Jay Ungar and Molly Mason Homegrown Concert

i'm jay younger and i'm molly mason we've been composing recording and performing music together for more than 40 years we also work with the amazing folks at the ashokan center in the catskill mountains of new york where we host music and dance camps for adults and families outdoor and environmental education programs for schools and much more the american folklife center at the library of congress has invited us to perform in their 2020 homegrown at home concert series so instead of being in washington dc we're coming to you today from our living room right here in west hurley new york the american folk life center is releasing a concert each wednesday through september 30th at noon eastern time and each artist is going to be there live in the chat so you can interact ask questions say hi come visit us after each concert is released you can find the video along with many others on the library website and youtube channel now for some music here's one of my favorite fiddle tunes it's called the ways of the world i learned it from a field recording by allen and elizabeth lomax of the great kentucky fiddler williamstep bill stepp recorded in sailorsville kentucky in 1937. he recorded it possibly in the open g tuning gd uh dgdg but uh i moved it up to a e a e let's try it [Music] do [Applause] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] my platoon this is a song that i learned when i was a little kid my dad used to play it on the mandolin and sing it and when i found out that we were going to be doing it for this recording i actually called him up a few days ago told him about it and at 92 years of old he sang me two verses from this great song we're about to do it's the wreck of the old 97 based on a true story but we've added a little more truth to it yeah has a surprise ending one two three [Music] well it gave him his orders in monroe virginia said steve you're way behind time this is not 38 it's the old 97 you must put her into spencer on time and now it turned around he said to his farming shovel in a little more cold cause when we reach the top of the white oak mountain you'll see your nine seven a row [Music] they were headed down the track to 90 miles an hour when the whistle broke into [Music] now this song always ends with [Music] harsh words but there is another message in this hardworking song in this tragic tale of woe if you value your life and your friends and your families there are times that you have to say no and there's more to the story of old nine to seven the car goes [Music] yes this dreadful train wreck death and destruction it's a well-known tragedy but it brightened the fate of those captive canaries the crate broke they all feel free [Music] so if you've ever been down to old danville virginia there's a story you may have earned there are folks who have seen in the trees around that city descendants of those bright yellow birds [Music] we're going to play a tune that we wrote together long ago when was that mom 1985 yeah that's a while back yeah and uh it's one that was just our private tune for a long time then we played it for friends one night and they liked it people danced to it and it became the title track of our album of romantic tunes and songs the lover's waltz here it is [Music] it is right foreign foreign [Music] oh [Music] this wonderful old cowboy song old paint um we listened to so many different versions of it uh the the one that is kind of my favorite is jess morris recorded in 1942 by john lomax in dallas texas i think a lot of people based their versions on that i went on to youtube and found many versions and then suddenly i found one that sounded really familiar it was us we'd forgotten that everybody's done it that we've done it people shoot you you know in concert and put it on youtube that's what it what had happened so it's a great old cowboy song and jess morris said that he learned it from an african-american cowboy who had been a was a former slave a guy named charlie willis so here it is old paint [Music] oh yeah i'm in a special tuning this would be d a d d but my voice doesn't go that high so it's cgcc that's the type of tuning that jess used on his fiddle [Music] farewell there ladies [Music] my pony [Music] shy [Music] when she in the middle of the ocean there [Music] grows [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] and the horses [Music] i'm [Music] again [Music] is [Music] goodbye [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] do [Music] is [Music] goodbye [Music] so [Music] so so [Music] but [Music] little surprise there we went into william bonaparte's retreat which a lot of people know as the uh the main theme of aaron copeland's hoedown from the ballet rodeo it's also used in a meat commercial beef commercial some of you might remember that you know that tune always reminds me of a horse ride a very fast horse ride so it's kind of kind of cool to put it right right after old paint we got this next song from lead belly heating led better it was recorded by uh alan lomax and it's a great song for the times he wrote it for the national traffic safety council in the 40s they didn't use it but today the message is really important it's a song called relax your mind do when you're driving in your automobile keep your hands on that [Music] relax your mind relax your mind it makes you feel so fine sometimes sometimes [Music] and put your foot on the gasoline cause sometimes sometimes you got to relax your mind your mind relax your mind relax your mind it makes you feel so fine sometimes sometimes you've got to relax your mind [Music] do [Music] when the light turns blue what in the world are you gone [Music] sometimes you've got to relax your mind your mind relax your mind [Music] it makes you feel so fine sometimes sometimes [Music] oscillation take out your license and registration you've got to relax your mind [Music] it makes you feel so fine sometimes sometimes sometimes you've got to relax your mind you're my heart we're going to play two fiddle tunes that we put together here the first one is frosty mourning a henry reed tune alan jabor recorded henry reed in west virginia it's a great tune lots of fiddlers play it and then a tune i wrote more recently it's called the wizards walk the wizards along [Music] you [Music] so [Music] foreign [Music] it's a pleasure and an honor to get to record this tune a show can farewell for the library of congress after our music and dance camps at ashokan in 1982 that would have been the third summer i went home with a feeling of loss and longing wanting to be back on that land with those people and around the music and the community i was floating on a cloud of utopian euphoria for a while but then when i came down off that there was a sadness and i picked up the fiddle and this tune came out of it and uh it was very personal for quite a while but then we recorded it with our band fiddle fever molly and i and uh that came out on an album in 84. ken burns the filmmaker heard that album and based on his love of that tune he had to start working on some of his earlier films eventually this tune became the main theme a theme that is heard throughout the civil war series uh one of his most important pbs specials so we'll play it for you now hope it means something for you ashokan [Music] farewell [Music] times [Music] yes [Music] so [Music] me [Music] it [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] hey thank you for listening today we hope to see you at a future concert you can find our performance schedule our recordings and more at jayanmali.com and you can learn about the ashokan center and ashokan music and dance camps at a-s-h-o-k-a-n c-e-n-t-e-r that's ashokancenter.org and do check out the american folklife center website where you can find an amazing collection of sound recordings to explore www folklife you

Channel: Library of Congress

Views: 60,995

Keywords: Library of Congress

Id: qF-iNlSgDKA

Length: 38min 58sec (2338 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 05 2020