Switzer\" width=\"209\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Phyllis-Switzer.jpg?resize=209%2C300&amp;ssl=1 209w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Phyllis-Switzer.jpg?w=670&amp;ssl=1 670w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 209px) 100vw, 209px\" \/>drawn from Pete Seeger, so she probably got this from him or the Weavers. They presumably got it from Alan Lomax, who recorded a version from dock workers in Georgia in the 1940s for the Library of Congress, or from Lydia Parrish&#8217;s book, <em>Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands<\/em>, or both.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t remember how much Phyllis told us about the song, but she would have connected it to broader labor issues, and very likely to civil rights. I can still picture her standing in the MBL Club, with all of us sitting in a semi-circle on the floor around her, acting the part of the giant in Pete&#8217;s story of &#8220;Abiyoyo,&#8221; or leading us in &#8220;Everybody Loves Saturday Night&#8221; &#8212; an internationalist children&#8217;s ditty, consisting of the title phrase sung in various languages, of which my unreliable memory has retained only one verse, which mutates from Japanese into French&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Phyllis also teamed up with Liz Davis to produce annual Gilbert and Sullivan operettas &#8212; the one time I took part, I was part of a Japanese chorus in <em>The Mikado<\/em>, wearing a black stocking to simulate a pigtail. Not a particularly fond memory, though I still remember a lot of the lyrics, but I owe Phyllis the rest of my life because she took a few of us kids to see a concert by <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-343\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Seeger-and-Clearwater-300x231.jpg?resize=300%2C231\" alt=\"Seeger and Clearwater\" width=\"300\" height=\"231\" \/>Pete and the crew of the sloop Clearwater when they docked in Woods Hole for a couple of days. I remember Lou Killen singing a song about soccer (I&#8217;m guessing it was &#8220;Footba&#8217; Crazy&#8221;) and Jimmy Collier and the Rev. Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick singing &#8220;Everybody&#8217;s Got a Right to Live.&#8221; I don&#8217;t remember what Pete sang, but seeing him onstage was what made me decide to be a professional folksinger.<\/p>\n<p>In my memory, I was seven when Phyllis took us to that concert, and it was what first got me into folksinging, but according to the history books it must have been 1969, which means I would have been ten and had already been playing guitar for a couple of years. Maybe Phyllis knew that, and that&#8217;s why she took me? In any case, it changed my life, and I am forever in her debt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I play this in an African-influenced guitar style I developed much later, but it is one of those songs I &#8220;always&#8221; knew. My original source was Phyllis Switzer (later Goldstein), who led a folksong singalong for kids at the MBL (Marine Biological Laboratories) Club in Woods Hole every summer. Phyllis&#8217;s repertoire was overwhelmingly drawn from &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Pay Me My Money Down<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pay Me My Money Down - Old Friends: A Songobiography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pay Me My Money Down - Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I play this in an African-influenced guitar style I developed much later, but it is one of those songs I &#8220;always&#8221; knew. My original source was Phyllis Switzer (later Goldstein), who led a folksong singalong for kids at the MBL (Marine Biological Laboratories) Club in Woods Hole every summer. Phyllis&#8217;s repertoire was overwhelmingly drawn from &hellip; Continue reading Pay Me My Money Down &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-07T12:00:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-02-07T18:55:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Phyllis-Switzer-209x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/pay-me-my-money-down\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/pay-me-my-money-down\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"headline\":\"Pay Me My Money Down\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-07T12:00:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-07T18:55:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/pay-me-my-money-down\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":443,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/pay-me-my-money-down\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/Phyllis-Switzer-209x300.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/pay-me-my-money-down\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/pay-me-my-money-down\\\/\",\"name\":\"Pay Me My Money Down - Old Friends: A Songobiography\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/pay-me-my-money-down\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/pay-me-my-money-down\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/Phyllis-Switzer-209x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-07T12:00:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-07T18:55:04+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/pay-me-my-money-down\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/pay-me-my-money-down\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/pay-me-my-money-down\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/Phyllis-Switzer-209x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/Phyllis-Switzer-209x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/pay-me-my-money-down\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pay Me My Money Down\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\",\"description\":\"Revisiting the songs that have made a home in my head\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\",\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"width\":70,\"height\":85,\"caption\":\"Elijah Wald\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pay Me My Money Down - Old Friends: A Songobiography","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pay Me My Money Down - Old Friends: A Songobiography","og_description":"I play this in an African-influenced guitar style I developed much later, but it is one of those songs I &#8220;always&#8221; knew. My