TSF Online Meeting 55, 4 June 2023, 16:00 (BST, UTC+1)

The Meeting

Richard Spencer

Alfred Williams' Surviving Field Notebook

Alfred Williams, folk song collector of the Upper Thames, differed from other song collectors of the early 20th century, not least in his professed desire to show what his sources did sing rather than what they ought to have sung. Although he left many manuscripts and newsprint copies of his songs, one songbook and books about life in his chosen area that touch on rural song, only one of his field notebooks survives. In this talk, I will look at what that notebook can tell us about the songs and the singers he encountered, and examine his collecting technique and his selection and editing of the material he recorded.

Michael Bell

The Brothers Gershwin write an American Folk Song ‘Theory’

In 1918, amid a new cycle of attacks on Ragtime music, and as their first collaboration as lyricist and composer, the brothers Ira and George Gershwin, wrote the Broadway ragtime song, The Real American Folk Song (Is A Rag). This essay explores the sociocultural currents that motivated the brothers to write their rag and examines what their song says about the reception and role of American folk music at the start of the Jazz Age. It will argue that the Gershwins’ rag was an artful satire in syncopated time designed to refute the claim that Ragtime’s racial, cultural, and aesthetic hybridity was an unwholesome and un-American threat to the preservation of American folk song and the creation of an American national music.

Sarah Jane Nelson

Max Hunter Collects from Allie Long Parker: Variants on Ozarks Soil

Max Hunter was a travelling salesman from Missouri who spent upwards of twenty years collecting ballads during repeated trips through the Ozark hills. One of his most generous sources was Allie Long Parker of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, whom he recorded in 1958. Her varied repertoire consisted of both Child Ballads and native ballads, many of which she learned from her father. Using Parker’s repertoire as a lens, and the Ozarks collections of H.M. Belden and Vance Randolph as starting points, Nelson surveys these materials and shares some of the surprises she encountered along the way.

How it works

Places for TSF Online meetings using Zoom are limited to 100 people, and you might like to book early to ensure you have a place. Please, then, make a note somewhere that you have done so - then you won't book again when we send you a reminder in a couple of weeks time.

Please make your booking using the same e-mail address that you will use to log in to Zoom, and ensure that the booking is made in your full name (first name and family name). This name should also be used for your Zoom screen name, so that we know who you are. Bookings end 24 hours before the meeting. A couple watching the same screen only need to book one place.

Please make sure that you enter your e-mail correctly in the booking process, otherwise you may not get the link for the meeting.

Those who book will receive an e-mail from Eventbrite confirming your attendance. On the day before the meeting (after bookings close at 4 pm) you will receive an e-mail from TSF with the log-in details for the meeting.

You will find the details of the meetings on our website, www.tradsong.org. You will also find a calendar prominently displayed which gives you the dates of future meetings.

We will look forward to seeing you at the meeting, which will last for approximately 90 minutes.

Speaker Profiles

Michael J. Bell holds the Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. He taught at Wayne State University and Grinnell College before serving as a Dean and Provost at several institutions. He is now a Senior Consultant, emeritus, for The Registry for College and University Presidents. His most recent publication is ‘A Curst Little Jew from Duke’s Place: Daniel Mendoza and the Folkloric Representation of the Jew in Georgian England' in Folklore 133 (4), 487-510.

Sarah Jane Nelson is a writer, performer, and erstwhile Crankie scroller based in New England. Her earliest writings focused on environmental conservation. As her activities as a vocalist and instrumentalist brought her deeper into the folk community, she became interested in the preservation of traditional music. This led to stories for American Craft, Old Time Herald, and Fiddler, among other publications. Her recent book, Ballad Hunting with Max Hunter: Stories of an Ozark Folksong Collector, is a publication of University of Illinois Press as part of their longstanding Music in America Series.

Richard Spencer is a retired systems analyst living in Lechlade, Gloucestershire. He has a lifelong interest in traditional song; listening, performing and understanding. He is currently one of the organisers of the annual Yorkshire Traditional Song Weekend in Drax, North Yorkshire. Richard has a PhD in Trade Union History and is an experienced family historian, but is relatively new to folk song research

TSF Online Meeting 55, 4 June 2023

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