Podcasts

Jazz pianist Ida Goodson was born into a musically gifted family near Pensacola, Florida, in 1909. She was the youngest of seven girls raised by strict Southern Baptist parents who prohibited the playing of secular music in the home. Despite that, both she and her sister, Wilhelmina Goodson, learned to play the piano and developed a love for barrelhouse blues and jazz. Wilhelmina later became known as Billie Pierce, wife of jazz trumpeter Dee Dee Pierce, who was an original member of New Orleans’ famed Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Goodson performed throughout the South but maintained a home base in Pensacola, where she often accompanied tours with national stars such as Bessie Smith. She was adept at several different styles of music, including gospel, jazz, blues, vaudeville, and popular songs. In 1979, she was rediscovered by field researchers working for the Florida Folklife Commission, who included several of her compositions on the widely acclaimed Drop on Down in Florida double album.

Goodson became a mainstay at the Florida Folk Festival and was awarded the prestigious Florida Folk Heritage Award in 1987. In 1989, she appeared in the documentary film Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues, and at age 80 she stole the show from the younger, more widely known musicians.

This month’s podcast helps to illustrate how she did it. This feature was compiled from several recording sessions with Goodson conducted in December of 1981. Her unique revisions of traditional gospel pieces go hand in hand with solo piano blues and jazz standards featuring a full ensemble of accompanying musicians.

We think you’ll agree that Ida knew a thing or two about the blues. Enjoy.

Welcome back to the Florida Folklife Collection Podcast Series from the State Library and Archives of Florida. French folk singer Sonia Malkine possessed a delicate and captivating vocal approach, which she combined with a varied repertoire of music.  The songs included ancient Celtic ballads, lullabies, popular music, hymns, sailors’ songs, and French folk pieces—some centuries old, passed to her by her mother in the oral tradition when Sonia was a child.

When listening to Sonia sing, it’s surprising to learn that her gift nearly escaped undiscovered.  She viewed singing much the same way her mother did—an everyday pleasure that could accompany and embellish any activity.  While at a party in 1958, a friend casually asked her to sing something in French.  When she had finished, she was embarrassed to realize that the clamor of the party had fallen into a hushed silence to listen.  When she was asked where she sang, her answer was, “In the kitchen, doing dishes…. for my children.”  Almost immediately, her audience changed radically.

The following day she recorded 17 songs that eventually comprised an album for Smithsonian Folkways; she would go on to release three albums for the label.  Soon she was playing coffee houses and folk festivals around the country.  She appeared on Pete Seeger’s television program, shared the stage with Jacque Brel, and delighted the audience at Carnegie Hall.

Cousin Thelma Boltin, the long-time director of the Florida Folk Festival, heard Sonia in a Minneapolis coffee house in the mid-1960s and invited her to become a part of Florida’s annual folk festival in White Springs.  Sonia accepted and became an instant festival favorite, participating from the late 1960s until the mid-1970s.

The following podcast was assembled using segments from Sonia Malkine’s performances in White Springs spanning the years 1969-1975.  Due to festival scheduling in those days, each artist was allotted only a brief time on stage.  To better showcase Sonia’s talent we have stitched several of these sets together to create a longer concert more suited for presenting as a podcast.  We think the results display the vast repertoire Sonia shared and the unique voice that brought it to life.  Thanks for listening.

Welcome back to the Florida Folklife Collection Podcast series from the State Library and Archives of Florida.

Cattle ranching has a nearly 500-year-old tradition in the state of Florida dating back to 1521 when Spanish explorer Juan Ponce De Leon first introduced cattle to North America. That tradition is highlighted in a new exhibit at the Museum of Florida History titled Florida Cattle Ranching: Five Centuries of Tradition and in a new photo exhibit found in the Florida Photographic Collection pages here on the Florida Memory Web site. Where you’ll find cowboys working cattle you’ll also hear cowboy songs. Few individuals knew cowboy ballads and western music as well Cowboy Jim Bob Tinsley, the subject of this month’s podcast.

Jim Bob Tinsley a resident of Ocala, Florida, was originally of North Carolina, where he was born August 12, 1921. During his life he shared his knowledge of cowboy songs in a variety of occupations.  He was a working cowboy in Florida and Arizona, an aerial photographer in the Navy during World War II, an educator and storyteller, and a radio host and performer.  Tinsley shared the stage with the likes of Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Roy Rogers. He was an actor and writer, whose scholarly books He Was Singin’ This Song and For a Cowboy Has to Sing, both published by the University of Central Florida Press, remain important pieces of literature on cowboy and western music.  He was a recipient of the Western Heritage Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, the National Radio Heritage Association’s Pioneer Award,  a Will Rogers Lifetime Achievement Award, and was inducted into Western Music Association Hall of Fame in 1999.

