Anyone Like Alternative Golden Era Music?

[Old Rogue]

In addition to Big Band, I also like Country and Bluegrass music. Ervin Rouse, one of Bluegrass's greatest song writers and fiddlers, was born about 10 miles from my house.

http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?ct=ddl&sp=search&k=Markers&sv=C-78%20-%20ERVIN%20T.%20ROUSE%201917-1981

I actually knew one of his relatives; a comely lass that I chased in my younger years and actually convinced to go out with me a couple of times. Anyone else fancy Golden Era music other than that normally associated with the 40's?

 

[Rathdown]

Sure. What's not to like?

 

[Stearmen]

How about some 1927 Jug Band Blues! [video=youtube;DdnWQVzwNLU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdnWQVzwNLU[/video]

 

[LizzieMaine]

Look up a couple of bands called the Washboard Rhythm Kings and the Washboard Wonders. The former is a cross between a jug band and a jazz band, the latter is a cross between a Western Swing band and the Schnickelfritzers. Nifty stuff if you're in the mood.

 

[vitanola]

Mound City Blue Blowers:

[video=youtube_share;OTZoJWPonqU]http://youtu.be/OTZoJWPonqU[/video]

[video=youtube_share;d1e27CRkBLg]http://youtu.be/d1e27CRkBLg[/video]

"Alternative"?

How's about this:

[video=youtube_share;Dj_2LRvUqEU]http://youtu.be/Dj_2LRvUqEU[/video]

as the "alternative" version of this:

[video=youtube_share;V96ZxVFvCtM]http://youtu.be/V96ZxVFvCtM[/video]

Of course in the old times this usage of the word "alternative" was quite unknown.
The term that they would have used would have been "Novelty", a catch-all phrase for anything
outside the commercial mainstream, e.g. "Novelty Vocal":

[video=youtube_share;3g4FB4aUl1A]http://youtu.be/3g4FB4aUl1A[/video]

or "Vocal with Novelty Accompnament":

[video=youtube_share;R7IkZdOatmY]http://youtu.be/R7IkZdOatmY[/video]

 

[Stearmen]

Lets not forget the Carter Family. While Johnny Cash was a complete Rascal, I will always admire him when he would say about June, that he married up.

[video=youtube;ZbmQQ4RfzVE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbmQQ4RfzVE[/video] [video=youtube;HmiVKi74ICE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmiVKi74ICE[/video]

 

[Stearmen]

My theme song! [video=youtube;idesEcuI5kI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idesEcuI5kI[/video] And the alternative version. [video=youtube;b6hBe-s40q4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6hBe-s40q4[/video]

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm a big fan of thirties-era union songs.

[video=youtube;Nzudto-FA5Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzudto-FA5Y[/video]

 

[Fletch]

Anything country was called Old Time(y) in the 30s and 40s. Old Time(y) was a record industry term meaning the music of basically White Protestant Anglophone peoples.

A subsidiary meaning, used mostly in the rust belt and upper midwest (and generally not by the recording industry, which did little marketing in that region until after WW2), was the music of basically White Catholic non-Anglophone peoples, such as polka. Bands who played non-ethnic pop music were known as Modern in those parts.

 

[hatophile]

Old Bluegrass, Gospel, Western Swing, BLues, I love it all. I like the music from the "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" sound track especially, it has elements of all that "alternative" music.

 

[vitanola]

Anything country was called Old Time(y) in the 30s and 40s. Old Time(y) was a record industry term meaning the music of basically White Protestant Anglophone peoples.

A subsidiary meaning, used mostly in the rust belt and upper midwest (and generally not by the recording industry, which did little marketing in that region until after WW2), was the music of basically White Catholic non-Anglophone peoples, such as polka. Bands who played non-ethnic pop music were known as Modern in those parts.

You mean stuff like this?

