Hubby Jenkins: Homegrown Concert

all right hello how you doing i'm hubby jenkins uh a former member of carolina chocolate drops and ran in gideon's band um and the american folklife center at the library of congress has invited me to perform and their 2021 home grown at home concert series so instead of being in dc i'm coming you today from my backyard air conditioners and wild plants and bugs and all this is where i spend a lot of my time last year um but yeah the american folklife center will release a concert every other wednesday from now until september 22nd this will be at noon east coast time u.s and every artist will be there in the chat section answer questions so i'll be there uh when they air this and you can say hello hello hella if you'd like and ask me all kinds of questions um and after each concert's released you continue to find it on the youtube for the library of congress now that formalities are out of the way let's get down to some music um and i guess i'll start with a song that i actually learned last year's probably one of the first songs i decided to learn and it comes from the playing of uncle dave macon one of the early stars of the grand ole opry as he put it he learned it from the preach an old negro preacher it's a song entitled station will be changed after a while [Music] there are people in this world who will try to bring you down but i'm on my way to glory fold away that story crown no matter what they do or say get down on my knees and pray that the station will be changed after a while oh station will be changed after a while when the load itself has come and my work on earth is done the station will be changed [Music] well that good book it tells us all about that judgment day and that awful day is coming but i know just where i've been you can bear me in the ocean lord and throw me in the sea but the station will be changed after a while oh station will be changed after a while when the lord itself has come and my work on earth is done [Music] and that gospel train's coming she's rolling through the lane jesus is the conductor and he always makes his time when you hear the whistle blow well you better be ready to go before the station will be changed oh station will be changed afterward when the lord itself has come and my work on earth [Music] [Music] station will be changed after a while oh that's a good one um i'm contractually obligated to say at every show or performance that the banjo is a black instrument a slave instrument created by enslaved africans based on instruments they had back home and on this instrument you have the creation of american music without this thing you would not have blues rock and roll hip-hop jazzy jazz even uh some other things that i won't mention but yes i will say that and have done said it and i guess we'll do this by focusing a little bit on uh christianity and spirituality uh uh in the black community and we'll dive into that a little bit um you know one of the things that's very interesting is to think about is uh you know when the virginia colonies first uh started having slavery or created the institution of slavery um people didn't really want uh the enslaved to be christians right um part of that was you know uh why should i go through the body of the the work of taking care of these people's uh christian health or their spiritual health rather also why should i give them a day off from work you know and i think the third thing would be this uh how do i reconcile enslaving someone dehumanizing someone who can get into the same heaven as me who when baptized can become uh as equal in the eyes of god uh as i am as let's put it that way um but when slavery first starts because of this because of this reluctance to do this the uh virginia colonies say will will enslave all black people unless they're christian and so you find the first big wave of christianity amongst black people in america comes at this time to uh protect themselves from this new burgeoning slavery and that reminds me of a song this song comes from the playing of henry thomas it is entitled jonah in the wilderness someone being reluctantly called to preach [Music] hey jonah hallelujah jonah preaching in that wilderness preaching in that wilderness preaching in that wilderness go yonder to the bottom of the ship seeking your violence with a good-hearted christian oh yonder to the power of god see can you find the certain good heart of christians surely come back so say the lord could not find this to the good heart of christians oh yonder to the hills i saw seeking your fine uncertain good-hearted christians show their commandments so say the lord could not find a certain good-hearted christian hey jonah hallelujah preaching in that wilderness preaching in that wilderness preaching in that wilderness god called noah said to go and preach don't reclaim that he would not go hit himself in the bottom of the ship searched that ship from bottom to top our last brother join us in overboard comes the bird that dropped the seed from the seed there sprung the root from the root there sprung the vine from the vine that sprung the shade under that shade brother jonah laid i walked right up to mary's room to try the shoes that brother jonah had on when you get to heaven i will sit and tell i've escaped old death in hell said hey jonah i'll hallelujah jonah preaching in that wilderness preaching in that wilderness preaching in that wilderness ship she rocked from shore to shore ship she rocked from door to door god declared that you're going wrong you're gonna leave that living land hey jonah hallelujah jonah preaching in that wilderness preaching in that wilderness preaching in that wilderness 40 days lord 40 nights 40 days it was 40 nights ship she rocked from side to side you're gonna leave that living there and hey john hallelujah preaching in that wilderness preaching in that wilderness [Music] preaching in that wilderness hey jonah hallelujah but of course after a certain amount of time uh slave masters change their mind they say yes we're going to have these christian we're going to have christianity amongst our slaves and there are lots of missionaries who went around saying we have to baptize them but we'll make sure that they promise that they are getting baptized not because they think they're equal