This month’s podcast features Jim Bob Tinsley performing before a small rapt audience at the Ocala Public Library in March of 1984. He discusses the purpose of cowboy songs, the history of the pieces he performs, the meaning of various cowboy terminologies, and stories from his career in music. Let’s saddle up for a short ride through the history of cowboy songs with Jim Bob Tinsley.

Thanks for listening.

Welcome back to the Florida Folklife Collection podcast series from the State Library and Archives of Florida.

Over the years The Florida Folk Festival has certainly drawn its share of nationally renowned talent.  Frequently these artists have had some connection to the state of Florida, few however have received the sort of homecoming extended to Vassar Clements.  In his early years Clements was tagged with the nickname “The Kissimmee Kid” after the town in which he was raised and first took up the fiddle at the age of seven. By his teens he had formed a string band with his cousins Red and Gerald, become a staple on local radio stations and at 14 had drawn the attention of Bill Monroe. Vassar spent seven years with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys before leaving in 1957 to join Jim & Jesse McReynolds who were then based in Live Oak. Throughout his life Vassar pursued an interest in many forms of music eventually melding country and bluegrass with the jazz and swing sounds he heard on the radio forming his own unique style, Hillbilly Jazz. It was this diversity and musical curiosity that landed him a spot among other country and bluegrass legends on The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Will the Circle Be Unbroken album and exposed his talent to a wider and younger audience. Vassar was soon in demand as a studio musician, eventually appearing on over 2000 recordings from artists as wide ranging as Stephane Grappelli, The Monkees, and The Grateful Dead. From 1997 to 2004 Vassar returned to the Florida Folk Festival where he frequently appeared with a pick-up band consisting of other festival participants providing them with a rare and memorable opportunity to share the stage with one of the world’s most accomplished and versatile fiddle players.

The performance we’ve selected for this month’s podcast was recorded on May 30th at the 2004 Florida Folk Festival. It was Vassar’s last appearance at the festival; he passed away the following year at age 77. Let’s join the Father of Hillbilly Jazz accompanied here by Wayne Martin, Josh Pinkham, Alan Dalton, Carroll Clements and Jane Royal. Thanks again for listening.

Welcome back to the Florida Folklife Collection Podcast Series from the State Library and Archives of Florida. This month we want to highlight one of this country’s defining musical institutions: The Blues. Each of our neighboring southern states has placed a unique brand on the music’s form and sound—including Florida. This month’s podcast aims to prove it by joining forces with Florida’s Got the Blues, a new exhibit presented by the Museum of Florida History.

“Florida’s Got the Blues,” open through March 1st 2009, features rare 78rpm recordings by “The King of Ragtime Blues Guitar,” Jacksonville’s own Blind Blake.  There are historically significant instruments including a National steel-bodied guitar owned by Tampa Red, the undisputed king-pin of Lester Melrose’s Chicago-based Bluebird Record label. Stage attire owned by the likes of Bo Diddley of Gainesville, “Diamond Teeth” Mary McLain of Tampa, and Ray Charles of Greenville, Florida, as well as stunning photographs, ephemera, artifacts, interactive exhibits and moving images give museum patrons a deeper understanding of the history of Blues music—and Florida’s contribution in shaping the genre.

This podcast expands on some of the exhibit’s lesser known Florida blues musicians by presenting recordings captured live from the Florida Folk Festival stage alongside more intimate performances documented by Florida folklorists working in the field.  Everything from “Diamond Teeth” Mary and Willie Green’s bawdy blues, to Roy Bookbinder’s finger-style rags, Johnny Brown’s slide, Emmett Murray’s electric guitar, and Moses Williams’ diddley bow.  Performers Ida Goodson, Ella Mae Wilson and Richard Williams, Charles Atkins, and Robert Dennis—it is all here. 

For more information on Florida’s Got the Blues and museum hours of operation, contact the Museum of Florida History at 850-245-6400. To conduct research on, or obtain copies of recordings from, the Florida Folklife Collection, contact the State Archives of Florida by using the “contact us” link at the top of any page on the Florida Memory Web site or by dialing 850-245-6700. In the meantime it’s our genuine pleasure to give you a real case of the blues! Thanks for listening.

Since the very early days of the Florida Folk Festival the marble stage in White Springs has been a showcase for Florida musicians and Florida songs.

It could be a time worn standard such as Stephen Foster’s "Old Folks at Home" that pays homage to the Suwannee River meandering by the festival site or "Osceola’s Last Words," "Wild Hog," "Hold Back the Waters," or any of a thousand by the Black Hat Troubadour, Will McLean. Maybe it’s Gamble Rogers regaling us with a tale about Still Bill or Oklawaha Laissez-Faire. Perhaps Don Grooms protesting the Orange Blossom Special’s new route around Waldo or Dale Crider spinning an ecological warning wrapped in music. These songs have emanated from the stage at White Springs. They’ve been taken up, reshaped and passed on. They’ve informed and they’ve inspired others to carry on the tradition of Florida songwriting. We’ve presented many of these songs in the Florida Folklife Collection Podcast series.