[video=youtube_share;j3A6_lknKcU]http://youtu.be/j3A6_lknKcU[/video]

[video=youtube_share;K3gbh-tvy14]http://youtu.be/K3gbh-tvy14[/video]

 

[KenCarsonCowgirl]

I wouldn't call it "Alternative", but I'm hugely into the Sons of the Pioneers and 'cowboy' Western music. Come to think of it, I would say they were definitely not alternative, because during their heyday they were the equivalent of the Beatles in popularity. *laugh*

 

[Hoofer]

If it's considered as "alternative 30s" then ofc, i like electro swing.

like http://www.electroswingrevolution.com/

 

[CONELRAD]

I especially love western swing, as well as non-swing western and country music, but I generally prefer the 1940s stuff. I liked country and western long before I got into swing and big band. Not a fan of the newer country music, though, I prefer it if it has a steel guitar.

Here's an old classic and one of my favorites:
[video=youtube;cjO_OK03UNY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjO_OK03UNY[/video]

And here's an interesting song that I'll bet you all have never heard, but I would certainly call it alternative:
[video=youtube;Q6tmNco7b3g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6tmNco7b3g[/video]

 

[Alice Blue]

I hope this won't seem too off-topic but all of this music was played (and danced to) during the Era, especially the 30s.

Here in New England we still have a lively contradance scene - the music and dancing have almost died out a couple of times, but revivals came just in time. In the 20s and 30s Henry Ford encouraged the old style of dancing, which he claimed was "clean and healthful." After that the tradition languished again, but it was rediscovered by the hippie generation in the sixties and seventies and has been going strong ever since. There is lots of influence from Quebec and Quebecois music, another regional tradition.

I discovered the US southern string band tradition, black and white, when Sheesham and Lotus came through town. They look like a novelty act but they have a neat repertoire and are outstanding musicians. http://www.sheeshamandlotus.com/

There's a great documentary on Appalachian music and clog dancing:

[video=youtube;cs2j8f7H2WY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs2j8f7H2WY[/video]

 

[vitanola]

Contradance music?
Like this?

[video=youtube_share;aQXX62Mkyhs]http://youtu.be/aQXX62Mkyhs[/video]

 

[Alice Blue]

Contradance music?
Like this?

That's actually a Schottische, played in a rather funereal style. There are some interesting photos of the Henry Ford era in the contradance documentary Together In Time.

Contradancing to a jig in Nelson NH with Dudley Laufman calling in 1964. (There are still dances in Nelson and Dudley Laufman is still calling.)

[video=youtube;pZubTju7g_s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZubTju7g_s[/video]

A modern dance:

[video=youtube;4G2DmPRIALc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G2DmPRIALc[/video]

These videos look quite stately -- some bands and dances can get pretty wild.

 

[vitanola]

Yes, but it was the only Henry Ford record that I could find on short notice. Remember that the Schottische was incredibly popular the world over in the late Nineteenth century, and was an important New England dance at that time. For some reason it was not revived when the "hippies" brought contradance beck into fashion.

I always preferred the European version of this dance. I learned to dance it with my grandmother and an old copy of this number on Victor. In Southern Germany, Austria and Bohemia this dance was known as the "Rhinelander".

[video=youtube_share;8JgoESpEi5I]http://youtu.be/8JgoESpEi5I[/video]

Is this more along the lines of your kind of contradance?
http://http://archive.org/details/Judge_Sturdy_Old_Dan_Tucker

I've always found this Judge Sturdy record to work well for dancers.






Now, ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Whoopee John Wilfahrt:

[video=youtube_share;_UFgJz6_mhY]http://youtu.be/_UFgJz6_mhY[/video]

Imagine, Lili Marlene as a Rheinlander!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

By "Alternative" I'm assuming we mean "not big band".

personally i can only sit through about 1 or 2 big band numbers before my mind numbs over. Too regimented. Th midwest bands (Count Basie, Jay McShann etc.) less so than the east coast, but still, a bit samey after a while. But Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and the rest of those homogeneous pop guys - sextets excluded, particularly those including Charlie Christian - just blah, nothingness to me.

I much prefer the freeform of blues and smaller swing and western swing oriented bands. And of course the various folk and country traditions that were finding their feet in the recorded format during the 1930.

 

[Fletch]

You mean stuff like this?

Yup! Exactly.
BTW, the Humeniak orchestra is using a baritone saxophone as bass line. Not quite Old World, but it works.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Whoopee John Wilfahrt:

...an introduction many radio listeners understood as a complete sentence. lol