to whites but just because they want to submit to god and believe in jesus christ and so they start going around with this kind of fallacy and it ends up creating a space for enslaved people to put their old beliefs to put their old religions and to put their morality hopes uh and uh what's the word frustrations and anger at the oppression that they were experiencing um in places like new orleans you know that goes into like catholicism and starts turning into uh you know grows into voodoo culture combining voodoo from west africa with catholic stuff and using that uh ideology all that kind of stuff um idolatry um and so when you get to these early slave churches you get to they start also combining their own rhythm their own music to bringing their own sort of things so they would go and pray off you know the prayer camp meeting off into the woods they would turn their pots upside down which has its own kind of spiritual connection to the past and to the old world but also uh you know they say helped with sound from transmitting um and one thing that starts to develop is something that we find in the georgia sea islands i realize that i'm very close to the mic i'll back up one thing we find is in the georgia sea islands and this is something known as the ring show it's a silo singing that developed in the church is there and it's what people believe a lot of early slave churches might have sounded like and so you imagine a group of people dancing in a circle going counterclockwise never crossing their feet um someone known as the stick man or we call them sick person pounding out a rhythm with the broom handle on the floor and people clapping poly rhythms along with it and singing in a call and response style one person's a leader and everyone follows in turn um and they believe that's what a lot of early slave churches might have sounded like these first early instances of of privacy and community where we could have a shared culture and to express these things that we're talking about which is what is important to me about spirituals and gospel music uh you know black people being able to put the feelings of the experience here into this music and so i'm going to imitate that with these the bones one of the world's oldest instruments and we will pick a song and we will do let's do uh moses don't get lost in that red sea now you can imagine that the story of moses leading the israelites out of egypt might be uh i don't know important or interesting to enslaved africans so here we go i will sing all parts and clap all parts moses don't get lost oh moses moses don't get lost in that red sea start your rod and come across in that red sea moses moses don't get lost in and red seas smart you're right and come across in that red sea top and talk about the whole skit laws get lost get lost fell in the host get laws inaudible get lost get lost pharaoh and the hosts get lost in that ritzy oh moses moses don't get lost smart your rod and come across in that red sea stop and talk about the horse get laws get lost get lost there in the hosts get lost in that red sea talk about the hosts get laws get lost get lost talk about the hosts you love and that red sea oh moses moses don't get lost in that red sea march around and come across in that red sea moses moses don't get lost in that red sea macho rodney come across in that red sea stop and talk about the whole skit get lost get lost pharaoh and the hosts get lost in that red sea talking about the horse laws get lost get lost fair and the hosts get low in that red sea [Music] i had to stop myself you could play that all day talking about the host get lost get lost baron the host get lost in that red scene they don't fit back in my pocket now and i guess i'll do this one for you now [Music] because one of my favorite guitar players excuse me a man by the name of mississippi fred mcdown [Music] it's in song entitled when the train comes along and it's a i guess it's a gospel spiritual song without mentioning jesus or any of the uh the good stuff but you know we have the great migration millions of black people leaving the south for you know many for a couple decades maybe around world war 1 to the 70s [Music] and the song is reminiscent of that allows us to meditate on that when the train comes along tell my mother my father my brother my sisters i'm going to meet them at the station when the train comes along there's also a very old concept i'm going to cross at river jordan i'm going to see my family on the other side it is wrapped up in this conversation about death right when i die i will finally be able to be with those that i love and those i've been separated from um but it also can be representative of it's a physical place right once i cross that river into the north i'll be able to be with my family so i'm getting that train out of the jim crow south i can be with my family so it's another instance of christianity or spirituals being able to you know black music being able to hide uh the true intent uh but be full of all that good emotions all right play it hubby here we go you know what let's do an e instead that's a good idea i'm glad you guys brought that up there we go [Music] uh [Music] me [Music] you see my mother and she ask for me lord gonna meet at the station when the train come along when the train come along when the train come up when the train come along gonna meet at the station when the train come along play a song [Music] if you see my brother and he asked for gonna meet the mountain when the train comes when the train comes along [Music] when the train come along load gonna meet him at the station when the train keep that train on the rails [Music] if you see my father and he asked for gonna meet a magistation when the train come along when the train come along when the train come along when the train come a long long gonna meet him at the station when the train come along [Music] [Music] come on baby [Music] well something like that when the train come along my neighbor liked it so i'm sure you guys liked it as well it's a banjo [Music] i'm a very cool guy you definitely gotta hang out with me more so now for my next trick i'll play a song that comes from [Music] uh the recordings of uh an album called black banjo songsters of north carolina and virginia put out by uh cecilia conway