Song of the Week: Freight Train

Somewhere in the early 1980's, family friends took me to hear Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten in concert. She was in her nineties, and at the end of the concert, four generations of her family stood on stage with her. What I remember most about the concert was Cotten explaining why she played the guitar upside-down. She was left-handed, and completely self-taught. As a result, her finger-picking style was unlike anyone else's, as you can see in this video for "Freight Train," a song she wrote when she was twelve years old. You can read more about Cotten's life story, including how she was discovered by Pete and Peggy Seeger, the copyright issues involving "Freight Train" (I still don't get it how anyone can get away with copyrighting a song s/he didn't compose) and more in this article by L.L. Demerle called Remembering Elizabeth Cotten. You can listen to Cotten play "Freight Train" and watch her finger-picking style here:



Here are the chords:



For those of you who struggle with holding down two or more strings with one finger, remember these F chord alternatives.

I'll admit that I appreciate Cotten's creaky, sometimes off-key voice in small quantities. As with Bob Dylan's music, it's the song-writing and guitar-playing for which I keep coming back. Cotten's first album for Smithsonian Folkways, Freight Train and Other Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes, is a good album with which to to start. The production values are pretty good, and I enjoy hearing the squeaks of the guitar-strings. There's also Shake Sugaree which has the title track sung by Brenda Evans, Cotten's great-granddaughter (12 years old at the time of recording), and the Grammy award-winning Live!

At the Elizabeth Mitchell concert last Saturday, Mitchell and her band (including her young daughter Storey) lead "Freight Train" and had us call out different places to travel to by train. We went from Pittsburgh to Mars. You may listen to a sample by following the Mitchell link, then clicking on "Flower" followed by "Listen."

Elizabeth Mitchell in Seattle

It's not too late to get your tickets to see Elizabeth Mitchell in concert in Seattle, Washington at Town Hall. There are two shows, and children under twelve are free (but you still need to get them tickets). I just found out that Recess Monkey is going to make a guest appearance, too. I think I can count on one hand the local folks who read this blog, but hey, local folks, pass along the news to those you think might be interested. The House of Glee will be at the 11 am show.

Children's Bands on Tour

Recess Monkey is going on a cross-country tour!

More good news: Elizabeth Mitchell is finally coming to the West Coast in August and September.

Eric Herman has been on tour for a few months now. We plan to see him and visit with his family in August when he comes to Bellevue, Washington, but in the meantime, if you live in certain parts of Missouri, Kansas, Montana, Colorado, Utah, or Idaho, you will have a chance to see him in concert.

Are you excited about any upcoming children's music concerts in your area? Please feel welcome to kvell in the comments section....

Ella Jenkins and Elizabeth Mitchell

I knew I'd have a harder time that I thought regarding my "blog-vacation." One more wee thing before I really take my last week off: Elizabeth Mitchell's and Ella Jenkins' Nodcast podcast is up and running. It's free. You like free. Ella Jenkins is a legend of a children's musician, and Elizabeth Mitchell is her worthy successor. What are you waiting for? Grab your headphones and head on over to listen!

Fly Through My Window

Bluebird, bluebird, fly through my window
Bluebird, bluebird, fly through my window
Bluebird, bluebird, fly through my window
Oh, Johnny, I'm tired.

You'd be tired, too, if you cut out 30 felt birds. Tomorrow, the grownups will sing with the toddlers as each child brings a bird to up to the flannel board.* While I'm generally not a fan of using flannel boards or cutting out lots of little felt or paper animals** (yeah, I'm one of those curmudgeonly children's librarians), I can forsee using the birds for a number of other songs. I'd list them, but there are a lot. Just for starters, you can find good bird songs off of Elizabeth Mitchell's new album, You Are My Little Bird, including a longer version of the aforementioned "Fly Through My Window." I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have other animals for other songs, but as long as I'm in a small storytime room and not a large auditorium, I like to share my finger-puppets. I'll bet a lot of my city kids have seen cow puppets long before they've seen cows in pastures. This is as close as I've come to a porcupine. (Porcupines are soft and fluffy, right?)


*If there's no flannel board, the children are welcome to stick the birds to my sleeves.

**I taught myself origami just so I would have a craft to teach that didn't involve scissors, glue, glitter or googly-eyes.