Subject: SUMMARY- Ag. Music
From: [email-masked] (Robert Stevahn)
Date: 27 Jul 1994 18:13:18 -0000
Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture

Date:94/07/25
Time:09:12
Subject:   SUMMARY: Ag. Music

Here's a summary of the many fine responses I received to my query
regarding ag.-related music. Thanks to all who responded! Please
feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

-John McCutcheon has several agricultural/rural experience related songs...
unfortunately, I can't think of the titles offhand.
-"Ask Any Farmer" by John McCutcheon from "What's It Like"
-Pricilla Herdman: from _Daydreamer_ Water from Another Time (by John
McCutcheon)
-Somas el barco....in Rise up singing...by John McCutchin and PPM

-Field Behind the Plow by Stan Rodgers
-Stan Rogers: from _Northwest Passage_,  The Field Behind the Plow
-Check out the music of Stan Rogers

-"Trouble in the Fields" by Nanci Griffith from "Lone Star State of Mind"
-Nanci Griffith:  especially her song "Trouble in the Fields" on the Lone
Star State of Mind cd, but I like all of her music and other pieces might
fit what you're looking for.  Another good one of her's, more on the
community inspiration side, is "This Old Town," oh the Other Voices, 
Other Rooms cd (she didn't write that one--that cd is a collection of
other writers' songs that she likes, but it's very nice).

-Greg Brown: Canned Goods (or any number of his earlier pieces).
-Greg Brown:  more contemporary, but has a great song, "Canned Goods," on
the One More Goodnight Kiss cd, that you may have heard if you listened 
to Pairie Home Companion.  That particular cd of his is very good overall.

-Bill Staines:  has too many wonderful songs to list them.  I'm not sure
what you want in SA philosophy, but he's definitely on the sustainable
life track.  You might check The First Million Miles cd, especially 
"Faith of Man."
-Pricilla Herdman: from _Darkness into Light_ The Faith of Man (by Bill
Staines).

-"You Plant Your Fields" by W. Waldman and D. Lowery sung by New Grass
Revival in "Friday Night in America"
-New Grass Revival:  has a good song, "You Plant Your Fields" on the
Friday Night in America cd.

-"Houses in the Fields".  A song by folk singer John Gorka about suburban
sprawl eating up agricultural land.
  They're growin' houses in the fields between the towns,
  and the Starlight Drive-In movie's closin' down.
  The road is back to the way it was before,
  and the spaces won't be spaces anymore.

-Have you ever heard of Dana Lyons?  He is a singer/songwriter who 
focuses on environmentally related areas.  His latest album "Turn of the
wrench," on Reining Records, is a wonderful album and the title track is
about a farmer who is faced with many challenges.
 
-Arlo Guthrie sings a Tom Paxton song which I think is called "The Garden
Song" that is wonderful.

-One of my favorite songs dealing with carrying on the family farm is by
Steve Earle:  The Rain Came Down.  It also involves the agony of losing
the farm.  Steve Earle's music can probably be found in the country music
category, but it defies easy definition.  Hope this helps.

-Michele Shocked also has some songs that touch on agriculture, etc. Her
song "Strawberry Jam" includes the lines:
	We've got Smuckers, Welches, Knotts Berry Farm
	But a little homemade jam never did nobody no harm
	A little local motion is all we really need
	To close down those corporate jam factories
 
-Norman and Nancy Blake:  are great period, but "Old Time Farmer" is a
particularly good farming song.  They do traditional music.

-The Farmer is the Man----Collected I believe by Alan Lomax---it appears
in many American folk song collections

-Mary Chapin Carpenter:  as you probably know, has some songs that might
work for you. I like "Down in Mary's Land" on the State of the Heart cd.

-Laurie Lewis:  really wonderful. Try "The Hills of My Home" on the Love
Chooses You cd.  She also did a cd with a group called Blue Rose that you
might want to check out.

-Karla Bonoff:  she has one cd that is among my all-time favorites, the
title is just her name.  Her song "Home" is on that one.  She also does
the absolute best version of "The Water is Wide" that has ever been
recorded (my opinion, of course).

-Paul Adkins & the Borderline Band:  they are fairly representative of 
the whole line of newer gospel groups (great harmonies and older songs
lots of people know).  You might check out their Wings of Gold cd, for
"You Can't Stand Up Alone" and "I Wouldn't Take Nothin' for my Journey
Now."

-Taj Mahal:  Some great old blues songs that touch on farming.
"Annie's Lover" is a good one (he's a farmer, of course), and you can get
that one and several other good songs on his Giant Step cd (the title song
is pretty inspirational, too).

-This Pretty Planet....Tom Chapen...on Family Tree album (I think)

-Kisses Sweeter than Wine--recorded by the Weavers

-Claudia Schmidt/Sally Rogers: from _Closing the Distance_ 
 Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing/Mountain Field (trad/Pete Sutherland)

-Libby Roderick: Song for Summer Solstice

-Pricilla Herdman: from _Daydreamer_ Water from Another Time (by John
McCutcheon)
-Pricilla Herdman: from _Darkness into Light_ The Faith of Man (by Bill
Staines)

-Check out the music of Stan Rogers, Connie Calder, Roy Forbes and
Murray McLaughlin. These are all Canadian songwriters and performers
and all have had an abiding interest in the land and its people.

-Doc Watson:  has lots of possible songs

-Also I'm sure there is a lot of Woody Guthrie that would fit your needs.
('Deportee' is a good one)

-Pete Seeger:  well, you know about him.

-Si Kahn:  rural sociologist turned folk singer.  Too many songs of human
inspiration to list.

-Harry Chapin:  founded World Hunger Year.  Should definitely fit into
your plans somewhere.

-Sweet Honey in the Rock:  just great overall for human spirit. Too many
good songs to detail.

-Mutabaruka, a little known Jamaican poet and song-writer.

----
(1)   Every since the days of old.....
        men have searched for wealth untold.
      They dig for silver and for gold.......
        and leave the empty holes.

      John Anderson in "Seminole Wind":
      -  Anderson was the 1994 Lifetime Achievement Awardee for
         the Country Music Assn. (Pretty popular, I'd say).
----

-Johnny Cash, "Pickin' Time"

-John Mellancamp, "Rain on the Scarecrow"

-Neil Young, "Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)"

-Native Flute Ensemble, "Offerings Against an Empty Sky"
-Native Flute Ensemble, "Dream Echoes"

-Pearl Jam, "Garden"

-Peter Gabriel, "Digging in the Dirt"

-Ben Tavera King/Jessita Reyes, "Corn Dance"
-Jessita Reyes, "Daughter of Spring Thunder"

-Talking Heads, "(Nothing but) Flowers"

-10,000 Maniacs, "Dust Bowl"

-Counting Crowes, "Rain King"

-Booker T. and the MGs, "Home Grown"

-Dave Alvin, "Mother Earth"

-Meat Puppets, "Fruit"

-Faster Pussycat, "Pulling Weeds"

-Chris Isaak, "Waiting for the Rain to Fall"

-Friedemann, "Sunshower"

-Pat Metheny, "The Longest Summer"

-Midnight Oil, "One Country"

-- 
Robert Stevahn - [email-masked] - Speaking for himself, not HP
Boise Food Connection, Inc.
Green Circle Farm