FTX-932 - JOHN HARDY

FRANK PROFFITT -2-

More American Folksongs: 6 unaccomp. & 32 with banjo, dulcimer and guitar recorded by Frank & Anne Warner, 1959-68 plus an interview about the technique of the 5-string fretless banjo and tunings with Frank Warner and Douglas Kennedy. He also plays the 3-string Mountain dulcimer, one string fretted & 2 drones. Also included are some fine variant versions of important "Child Ballads" (i.e. those in Prof. Child's ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH POPULAR BALLADS).

1. LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ELLENDER (Child #73) unacc (1960) - 5'29"

2. SOURWOOD MOUNTAIN with fretless banjo (1962) - 2'24"

3. BLACKBERRY WINE (F.P.) with guitar (1968) - 5'09"

4. NEVER GET DRUNK NO MORE (F.P.) with fretless banjo (1962) - 2'34"

5. OLD GRAYSON with guitar (1962) (talk bef: song about a sheriff who supplemented his income by false accusations, prison sentences and subseqwuent fines) - 2'37"

6. DOWN IN UNION COUNTY (SUZIE ANNE) with fretless banjo (1962) (talk bef about song) - 1'35"

7. CIVIL WAR POEM (1961) (talk bef about Civil War Recruiting Officer, Dan Ellis) - 3'38"

8. THE SOLDIER'S RETURN unacc (1962) (talk bef by FW explaining the reason why Proffitt's grandfather had Union songs in his family) - 2'20"

9. GOING DOWN TO LEBECK TOWN with fretless banjo (1962) (talk bef) - 1'45"

10. ONE MORNING FAIR (THE BUTCHER BOY) (1962) (talk bef) - 3'42"

11. POOR ELLEN SMITH with dulcimer (1962) - 1'49"

12. Talk about fretless banjo with Frank Warner & Douglas Kennedy with demonstration of tuning and songs: FLY AROUND, MY PRETTY (LITTLE) MISS & CINDY (1961) talk after about next song) - 6'02"

13. JOHN HARDY with fretless banjo (1962) - 2'13"

14. LORD LOVEL (Child #75) with fretless banjo (1968) - 4'25"

15. (O YONDER STANDS) LITTLE MAGGIE with guitar (1959) - 1'55"

16. (NOW IT'S) EVERYBODY'S GOT TO BE TRIED unacc (1968) - 1'29"

17. O LORD, WHAT A MORNING with guitar (1968) - 2'10"

18. WHAT YO' GOIN' TO DO WITH THE BABY-O with fretless banjo (1968) - 1'32"

19. I WISH I WAS IN LONDON TOWN (HANDSOME MOLLY/ GOING TO CHURCH LAST SUNDAY) with banjo (1962) - 1'44"

20. WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN ? with dulcimer (1968) - 3'12"

Recorded by Frank & Anne Warner, 1959-68. Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax cassettes 1987.

FRANK PROFFITT (1913-1965) was born at Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee, then the family moved across the border to Beaver Dam, Watauga County, North Carolina. He learned songs from his father, Wiley, his aunt and uncle, Nancy and Noah Prather, and from men working at the local lumber camps. During the Second Worlds War he worked on the TVA Project and a spark-plug factory in Toledo, Ohio, but most of his life he worked on his own and helped other farmers, yet always maintained a keen interest in reading books and papers and in the outside world.

He had a hard life. He fed his 6 children on potatoes 3 times a day, but, after the success of TOM DOOLEY, he was soon talking and singing to college audiences and making records and broadcasts. His son, Frank Junior, is carrying on the music tradition, teaching in local schools, and making 5 string banjos.

Further information see Warner's TRADITIONAL AMERICAN FOLK SONGS (Syracuse 1984)