dr cece conway of appalachian st university actually she texted me the other day and i forgot to text her back thanks for reminding me and uh she made a collection of black appalachian string band music um not unlike someone like john worked the third who did some work with the loc as you all know [Music] but uh the first time i heard this album when i was on my way to the black banjo gathering the second one um and uh my friend steve was driving me from i guess the airport uh i fell asleep at some point and i woke up and he was playing this this album and it just it rocked me blew my mind um uh so i'd like to play this song which is a i've been playing it for many years but it's called cuckoo bird it's rufus casey from that record uh slightly different from the clarence ashley version but uh yeah i don't know why i even mentioned that let's play [Music] [Music] gonna build me a little steeple on a mountain so high so i can see we lay as she goes [Music] little willy she's my darling little willie she's my dear little willy she's my darling [Music] and i hate [Music] [Music] she never hollers cuckoo till the fourth day of july [Music] when i see you walking well woman tell your mind your mind is to marry and leave this town [Music] [Music] [Music] boom [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] i play cards in england and i play cards in spain and i bet you ten dollars i'll beat you in this game [Music] well that's the cuckoo bird yes the cuckoo bird yes indeed so i guess i have time for a couple more i think these are 30 minutes long let's do another song that was our commercial break from our jesus thing but um yeah and we'll bring it back to a little jesus before we're done's over over here and i'll do one by uh a guy that i've always uh really appreciated growing up as a in new york my buddies and i are connection to the old time music or the way we felt when we early our early connection was through the folk scene 50s and 60s your bob dylans your uh karen daltons your dave van ranks so on and so forth and it's cool that a lot of those guys got to spend time with people like mississippi john hurd and uh reverend gary davis who uh i'm going to play a song by right now [Music] i think we'll do um we should probably make a set list let's do let's do let's not do a sad one let's do a happier one and we'll do one called i am the light of the world i'm the light of this world which i believe is a jesus quote i think it can applaud everybody be the light of the world [Music] be the brightness in your freaking world be nice to people geez louise here we go [Music] as long as i'm in this world i am the light of this world just as long as i'm in this world i am the light of this world oh don't believe in jesus not a word that he say when he come all the way down old lazarus grave and raised him from the dead just as long as i'm in this world i am the light of this world just as long as i'm in this world i am the light of this world oh i know i've been converted lord knows i ain't ashamed for the holy ghost is my witness and the angels inside my name just as long as i'm in this world i am the light of this world just as long as i'm in this world i am the light of this world oh i got fiery fingers and i got hands when i get up in heaven gonna play in the fire revenge as long as i i am the light of this world just as long as i'm in this world i am the light of this world [Music] that's why my god gave me the key and he told me to care wherever i go just as long as i'm in this world i am the light of this world just as long as i'm in this world i am the light of this world [Music] as long as i'm in this world i am the light of this world all right take it easy baby as long as i'm in this world i am the light of this world and uh yeah we'll do one more commercial break from jesus and this is one that uh uh i've been listening to the song for a very long time um i think her name is um oh my goodness her name is mary is it mary the song is called fingering and it's a song that i was obsessed with for a little while i'd never heard a boat song like it i guess the story is that um she's like second generation uh and enslaved like her great her grand her or was it her great-grandmother was enslaved and she learned these songs like passed down through the women in her family um and it was through this song that i learned about like boat songs and black people singing sea shanties and um and also just her way of singing it and her i don't know a reference it caught me it's a reverence the right word uh i'm not a worder so um you know and you know doing something for the folk life center where i spent a fair amount of time on tour with chocolate draws passing through and listening to junk i'm sorry not junk great stuff whatever um but i thought you know they were saying you know be nice if you played something from the archives so i thought i would try to banji-fy this this song that i've i've liked for banjo-fy the song that i've liked for a very long time so i'm gonna try and do that for this song it's entitled finger ring um i see here i have it on my screen recorded uh april 1926 and it starts like this [Music] finger ring finger ring i lost mama's finger [Music] i know [Music] i lost mamas i lost mama's fingering i lost my mom i lost mama's fingering i lost mama's fingers [Music] [Music] finger ring fingers [Music] i know [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all right there's a few clams in there but i guess it's appropriate for a boat song anyway i hope you enjoyed uh the set from my backyard in queens to wherever you are thanks so much for having me thanks for existing and being around and uh you know everybody keep up the good work of positivity and being good well and healthy and check out the american folklife center's website you can find lots of amazing recordings that's where i found a lot of my songs and like inspiration to you know perform and live and do all sorts of things um their website www.loc.gov slash folk life so thanks again how the sun's coming out let me get out of here peace and blessings here and yours and uh yeah be good you

Channel: Library of Congress

Views: 9,984

Keywords: Library of Congress

Id: LWcS3BwvpWw

Length: 30min 51sec (1851 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 11 2021