Customer Reviews

Sing the Stephen Foster Songbook

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Varese Vintage Series album represents first time on CD, a range of The Sons of the Pioneers musical versatility --- Guitars are strummed as fiddles add quality of a wistful echo of sentiment from an early composer we enjoyed from our youthful years --- Saddle up for "SING THE STEPHEN FOSTER SONGBOOK", with Sons of the Pioneers featuring Roy Rogers --- As we sit round the campfire listening to the "father of American Music", was the pre-eminent songwriter of the 19th century in the United States --- His songs remain popular over 150 years after their composition render the ultimate of "pure Americana".

First rate singers, the Pioneers are also wonderful instrumentalist with this line performing ~ Bob Nolan (string bass/guitar/baritone vocals), Tim Spencer (tenor vocals), Hugh Farr (fiddle/bass vocals) and Karl Farr (guitar/tenor vocals) singing and yodeling, became quickly the very definition of Western Cowboy Music.

Sing The Stephen Foster Songbook (Track and Time listings)

1 Oh Susanna Traditional Version [2:17]
2 De Camptown Races [2:21]
3 Ring Ring De Banjo [3:03]
4 Dolly Day [2:42]
5 Old Dog Trey [4:07]
6 Hard Times Come Again No More [3:19]
7 Louisiana Belle [2:10]
8 My Old Kentucky Home [4:05]
9 Some Folks [1:58]
10 Nelly Bly [2:41]
11 Old Black Joe Instrumental [2:59]
12 Swanee River Instrumental [3:03]
13 The Glendy Burke [2:36]
14 Away Down South [1:35]

BIOS:
1. Roy Rogers (aka: Leonard Franklin Slye)
Date of Birth: 5 November 1911 - Cincinnati, Ohio
Date of Death: 6 July 1998 - Apple Valley, California

2. Bob Nolan (aka: Clarence Robert Nobles)
Date of Birth: 13 April 1908 - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Date of Death: 16 June 1980 - Newport Beach, California

3. Tim Spencer (aka:Vernon Harold Spencer)
Date of Birth: 13 July 1908 - Webb City, Missouri
Date of Death: 26 April 1974 - Victorville, California

4. Hugh Farr
Date of Birth: 6 December 1903 - Llano, Texas
Date of Death: 17 March 1980 - City & State Unknown

5. Karl Farr
Date of Birth: 25 April 1909 - Rochelle, Texas
Date of Death: 20 September 1961 - West Springfield, Massachusetts

My earliest recollection of this legendary western group was on the big screen with Charles Starrett (Durango Kid) and Roy Rogers with his famous palomino Trigger(the smartest horse in the movies) --- Would sit in the fifth or sixth row of a darkened theater, watch and listen to Sons Of The Pioneers, back then this was the best entertainment around --- Now that I look back on those films, they seem a little corny, but not the songs and those Pioneers ~ Bob Nolan, Tim Spencer, Hugh Farr, Karl Farr and Leonard Slye (Roy Rogers), still sound as good today as then.

Wonderful music, beautifully preserved and re-mastered --- You feel like you're right there with the pioneers as they sing their way down the trail --- This will bring back memories of the films you watched as a kid (if you are old enough), and hearing Roy Rogers and The Sons of the Pioneers sing some of these songs --- The sound on these recordings make them even better than you will remember --- Just close your eyes and go back into those innocent years of yore.

Total Time: 39 mins on 14 Tracks ~ Varese Records 67022 ~ (6/29/2010)

It's a mark of Stephen Foster's seminal place in American culture that the two songs opening this collection, "Oh Susanna" and "De Camptown Races," are known more as part of the musical landscape than a particular songwriter's creation. But those two, along with "Old Black Joe" and "Swanee River" are indeed part of Foster's catalog of American musical classics. "Oh Susanna" was his first commercially successful composition, and though written in Cincinnati, it became emblematic of the California gold rush of the mid-1800s. Within five years he'd written many of his most memorable songs. But in an era of limited copyright, Foster barely profited from his songwriting, and by the early 1860s he was living in poverty in New York City, finally passing away in 1864. But his songs lived on, burnishing his reputation as one of the first truly American songwriters.

The Sons of the Pioneers came together in 1933, at a time that Foster's songs were gaining renewed recognition. Kentucky adopted "My Old Kentucky Home" in 1928, and Florida adopted "Old Folks at Home" (aka "Swanee River") in 1935. Though the Sons of the Pioneers are more typically recognized for their close harmony Western songs, they included Foster's works in their Americana songbook right from the start. The 1934 and 1935 performances collected here include lead vocals from all three of the group's founding members, Roy Rogers, Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer, as well as an instrumental version of "Swanee River" featuring fiddler Hugh Farr. The tracks from 1935 also include guitarist Karl Farr.

Foster's occasional use of racial slang may have been acceptable in the 1850s or 1930s, but it will stick out to contemporary listeners. The performance of Foster's songs by minstrel acts and the later repurposing of his lyrics by post-Reconstructionists further magnified the offense felt today; listeners may strain to take the dialect and epithets in the context of their times. These recordings are drawn from transcription recordings that the Sons of the Pioneers made for radio broadcast, and have not been widely available in the intervening decades. This is a treasure trove for fans of Stephen Foster as well as Sons of the Pioneers fans who want to hear their original harmony sounds. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]