I forget just how I stumbled upon David Hoffman's 1962 film Bluegrass Roots, which was the first authoritative documentary on the subject. Top left is a segment of the doc, which features plenty of clogging and old timey playin'. The documentary gives a lot of weight to the elderly "Appalachian Minstrel", Bascom Lamar Lunsford, whom you'll see dancing with his wife about four and half minutes in. Lunsford had already been filmed about 30 years earlier, however, in a scene featured in The Times Ain't Like They Used To Be, a too-good-to-be-true folk video compilation with performances from 1928 to 1935. The DVD is in print but if, as with these depression era performers, hard times have got you in a squeeze, all the contents are on youtube. Top right is that clip of Lunsford's band with a cool introduction in which Lunsford hilariously obsesses about gettin' first prize in some music contest.
It's so hard to choose another clip to showcase from The Times Ain't Like They Used To Be, but bottom left is inspired footage of Uncle John Scruggs performing the song Little Log Cabin In The Lane while his kids do the cutest dance you've ever seen! I'd also highly recommend watching Whistler's Jug Band, Bela Lamb, Estudiantina Invencibal and a version of Mary, Don't You Weep by some "Georgia Field Hands". At bottom right, I'm using this post as an excuse to show a great performance of Bayou Pon Pon from an episode of Sesame Street. Anybody know what band this is? P.S. Guess who just got Photoshop...
HI,
The Cajun segment from Sesame Street doesn't sound like the Allons A Lafayette that most think of. It sounds to me like Bayou Pon Pon, but I don't know the words. Could be anybody playing it.
Cheers,
John L
Posted by: lipwak | November 27, 2008 at 06:25 PM
It's the noodlin' toots!
Posted by: Penelope | November 27, 2008 at 08:18 PM
Extremely cool. The Lunsford CD I have is just him playing the banjar. Didn't know he fiddled, too.
Posted by: Dale | November 28, 2008 at 09:57 AM
Extremely cool. The Lunsford CD I have is just him playing the banjar. Didn't know he fiddled, too.
Posted by: Dale | November 28, 2008 at 09:57 AM
People still call it clogging. Thus the name of the shoes, etc.
Posted by: Rufus J Squirrel | November 30, 2008 at 02:26 AM
One of the musicians playing Bayou Pon Pon says "The musicians were Danny Collett on Accordian, Mary Lou Guidry, guitar, and Merlin Fontenot, fiddle. This was filmed at VermillionVille in Lafayette, Louisiana."
That's on the thread at this link (scroll down to 3rd November, 2007):
http://www.louisianacajun.com/msg/louisiana-cajun-forum-message-show.asp?id=2316&fid=202&tid=0
(And they also talk about another Sesame St. clip where they play Allons A Lafayette)
Posted by: dan blue | December 02, 2008 at 09:04 PM