Topic: Children's music in Country Blues

[Forgetful Jones]

Hello All-
My primary audience is my 1-year old daughter. She loves music. So many of the songs I play are about death, booze, women & gambling. I'm pretty sure the first line she'll ever sing will be "When you lose your money, learn to lose."
I was wondering if anyone has any good suggestions of some kid-friendly tunes that may be out there in Country Blues.
I love the Leadbelly "Sings for Children" album and Woody Guthrie's "Songs to Grow on for Mother & Child" too. Elizabeth Cotton has some nice tunes as well. Just wondering what else might be found out there.

Thanks!

[Forgetful Jones]

Ha! Just read some other recent posts on the forum. I'll be adding Henry Thomas "Fishing Blues" to the repertoire! Always loved that tune.

[Stuart]

Good questing and interesting topic. We'll never know all of the songs that  a musician knew and which of those were played and sung for children. And the ones that were recorded (a smaller subset) is something that was primarily a function of "recording bias" and "marketing bias." It's interesting that the Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie and Elizabeth Cotten recordings you mention were Asch or Folkways recordings.

One way to group songs as we go through the material is to try to identify songs that were primarily for children, songs that could be played and sung for children, and songs for adults--songs with adult themes and topics like the ones you mention.

And there are religious and gospel songs as well, many that would be appropriate for children. They are not strictly Country Blues, but many were played and sung by people who are identified as Country Blues musicians.

[Pan]

For an inspiration:



Cheers,

Pan

[TenBrook]

This is a great query. Children's songs are unfortunately left out of a lot of folkloric searching though there have been those who have kept them in mind and musicians who have championed them.

While not strictly country blues related Yazoo put out two collections of what they call 'Early Rural American Children's Songs'. It focuses mainly on old time musicians but there are a couple country blues musicians represented.

The Story that the Crow Told Me Vol 1 is here
https://www.amazon.com/Story-That-Crow-Told-Me/dp/B00004NKAE

and Vol 2 is here:
https://www.amazon.com/Story-That-Crow-Told-Me/dp/B00004NKAF/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1490625804&sr=1-1&keywords=Story+That+Crow+Told+Me+2

Also, Ella Jenkins did a series of children's albums for Folkways akin to the Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly albums already mentioned.

Let us know if you find anything else in your searches.

Lew

[Johnm]

Hi Forgetful Jones,
If you do a youtube search on Field Recordings--Nico Fournier, you'll get a host of songs recorded by the Lomaxes and other researchers.  A lot of them won't be what you're looking for, but there are some that feature children singing the neat, kind of mysterious folk songs that children often like--sort of like nursery rhymes.  "Little Sally Walker" would be an example of the kind of song I'm thinking of; they're often songs you could imagine girls singing or chanting while they jump rope.  Happy hunting.
All best,
Johnm

[Mr.OMuck]

Maybe his version of Bob Will's song?

[TenBrook]

To follow up on John's recommendation of Nico Fournier's youtube channel: Below is a link to Nico's playlist for the LOC album 'Afro-American Blues and Game Songs' which has some of the songs I believe John was referring to. The songs by Christine & Katherine Shipp and Ora Dell Graham are great examples of children's songs from the African American children's song tradition that are definitely worth listening to and enjoying outside of their original intended setting.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyn_thCb1Z-IM5rCmX-kpdner4v2LkPfx

[waxwing]

Nobody seems to have mentioned Bessie Jones. Here's a few of her children's songs, but she was well recorded (video) with the Georgia Sea Island Singers. There used to be videos for all these but it seems to have been taken down recently. her material is a main stay of Orff music teachers worldwide. The tall black man in the children's camp setting of the second video may be Avon Gillespie, a famous Orff teacher from the LA area, now deceased.



Shoo Turkey (audio only)


Little Sally Walker, then Bessie explaining, then part of Johnny Cuckoo


Throw Me Anywhere Lord (featuring some Buzzard Lope)

There are more Bessie Smith and the Georgia Sea Island videos still up. Major archivist was, of course, Alan Lomax, who is featured in this 1962 TV show, replete with commercials (catch Stravinski and Balanchine in the commercial for Noah's Flood). Theory may be a bit dated now, but a pretty amazing document.


Wax

[Forgetful Jones]

Hello All-
Thanks for the replies and the great song suggestions.
99.44% of my guitar playing is done around the house. Bottom line for me is that I just have fun with music, and now that I have a daughter, I want her to have fun with it too. So much of what we do daily is narrated in a silly song and/or dance.

Stuart- I was most definitely using Country Blues as a much more umbrella term for the collective music we embrace on this forum. I love when I'm listening to my "adult" music library and I find a song that "could be played and sung" for children. Songs that are not on Children's collections, but could fit right in, especially with a tweak or two. Big Bill's "Pretty Little Baby" is the first song I ever played on guitar for my daughter.

In an earlier post I mentioned Henry Thomas "Fishing Blues." It's upbeat and the repetitive "I'm a-going fishing" lines seem perfect for for little ears to enjoy. Then there's a song like Blind Willie McTell's "Atlanta Strut." If I can ever learn how to pull them off, the sound effects & narration throughout that song can be adapted into an interactive kid-friendly story.

The suggested dance/play/jump rope type songs are terrific. Good stuff to sing as we play with my daughter's percussion instruments.

Pan- Hillbilly Willie's Blues is so much fun! Perfect inspiration material for what I wanted to find. I made up my own lyrics, substituting my daughter's name in place of some of the "darlings."

Mr. OMuck- I knew the name Shirley Griffith from reading it on this forum, but I believe this is the first song I've actually heard from him. I love it!

TenBrook - I just bought both volumes of "The Song That the Crow Told Me," and I can't wait to check them out.

This thread started as a sort of selfish request to find songs, but I'm glad you enjoyed the topic.

Take care

[Pan]

Doc Watson went a courtin'



Cheers

Pan

[David Kaatz]

The other night, Shortnin' Bread occurred to me as a classic kids song.
I found a couple suitable versions on youtube, the first with trad instrumentation but not trad words, the second by Miss. John Hurt, but his doesn't use the classic melody quite as I know it.



MSJ


Dave

[Pan]

Looks (and sounds) like Leroy Carr got to see the circus.



Cheers

Pan

[Slack]

Bo Carter's "Pussy Cat Blues" has a very 'kid song like' feel to it -- as John Miller notes in his DVD instruction.  And it's one of Bo's most subtle double entendres.  The problem is that no one refers to a cat as a "pussy" anymore.  (I'll refrain from the obvious downfall.)

I think if you sing it as "Kitty Cat Blues" it might work as a kids song.



A simple 8 bar blues, that ain't so simple.

[Prof Scratchy]

I always thought the melody of Bo's Twist It Babe sounded like it would make a fine children's song with different lyrics perhaps?


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