For some reason, the autumn always reminds me of my childhood. Backyard football, sweating under layers as the sun goes down too early and you sprint with your chest puffed out toward the tipping point that slides you right on through the new year. We were ready for whatever was next, never yearning for the past. This season feels like a shedding of the old, an exfoliation of the soul. At times we must look to our youth for strength. We must push forward with wet nose naivete, soap and water backbone.
"Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt." - Kurt Vonnegut
The recordings of Clark Williams, AKA Big Kitty are both winsome and thoughtful. He has found a way to seamlessly connect the American folk song with sweeping images of the otherworlds. He travels from green pastures to alien heavens in the breadth of just a few hard-lipped lines. His ballads go from traditional structures and timing to moments where the tracks seem to disintegrate and back again. He sings of loneliness, long lost cultures, abductions, and the loneliness of being abducted by long lost cultures. Released in tandem with Mule Magazine.
This spring finds us wind - burned and chapped, ready for warmth of some kind.Anykind. We put much wear and tear on the turntable needle this winter. Sad slow songs and frightened voices of lost and forgotten thrift store vinyl. Basement flood-worn cardboard covers and a dead man’s favorite song circled in blue ink. It only gets easier from here on out. The weekly choir meeting has been adjourned due to hoarsness. Time to turn over the soil and begin again. Clear your throats. Alltogether now, with Uplifted Voices.
This is the second compilation from the Reelfoot Library of Music and Sound. We sincerely hope it finds you well and warm. Here in Chicago, we are locking down the hatch and shrink wrapping our windows, anticipating a brief autumn. The leaves here are yellow, gold and orange.
This episode contains selections by Clara Rockmore, the brilliant theremin player, Florence L. Trawick, talking about her eccentric grandfather, and Jan Clayton speaking about last summer’s drought in Tennessee. It also features cuts by Washington Phillips, Asao Kikuchi, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and more.
Fare You Well is our premier edition of compilations that we plan to release 2-3 times a year. This album is composed of tracks hand picked from the dusty vaults of the Reelfoot Library of Music and Sound as well as original recordings by various Reelfoot contributors. The purpose of this release is to bridge the gap between us and the good people who are in our hearts everyday. It is also an opportunity for our volunteers to browse deep into the vast collection of vinyl records, compact discs, reel to reel and cassette tapes, as well as MP3’s, which are located in the newly established “Digital” wing of the library. We collect rare, common, and many times, previously unheard recordings. We are the sister establishment to Reelfoot Books, a publishing experiment that will release small edition books and short stories. We are always accepting donations of original songs and sound collages from people exactly like you. Click the contact link to find out how to submit files or proposals.
This compilation could not have been possible without the generous help of Stockholm Finn-Priest, whose compendium of poems are due out later this year, and Kevin Bouldin, whos mantras consistently inspire.