original source was Phyllis Switzer (later Goldstein), who led a folksong singalong for kids at the MBL (Marine Biological Laboratories) Club in Woods Hole every summer. Phyllis&#8217;s repertoire was overwhelmingly drawn from &hellip; Continue reading Pay Me My Money Down &rarr;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/","og_site_name":"Old Friends: A Songobiography","article_published_time":"2016-02-07T12:00:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-02-07T18:55:04+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Phyllis-Switzer-209x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Elijah Wald","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ElijahWald","twitter_site":"@ElijahWald","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elijah Wald","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/"},"author":{"name":"Elijah Wald","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"headline":"Pay Me My Money Down","datePublished":"2016-02-07T12:00:41+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-07T18:55:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/"},"wordCount":443,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Phyllis-Switzer-209x300.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/","url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/","name":"Pay Me My Money Down - Old Friends: A Songobiography","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Phyllis-Switzer-209x300.jpg","datePublished":"2016-02-07T12:00:41+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-07T18:55:04+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Phyllis-Switzer-209x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Phyllis-Switzer-209x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pay-me-my-money-down\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pay Me My Money Down"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/","name":"Old Friends: A Songobiography","description":"Revisiting the songs that have made a home in my head","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9","name":"Elijah Wald","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","width":70,"height":85,"caption":"Elijah Wald"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1"}}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":170,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/sloop-johnb\/","url_meta":{"origin":206,"position":0},"title":"Sloop John B. (\u00e0 la Joseph Spence)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"February 20, 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"The most popular Bahamian fisherman's anthem, first printed in 1916, played in the style of the magnificent Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"john b sails","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/john-b-sails-232x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1267,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/ragtime-millionaire\/","url_meta":{"origin":206,"position":1},"title":"Ragtime Millionaire (William Moore)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"May 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent 1976-7 in New York studying with Dave Van Ronk and listening to Yazoo pre-war blues reissues,\u00a0 but only got up the nerve to attempt a handful of the pieces I heard on the old records. Of the few I managed to work out, my favorite was \"Ragtime Millionaire,\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/yazoo-guitar-wizards-e1462841648853.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1360,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/old-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":206,"position":2},"title":"The Old Man (Bob Dylan)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"June 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Dave Van Ronk took pride in the fact that he recognized Bob Dylan's talent early, back when a lot of people thought Bobby was just a weird kid with too much nervous energy and a scratchy voice. Dave and his wife Terri Thal were major boosters for the kid, mentoring\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/images\/davedylan.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1433,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/kind-mama-blues\/","url_meta":{"origin":206,"position":3},"title":"Kind Mama Blues (Blind Willie McTell)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"July 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the few pre-war blues records I had before finding the trove at Dayton's in New York was an album on Biograph by Blind Willie McTell, which began a lifelong infatuation with his work. It was a somewhat troubled relationship, because he played twelve-string guitar on most of his\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Willie-McTell-LP.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3313,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/georgia-camp-meeting-kerry-mills\/","url_meta":{"origin":206,"position":4},"title":"At a Georgia Camp Meeting (Kerry Mills)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"December 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By some measures the first major hit of the ragtime era, \"At a Georgia Camp Meeting\" was played by brass bands, mandolin orchestras, banjo virtuosos, pianists, and everyone else who tried their hand at the ragtime style. It was composed in 1897 by the violinist, music teacher, orchestra leader, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/campmeeting1-227x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1943,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/small-town-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":206,"position":5},"title":"Small Town on the River (Bill Morrissey)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"July 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When I got back from Europe toward the end of 1979, I set out to make a reputation on the US folk scene. It was exhaustingly slow going, but Dave Van Ronk was helpful as ever and gave me an enthusiastic introduction to Len Rothenberg, who had a club in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Bill Morrissey LP","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Bill-Morrissey-LP-300x299.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":357,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions\/357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}