A Fish That's a Song

by Pete Seeger

Overview

Ostensibly, this compilation of tracks from Folkways recordings was assembled to accompany an exhibit of the oddball art collection of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr., at the National Museum of Art, part of the Smithsonian Institution, which also controls the Folkways catalog. Hemphill's collection is full of strange folk-art pieces (Howard Finster, who actually has a spoken word track here, is a favorite), and sometimes the connections between them, as photographed in the CD booklet, and the songs can be tenuous. Better, then, simply to judge this as a sampler of some of the children's music issued by Folkways over the years, of which there was plenty. In fact, some of Folkways' best-selling records were children's records, by Woody Guthrie (who gets two selections here) and others. Intended, according to the notes, for children four to eight years old, the songs are sometimes perfect for small children, such as "Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts," as sung a cappella by Pete Seeger's daughter Mika Seeger when she herself was about ten. Sometimes, they have no obvious connection to children, such as Sonny Terry's harmonica instrumental "Lonesome Train" or Elizabeth Cotten's folk classic "Freight Train," but are great performances anyway. The album thus doubles as a general Folkways sampler that ranges from the usual American folk performers who made the label famous, such as Guthrie and Pete Seeger, to field recordings (Jim Nollman's "Froggie Went A-Courtin'" is accompanied by "300 turkeys") and more exotic fare. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	05/30/2012
Label:	Smithsonian Records
UPC:	0093074503720
Rank:	183435

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Pete Seeger   Primary Artist
Sonny Terry   Primary Artist
Fred Price   Primary Artist,Fiddle
Ben Tavera King   Primary Artist,Accordion
Doc Watson   Primary Artist,Guitar
The New Lost City Ramblers   Primary Artist
Clint Howard   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Mike Seeger   Primary Artist,Harp,Vocals
Woody Guthrie   Primary Artist
Smiley Hobbs   Primary Artist
Jim Nollman   Primary Artist
Irene Poolaw   Primary Artist
Tommy Moore   Primary Artist
Loman D. Cansler   Primary Artist
Larry Eisenberg   Primary Artist
Howard Finster   Primary Artist
Jack Johnson   Primary Artist
Elizabeth Cotten   Primary Artist
Larry Eisenburg   Primary Artist
Peggy Seeger   Primary Artist
Alex Medina   Drums
John Cohen   Guitar,Vocals

Technical Credits

Boris Zhitkov   Composer
Gene Young   Photography
Jack Johnson   Performer
Howard Finster   Performer
Loman D. Cansler   Composer,Performer
Tommy Moore   Performer
Irene Poolaw   Performer
Traditional   Composer
Shelton Brooks   Composer
Sonny Terry   Composer,Performer
Joe Brescio   Mastering
Ewan MacColl   Composer
Pete Seeger   Composer,Performer
The New Lost City Ramblers   Performer
Woody Guthrie   Composer,Performer
Anthony Seeger   Producer
Smiley Hobbs   Performer
Elizabeth Cotten   Composer,Performer
Peggy Seeger   Composer,Performer
Carol Hardy   Design