News from the Grapevine

Grapevine artist Dave Price, half of Dave and Dana, has posted some news on the blog. Dave and Dana recorded one Grapevine album, Morning Star, produced by Sue McClellan, and an earlier album Come on In with Pilgrim and produced by John Pantry. We were so impressed with their quality we tracked down two more great albums, Satisfied, their first self-pressed album, and their fourth album, Right Track, released on a Canadian label.

Dave's now in Mobile, Alabama, and still makes a lot of music, he reports, working in gospel, jazz and praise music. The name of the county, Mobile, comes from a Native American tribe, according to Wikipedia. Full details are here.

Pack Up Your Sorrows

Whilst mining YouTube I've come across an original version of Pack Up Your Sorrows played by its authors Richard and Mimi Farina together with Pete Seeger. It's a great recording and Richard Farina is playing the dulcimer, a much under-rated instrument.

Parchment's amazing version is of course nothing like this! Here's a sample from the CrossRhythms site.



Here's a link to our original posting on the history of this song...

Denomination Blues

Here's a YouTube posting of Washington Phillips' remarkable original version of Denomination Blues, from the 1920s:



The sweet-sounding instrument backing the song was apparently known as a dulceola but nobody quite knows what it was.

Parchment's second version of the song, recorded as the opening track on Shamblejam and familiar to quite a lot of people, is probably closest to this, relying as it does on John Pac's raw vocals and the simple mandolin accompaniment. The version that has emerged on the lost album
is lusher.

Phillips recorded two "parts" to the song. This part is Part I and doesn't include the notable line: if you ain't got Jesus, you's an educated fool.

More samples can be found at one of the labels that has released his songs on CD.