Sometimes Folk

Last week, we played a few sets of songs about coal mining. Then the folk music police saw our playlist and informed us that we needed to be more inclusive, so this week we've diversified a bit and included a few songs about hard rock miners too. But mostly more songs about coal from the likes of Jean Ritchie (pictured), Jez Lowe, Caroline Herring, Doc and Merle Watson, Merle Travis, and Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard.

Some 30 years ago, while sitting in Sudwerk listening to a young singer on a stool performing popular songs of the day, my companion -- Bill Morrissey, who had mostly done original songs at his Palms' gig earlier that evening -- turned to me and said, "When I was starting out, I did lots of covers too, but never with an Ovation guitar!"

Singer-songwriters, like Bill, often include a cover or two in their sets. A good cover song should seem fresh, almost as if the singer owned the song. On today's show, I included a few instructive examples: Joel Rafael covering Woody Guthrie, Valerie June covering John Prine, and Stan Rogers (pictured) covering Mary McCaslin.  

If there is such a thing as a "renaissance man" in 21st century culture, then Mick Moloney fit that description. Moloney, who died last week at his home in Greenwich Village, was a New York University professor, a touring and recording musician, an Irish cultural ambassador, an ethnomusicologist, and a lifelong social justice warrior.

From his work with The Johnstons, Green Fields of America, and his musical collaborations with Robbie O'Connell, Jimmy Keane, Athena Tergis, John Doyle, and many, many other Irish and American artists, Mick Moloney has left a legacy of recordings that will stand the test of time. The Folk Brothers toured Ireland with Mick, and Bill had been in Galicia with Mick just a few weeks before his untimely death.