The Best of the Goose Island Ramblers
My luck was in on Thursday. The Dulcinea and I had some time to blow before I was to drop her off at an appointment downtown so we stopped in at Mad City Music. It had been several months since I'd been there as my weekly treks stopped when I stopped working downtown. Back in July I had asked Dave (Benton) to order some more Goose Island Ramblers for me. August came and went as did September with assurances that Cuca Records is just slow. Well, October rolls around and there's still no Ramblers in the bin and then I get a new job. And so on Thursday I was quite pleased to finally see a couple of their CDs. I walked out of the store with The Best of the Goose Island Ramblers.
When I was paying, Dave told me that the CD had not in fact been shipped from Cuca Records in the last few months. Instead he'd been poking around the back room and found a stash of Goose Island Ramblers albums that had been buried. Indeed, the price tag indicated that it was brought into the store in late 2000. As of Thursday afternoon, only The Songs From the Last Barrymore Concert remained and I hope to pick that up next payday. It was a foregone conclusion that I'd love this album and I do. The only problem is that it's too short. And it's difficult to conceive a Ramblers best-of album without "There's No Norwegians in Dickeyville" but I have a recording of that elsewhere.
The Ramblers started in 1963 when three guys from Southern Wisconsin got together: Bruce Bollerud, George Gilbertsen, and Windy Whitford. They were the house band at Glen and Anne's (now the Nitty Gritty) and also performed regularly at Johnny's Packer Inn. (I think this is the same Packer Inn currently on Cottage Grove Road. Anyone know for sure?) The Ramblers played polkabilly. If you were to listen to the Library of Congress collection Folk Music From Wisconsin and the Down Home Dairyland radio show of Wisconsin folk, you'd know that our fair state boasts a rich folk music heritage (as does the Upper Midwest generally). Swiss, German, Scandinavian, Polish, and other European peoples brought the music of their homelands to Wisconsin where it mixed with that of the Native Americans. Plus Southern folk and bluegrass made its way north. UW Professor James Leary argues in his book Polkabilly that the Ramblers are the iconic purveyors of the Wisconsin folk mix. While a single CD can't really do justice to the 36 years or so of music produced by the Goose Island Ramblers, The Best of… is a good collection nonetheless.
"The Hurley Hop", a Ramblers original, opens the set with a slice of bluegrass mandolin. Although the title refers to the town up nort and lyrics to Silver Street there (lined with taverns and clubs featuring less than fully-clothed women), it's really about playing at Glen and Ann's. Indeed they are in the audience clapping and egging the band on. "Nikolina" features Bollerud singing in his "Scandihoovian" voice – think the dialect of Ole and Lena jokes – and some great fiddle work from Gilbertson. According to Leary, it was first recorded in 1917 by Swedish immigrant Hjalmar Peterson (Olle i Skratthult) and translated into English in the 1930s by Slim Jim and the Vagabond Kid. The concerns a poor man who is having a hard time wooing a young lady. His gal's father's cane keeps getting in the way. Leary notes that the song addresses "tensions between modernizing youngsters and tradition-bound parents". While this tension has largely played out amongst Swedish-Americans, it no doubt continues today in newer Wisconsin immigrant communities such as the Hmong and Latino.
"Old Joe Clark" is the first foray into Southern music. Gilbertson's fiddle is working overtime here on this instrumental version of the 19th century tribute to the moonshiner of song's title. Another Southern song follows – "Methodist Pie". Probably from the late 19th century, it's semi-comedic declaration (boast?) of religious faith. I'm thinking that the accordion was probably not an instrument traditionally used when playing this song. "Cigarettes, Whiskey, and Wild Women" is another hillbilly song with some nimble accordion from Bollerud and great fierce harmonizing. They sound like a Jonathan Edwards preaching against vice. A fantastic performance.
