The term “Barbershop Quartet” evokes Norman Rockwell’s famous 1936 painting that captured a barber, his patron and two others holding what must have been a lovely moment of four-part harmony. This enduring bit of Americana is as charming as it is incomplete. More problematic is that the image implies a deeply flawed understanding of the origins of barbershop singing.
Click here to visit a podcasting site dedicated exclusively to barbershop singing.
The music samples in this podcast were taken from the websites of the following barbershop groups. You will find their CDs and individual tracks for sale at these sites:
Boston Common
Barbershop Strut 
If There Never was an Ireland
You Must have Been A Beautiful Baby
St. Louis Harmony Chorus
Winter Wonderland
Capri
Start of Something
Spice Quartet
Two Tickets to Georgia
My Buddy
Host and Producer: Bill Troxler
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Listen to Snow Owl, emcee of the Native American Festival explain the tradition of the Grass Dance and other forms of dances typically performed during pow wows. After Snow Owl speaks, White Buffalo sings and drums the Grass Dance while one performer demonstrates this Native American dance.
Host: Snow Owl
Producer: Bill Troxler
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The thigh bone of the extinct cave bear, a harp of ninth century Wales, itinerant noblemen singing in twelfth century France and performers entertaining an audience on Chincoteague Island. The connection among all these obscure dots in history defines a profound human tradition that survives in spite of the modern ambush of technology and weapons of mass marketing.
The song Bristle Cone Pine that appears at the end of this podcast was performed by Bryan Bowers. This song and seventeen others can be found on the CD of the same name. Visit Bryan’s website for purchasing information. Come hear Bryan Bowers in person on Saturday, March 28, 2009 when he performs as part of the Chincoteague Cultural Alliance’s Acoustic Music Series. For more information and to purchase tickets visit the CCA website.
Host and Producer: Bill Troxler
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Few cultural alloys are better documented but more poorly understood than bluegrass music. Most listeners have a vague notion that bluegrass music originated in the Appalachian region of the United States. But the music’s path from the wind blown heather of the British Isles to the high lonesome sound of the Appalachians remains unknown to many listeners.
The tale of bluegrass music involves an English music publisher, immigrants, a king from Holland, kidnapped Africans, a French dance craze, a Broadway star, and a handful of hot musicians from the 1940s.
The music in this podcast was sampled
from the following recordings.
Foggy Mountain Breakdown. Played by Earl Scruggs. This tune appears on the CD titled The Essential Earl Scruggs produced by Sony Music and Columbia Records 1948. www.legacyrecordings.com
Black Nag [from the Playford Collection] Played by Bill Spence. This tune appears on the CD titled The Hammered Dulcimer. Front Hall Records, 1975. FHR 05. www.andysfronthall.com
John Greer’s Two-Step Played by Hobart Smith. Recorded by David Flemming Brown in 1963. This tune appears on the CD titled Hobart Smith in Sacred Trust the 1963 Fleming Brown Tapes. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings SFW CD 40141 www.folkways.si.edu/
Salty Dog Played by Earl Scruggs. This tune appears on the CD titled The Essential Earl Scruggs produced by Sony Music and Columbia Records, 1948. www.legacyrecordings.com
Bonaparte’s Retreat Played by Hobart Smith. Recorded by David Flemming Brown in 1963. This tune appears on the CD titled Hobart Smith in Sacred Trust the 1963 Fleming Brown Tapes. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings SFW CD 40141 www.folkways.si.edu/
Host and Producer: Bill Troxler
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Beyond those who chop wood for the family hearth, the sound of an axe striking its target is not common place in contemporary life. This was not the case in Elizabethan England. Chunky thuds of axes were common sounds then as men cleared forests, built ships, prepared firewood and executed those convicted of the many capital crimes of the day.
The most famous ax victim of the era had to be Elizabeth’s cousin. The French know her as Marie Stuart. The English speaking world remembers her as Mary Queen of Scots
To read more history about Mary Stewart go to these websites:
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/maryqueenofscots.htm
http://tudorhistory.org/primary/exmary.html
http://englishhistory.net/tudor/exmary.html
Click here to view an 1895 re-enactment by Thomas Edison of Mary’s execution
Image of Mary I from http://www.marileecody.com/images.html
The Final March of Mary Queen of Scots is track 2 of Music to Read By, the compilation CD of Island Musicans produced to raise money for the expansion of the Chincoteague Island Library. Copies are available at CCA member shops and the Library.
Host and Producer: Bill Troxler
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