Rarely have we been given the opportunity to feature a handful of these homegrown musicians in a single presentation. Thanks to the Florida Troubadours showcase from the 2003 Florida Folk Festival, this month’s podcast features music from a number of Florida songwriters - Jeanie Fitchen, Frank Thomas, Bobby Hicks - and other Florida folk singing the folk songs of Florida. So let’s make ourselves comfortable and hand the mic over to Jeanie Fitchen and some of Florida’s finest. Enjoy!

Since the early 1960s Arthel “Doc” Watson of Deep Gap, North Carolina has been a staple at Folk Festivals where his articulate guitar picking, rich baritone voice, craft at storytelling, country humor and humble demeanor has made him a favorite with music audiences from around the world including those of the Florida Folk Festival.

Doc began playing music on a homemade banjo before taking up the guitar in his teens, demonstrating a natural talent for both instruments. In 1960 he was discovered by musicologist Ralph Rinzler during a Folkways recording session for the album Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley’s. An invitation to play The Newport Folk Festival quickly followed, shortly thereafter he became a regular performer at coffee houses, clubs and college campuses where he was well known by folk music fans.

Never one to limit himself to a single genre, Doc Watson has played folk, country, old time, bluegrass, blues, gospel, rockabilly, hillbilly jazz and swing over nearly seven decades. He has released nearly a hundred albums under his own name and made guest appearances on as many others including the 1972 triple album Will the Circle be Unbroken by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band where he appeared with country legends Roy Acuff, Mother Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, Merle Travis and Florida’s own Vassar Clements. His musical talent has earned him six Grammy Awards, induction to The Bluegrass Hall of Fame, the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, and the National Medal of the Arts presented by President Bill Clinton.

This May 25th, 1996 Florida Folk Festival recording features Doc with his long time playing partner Jack Lawrence before an enthusiastic White Springs crowd. Doc & Jack also appear on our fourth Florida Folklife Music collection cd titled “Look A-Yonder Comin.” You can find additional information on this disc and request your own complimentary copy on the audio page featuring this podcast.

Well there’s nothing left to say that the music can’t say better. Prepare yourself for some quality flat picking courtesy of an American treasure, Doc Watson.

Welcome back to the Florida Folklife Collection podcast series from the State Library and Archives of Florida. As summer fast approaches, and many families prepare to make their way South to vacation in Florida, chances are good that many vacationers hope to see a real live Florida alligator, either in the wild or – more likely -- at one the numerous roadside attractions found throughout the state. Therefore for this installment of the podcast series, we decided to feature this interview with Seminole alligator wrestler Richard Bowers, one among the thousands of oral histories found within the vast Florida Folklife Collection.

Recorded onto audio cassette on May 4, 1983, we hear folklorist Doris Dyen speaking to the twenty-eight year old Bowers at the Native Village, located in the Hollywood Seminole Indian Reservation in Broward County. In the interview, Bowers discusses the craft of alligator wrestling, its 20th Century origins, and the historic relationship between the Seminole peoples and the infamous Florida alligator. For more information on Bowers, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and the Florida alligator, please visit the Florida Memory web page.

But for now, let’s gas up the family station wagon, load up the kids, and let’s take an audio vacation to sunny Florida, the land of 'gators and the Seminoles…

Welcome back to the Florida Folklife Collection podcast series from the State Library and Archives of Florida.

Over the years several Florida artists have enjoyed a sort of de facto master of ceremonies status on the Florida Folk Festival stage. Any of the following names would be quite familiar to any regular attendee of the festival, Cousin Thelma Boltin, Will McLean, Gamble Rogers, Don Grooms, and Dale Crider to mention but a few. Those names and many others resonate throughout the Florida Folklife Collection to such a degree that the songs and stories they have shared nearly comprise an unofficial biography of the performers and the festival itself. Many visitors to White Springs have enthusiastically enjoyed their role in the festivities as well.

In working to digitize and preserve the folk festival recordings I have often been impressed with the easy and comfortable rapport these artists have with their White Springs audience. It is little wonder then that so many of those audience members contact the State Archives for copies of folk festival performances. In some cases these patron requests contribute to the discovery of great moments from the festival stage. Such is the case with our newest podcast featuring Frank and Ann Thomas and a rollicking set from Don Grooms and friends recorded in 1995. Requesting CDs of folklife materials is very easy and we encourage you to contact us for more information or you may utilize the folklife database link on the left side of this screen to search for folk festival reels and access mp3 files that are available for all festival performances up to the 1980 Folk Festival. Additional mp3s will be added as digitization continues. But that’s enough talk for now, we have good music on the way from the Thomas’ and Don Grooms and thanks very much for listening.