Things take a turn towards the Hawaiian with "On the Beach at Waunakee". It's a parody of the Kalama Quartet's "On the Beach of Waikiki" featuring Giblertson's Hawaiian dobro. The lyrics were transposed from the sunny Pacific to the town north of Madison where the narrator of the song loses the trail of a gal on County M. "Wreck of the Old 97" is a classic American ballad about the famous 1903 train accident in Virginia.
The next song, "Mrs. Johnson, Turn Me Loose", brings us back up north and sees the return of the Scandihoovian accent. It tells of a man being hounded by a widow (four times over) who won't take no for an answer. Moonshine returns in "Old Mountain Dew". It was written by Bascom Lamar Lunsford, a North Carolina folklorist and folk musician. More great fiddle here as well as Bollerud on the jug. Plus more great singing from all the Ramblers. Windy Whitford's "Oscar's Cannonball" is akin to other songs about trains but the lyrics here refer to trains carrying cattle and pigs to the Oscar Meyer plant here in Madison. Whitford worked at the plant for 40 years and, according to Leary, the songs was an attempt to gain sponsorship from the company.
Wisconsin's official state dance, the polka, is featured next in "Francuzka Polka", a traditional Polish tune. Bollerud can be heard yelling "Hey, hey jak sie masz/Hey, hey, hello Stash". Pronounced "stahsh", Stash is a nickname. As Dick is to Richard, Stash is to Stanislaw. (My German-English father used to call my Italian uncle (his brother-in-law) Stash, linked as they were by having married Polish sisters.) For "Milwaukee Waltz", Bollerud does his best tribute to Brew City by singing with a German accent and as if he'd had a few too many. Written in 1938, "Orange Blossom Special", which follows, is one the best-known fiddle tunes and should be familiar to readers. The album closes with "Going Back to the Hills". Composed by Whitford, it's a spirited tribute to his hometown of Albion, which is 20 miles or so southeast of Madison.
As I remarked above, a single CD is too little and can't really do justice to the decades-long career of the Goose Island Ramblers much less the even longer careers of the individual members who had been playing music long before they got together in 1963. But as an introduction to a largely-forgotten Madison institution, it does pretty well.
See Also:
My Goose Island Ramblers show.
Buy GIR CDs.
Polkabilly: How the Good Island Ramblers Redefined American Folk Music by James P. Leary.
The Bruce Bollerud Band can often be found playing at the Essen Haus.
When I was paying, Dave told me that the CD had not in fact been shipped from Cuca Records in the last few months. Instead he'd been poking around the back room and found a stash of Goose Island Ramblers albums that had been buried. Indeed, the price tag indicated that it was brought into the store in late 2000. As of Thursday afternoon, only The Songs From the Last Barrymore Concert remained and I hope to pick that up next payday. It was a foregone conclusion that I'd love this album and I do. The only problem is that it's too short. And it's difficult to conceive a Ramblers best-of album without "There's No Norwegians in Dickeyville" but I have a recording of that elsewhere.
The Ramblers started in 1963 when three guys from Southern Wisconsin got together: Bruce Bollerud, George Gilbertsen, and Windy Whitford. They were the house band at Glen and Anne's (now the Nitty Gritty) and also performed regularly at Johnny's Packer Inn. (I think this is the same Packer Inn currently on Cottage Grove Road. Anyone know for sure?) The Ramblers played polkabilly. If you were to listen to the Library of Congress collection Folk Music From Wisconsin and the Down Home Dairyland radio show of Wisconsin folk, you'd know that our fair state boasts a rich folk music heritage (as does the Upper Midwest generally). Swiss, German, Scandinavian, Polish, and other European peoples brought the music of their homelands to Wisconsin where it mixed with that of the Native Americans. Plus Southern folk and bluegrass made its way north. UW Professor James Leary argues in his book Polkabilly that the Ramblers are the iconic purveyors of the Wisconsin folk mix. While a single CD can't really do justice to the 36 years or so of music produced by the Goose Island Ramblers, The Best of… is a good collection nonetheless.
