Darling Corey

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An old song about a female moonshiner. I had to stand way back from the cheap mike to avoid distortion during the hollerin’ parts. I’m far from satisfied with this version, but it’s probably the best I can do for now.

I learned this song from a Pete Seeger record; can’t remember which (it wasn’t this one). I was really sad when I heard that Pete gave away his banjo last year because he was too old to play it any more. Not only was he a great singer, banjo player and entertainer, he probably had a bigger hand in the creation of what they now call the DIY (do it yourself) ethic than anyone else. Blogging, ‘zines, basement shows, drum circles — it all goes back to Pete and Sing Out magazine, founded in 1950: the dangerous idea that anyone can, and everyone should, bypass corporate channels and create culture themselves. Pete was also famous for getting the audience to sing along, treating them as an equal partner in the performance. You won’t see that at a Bob Dylan concert.

I also recorded a new piece on the bamboo jaw harp, or kubing: Waterbound.

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I like this instrument because it has an even narrower range than my voice! I like to see just how much it’s capable of. (I probably could have cut out the one really buzzy part, though.)

feral cat

9 Replies to “Darling Corey”

  1. Add me to the Seeger fans. To the Bonta fans, also, although I haven’t figured out yet how to get the music, Luddite that I am.
    Besides, I know Pete chord by chord; he makes life bouncy. . . .

  2. Hi Jo! Glad you figured out how to play the music. The first couple things I posted didn’t include that line about “click here if you can’t hear” – I didn’t realize the player doesn’t show up in email subscriptions and feeds. You can listen to all my audio, should you be so masochistic, by clicking here and here.

  3. Dave, thanks for this. It brings back a lot of good memories. Darling Corey (and Pete Seeger’s repertoire in general) was one of Reg’s and my favorites and we duetted it often, with R. on guitar, in folkclubs etc. I think I still have an old record of it somewhere – if so, I’ll try and make a sound clip and send it to you somehow (email or?). Just for fun.

  4. I can post it, but am not so sure of the best way to do it. I’ve got a mic that I can plug into the computer then I ‘d have to put the record (vynil) on the turntable which is in another room (can’t move it because the speakers are set up in a complicated arrangement of wires behind bookshelves) can’t move the computer (desktop) either without disrupting all my arrangements. So then I place the mic as far as the cable will go, play the record and record it into Garage Band, whence it can be dragged into iTunes and then made into an MP3 file, which I could then upload to the blip.tv site, or directly to my blog. I’m sure there must be a simpler way? How the hell do you do it?

  5. Natalie, I record using freeware called Audacity. Since audacity’s save-to-mp3 function doesn’t work on my machine, I instead convert wav files to mp3 using the Audio Cutter from EaseAudioConverter, then upload the mp3s to FileDen, which I chose because online reviews of free file storage sites describe it as one of the few that will not delete files after a while if nobody downloads them. I could link directly to these mp3s, but I went through Odeo because they provide a little player to embed. They’ve been somewhat buggy lately, though.

    So I guess my approach is even more complex than yours!

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