Serenading Sarasota

In July 2008, the Rambling String Band performed at the Sarasota Sailing Squadron. The concert was part of the Sarasota Folk Club’s monthly concert series at the Squadron. Three of the five members of our group, bassist Chris DeAngelis, banjo/mandolin player Lynn Griffith, and I gladly made the trip to the west coast of Florida for the event.

The Sailing Squadron is a beautiful boat launch facility on Sarasota Bay with a clubhouse, pavilion, and stage. I was told that attendance at the concerts is low during the summer months, but I was more than pleased with the 50+ people who showed up to enjoy a night of folk music and camaraderie.

I must add that, since the closing of the Main Street Café in Homestead, I have rarely attended or performed at an acoustic music event in Florida that had a larger audience of people listening silently and attentively. The crowd was second to none. Many thanks to the Sarasota Folk Club for providing us this opportunity and treating us with such hospitality.

The beautiful, intimate outdoor venue and adult audience who came to listen coalesced to create the perfect setting for the Rambling String Band to dig deep and highlight some of the music that first drew me to American folk music. Oh, I love the sing-alongs, and everyone sounded great on songs like Oh Susanna! and Home on the Range. Nothing makes me prouder or feel like I am doing something more valuable than when a roomful of people of varying ages and backgrounds joins together in song at one of our shows.

But it’s not at every show that we can so effectively perform The Wisconsin Emigrant and Rambling Gambler - quiet songs whose lyrics paint a vivid picture of the 19th century American pioneering experience. I’d like to share a few videos from our performance that special night on the bay in Sarasota.

(These videos and many more are available on the Ballad of America channel at YouTube.)

Shenandoah

Until the nineteenth century only adventurers who sought their fortunes as trappers and traders of beaver fur ventured as far west as the Missouri River. Most of these men were loners who became friendly with, and sometimes married, Native Americans.

Shenandoah is said to have originated with French voyageurs traveling down the Missouri River. The lyrics tell the story of a trader who fell in love with the daughter of an Algonquian chief, Shenandoah. American sailors heading down the Mississippi River picked up the song and made it a capstan shanty that they sang while hauling in the anchor.

Watch the Video!

The Wisconsin Emigrant

After the War of 1812, immigrants flooded into the United States to farm, work in the factories, and build roads and canals. Eastern seaboard land in the United States became scarce and expensive as industrialization advanced. Seeking new land and opportunity, many pioneers loaded their wagons and headed west. But the decision whether to stay in the relatively settled lands of New England or venture into lesser-known territory was not an easy one to make.

The lyrics to The Wisconsin Emigrant are representative of the discussions that went on in thousands of households at the time.

Watch the Video!

Rambling Gambler

When the Civil War was over, huge areas of the South lay in ruin. Millions of Southerners, black and white, were now homeless and faced with the reality of having to reconstruct their lives. In the face of this, some packed their few belongings and headed west to see what may await them.

Among the things they brought with them as they attempted to start their lives anew were their beloved songs. Word clusters and entire verses from Rambling Gambler can be found in many similar American and British songs including The Wagoner's Lad, My Horses Ain't Hungry, and The Texas Cowboy. This version retains a Gaelic melody and was popular with the early American cowboys which some of these drifting Southerners were soon to become.

Watch the Video!