"The Hurley Hop", a Ramblers original, opens the set with a slice of bluegrass mandolin. Although the title refers to the town up nort and lyrics to Silver Street there (lined with taverns and clubs featuring less than fully-clothed women), it's really about playing at Glen and Ann's. Indeed they are in the audience clapping and egging the band on. "Nikolina" features Bollerud singing in his "Scandihoovian" voice – think the dialect of Ole and Lena jokes – and some great fiddle work from Gilbertson. According to Leary, it was first recorded in 1917 by Swedish immigrant Hjalmar Peterson (Olle i Skratthult) and translated into English in the 1930s by Slim Jim and the Vagabond Kid. The concerns a poor man who is having a hard time wooing a young lady. His gal's father's cane keeps getting in the way. Leary notes that the song addresses "tensions between modernizing youngsters and tradition-bound parents". While this tension has largely played out amongst Swedish-Americans, it no doubt continues today in newer Wisconsin immigrant communities such as the Hmong and Latino.
"Old Joe Clark" is the first foray into Southern music. Gilbertson's fiddle is working overtime here on this instrumental version of the 19th century tribute to the moonshiner of song's title. Another Southern song follows – "Methodist Pie". Probably from the late 19th century, it's semi-comedic declaration (boast?) of religious faith. I'm thinking that the accordion was probably not an instrument traditionally used when playing this song. "Cigarettes, Whiskey, and Wild Women" is another hillbilly song with some nimble accordion from Bollerud and great fierce harmonizing. They sound like a Jonathan Edwards preaching against vice. A fantastic performance.
Things take a turn towards the Hawaiian with "On the Beach at Waunakee". It's a parody of the Kalama Quartet's "On the Beach of Waikiki" featuring Giblertson's Hawaiian dobro. The lyrics were transposed from the sunny Pacific to the town north of Madison where the narrator of the song loses the trail of a gal on County M. "Wreck of the Old 97" is a classic American ballad about the famous 1903 train accident in Virginia.
The next song, "Mrs. Johnson, Turn Me Loose", brings us back up north and sees the return of the Scandihoovian accent. It tells of a man being hounded by a widow (four times over) who won't take no for an answer. Moonshine returns in "Old Mountain Dew". It was written by Bascom Lamar Lunsford, a North Carolina folklorist and folk musician. More great fiddle here as well as Bollerud on the jug. Plus more great singing from all the Ramblers. Windy Whitford's "Oscar's Cannonball" is akin to other songs about trains but the lyrics here refer to trains carrying cattle and pigs to the Oscar Meyer plant here in Madison. Whitford worked at the plant for 40 years and, according to Leary, the songs was an attempt to gain sponsorship from the company.
Wisconsin's official state dance, the polka, is featured next in "Francuzka Polka", a traditional Polish tune. Bollerud can be heard yelling "Hey, hey jak sie masz/Hey, hey, hello Stash". Pronounced "stahsh", Stash is a nickname. As Dick is to Richard, Stash is to Stanislaw. (My German-English father used to call my Italian uncle (his brother-in-law) Stash, linked as they were by having married Polish sisters.) For "Milwaukee Waltz", Bollerud does his best tribute to Brew City by singing with a German accent and as if he'd had a few too many. Written in 1938, "Orange Blossom Special", which follows, is one the best-known fiddle tunes and should be familiar to readers. The album closes with "Going Back to the Hills". Composed by Whitford, it's a spirited tribute to his hometown of Albion, which is 20 miles or so southeast of Madison.
As I remarked above, a single CD is too little and can't really do justice to the decades-long career of the Goose Island Ramblers much less the even longer careers of the individual members who had been playing music long before they got together in 1963. But as an introduction to a largely-forgotten Madison institution, it does pretty well.
See Also:
My Goose Island Ramblers show.
Buy GIR CDs.
Polkabilly: How the Good Island Ramblers Redefined American Folk Music by James P. Leary.
The Bruce Bollerud Band can often be found playing at the Essen Haus.
posted by Palmer at 8:27 AM
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