Climbing the Branches of the Folk Tree / In Memoriam: Joe Thompson

10 p.m. to Midnight Host: Steve Winters

This program climbs around a few branches of the vast folk tree, jumping from ragtime to old time to Piedmont blues to singer-songwriters to Irish, highlighted by a shiny new album by Walt Koken’s Orpheus Supertones and a preview of Solas’ forthcoming album.

On a sad note, there is an “in memoriam” section of the show dedicated to the music and memory of Joe Thompson, Piedmont old-time fiddler who died at age 93 on Feb. 20 in North Carolina.

Thompson, as those who met him have noted, was a gentleman and a gentle man whose style of black country fiddle-playing was two to three centuries old and handed down to him from his father, John Arch Thompson, who learned the music from his father.

Thompson was a lifetime North Carolinian and was bestowed the North Carolina Heritage Award in 1991. His crowning achievement was a National Heritage Fellowship awarded in 2007 by the National Endowment for the Arts. He performed for decades with his cousin Odell and exerted a marked influence on the music of the popular Carolina Chocolate Drops (they recorded a live album together in 2008).

  • Artist, "Title", Album, Label

  • Todalo Shakers, “Mama Don’t Give All The Lard Away”, Oasis Acoustic/Vol. XI #15, Oasis Duplication

  • The Littlest Birds, “Red Rocking Chair”, Oasis Acoustic/Vol. XI #15, Oasis Duplication

  • The Old 78s, “Beaver Slide Rag”, Oasis Acoustic/Vol. XI #15, Oasis Duplication

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  • Orpheus Supertones, “Alabama Jubilee”, “Rimer’s Favorite”, “Polly Put The Kettle On”, Going To Town, Mudthumper Music

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  • Joe & Odell Thompson, “Black Eyed Daisy”, The Art Of Old-Time Mountain Music, Rounder

  • Joe & Odell Thompson, “John Henry”, Black Banjo Songsters, Smithsonian Folkways

  • Joe Thompson & Tommy Thompson, “Love Somebody”, Black Banjo Songsters, Smithsonian Folkways

  • Carolina Chocolate Drops with JT, “Dona Got A Mind To Ramble”, Highlights >From 2008, FestivaLink.net

  • Lauren Sheehan, “Careless Love”, Some Old Lonesome Day, Independent

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  • Marc Black, “I Love You Rachel Maddow”, Pictures Of The Highway, Suma

  • Honor Finnegan, “Internet Junkie”, The Tiny Life, Independent

  • Steve Wacker, “Software Blues Stomp”, Shadows And Grace, Independent

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  • Jefferson Ross, “Blanche Dubois Meets Lucille Ball”, Hymns To The Here And Now, Deep Fried Discs

  • Steve Wacker, “Down On The Farm”, Shadows And Grace, Independent

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  • Jefferson Ross, “Hymn To The Here And Now”, “House Of The Lord”, Hymns To The Here And Now, Deep Fried Discs

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  • Solas, “Tell God And The Devil”, Shamrock City, Solas Music