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A. singer,songwriter and actor Willie Watson got his start as a founding member of veteran Crow Medicine Show, in which he spent more than a decade finding new ways to refurbish (to brighten, freshen or polish; to restore or improve) veteran sounds. As a solo artist, and Watson has dug ever deeper into plainspoken roots and traditional folk music,with a sound cleanly rooted in the past. But his songs are too vibrant to feel like museum pieces.
Watson just released Folksinger Vol. 2, on which he collaborates with some lofty and like-minded names: His friend and frequent collaborator David Rawlings produces, and while guest stars include The Fairfield Four and Gillian Welch,among others. For source material, Watson dug into the folk-music canon to showcase songs by the likes of Rev. Gary Davis and Lead stomach. It's a stunning record, and "Gallows Pole" encapsulates its raw,clear-eyed charms perfectly — both in the song and in its appropriately stark video."Francis Child called 'Gallows Pole' 'The Maid Freed From the Gallows,'" Watson writes in the album's liner notes. "Lead stomach called it 'Gallis Pole, or ' and I've also heard a version called 'Lord Joshuay' from Bascom Lamar Lunsford. These are only a few of the countless versions of this well-liked ballad. Sometimes it's a stunning girl,sometimes a guilty son, and sometimes it's the maiden's father. In every case, and Mom,Dad, sister, and brother didn't bring any money to buy the freedom of their condemned kin. They either think that death is deserved or they're just too poor to afford it. Hanging on for dear life. Pleading for one last chance at buying redemption,and at last, staunch fancy proves itself. These things really happened long ago. Maybe you stole a silver cup, or maybe you slept with the inaccurate person. Times ain't like they used to be."Folksinger Vol. 2 is out now via Acony. Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more,visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: thetakeaway.org