Category: Favorites

(Moving) – Peter, Paul & Mary

10 albums that shaped my musical tastes and styles

I’ll never forget a couple of things my Dad brought home when I was young: our first Chicago tavern-style (thin crust) pizza, topped with Italian sausage and cut into squares — still my favorite kind of pizza — and this album by Peter, Paul & Mary.

Until then, our family record library consisted mostly of old pop standards, big bands, classical and Broadway show soundtracks such as “My Fair Lady” and “Camelot.”

This album seemed new and fresh, and I was immediately drawn to it. Favorite tracks are “Settle Down,” written by Mike Settle of the New Christy Minstrels and the First Edition; “Gone the Rainbow,” based on the traditional Irish song “Siúil a Rún”; “A-Soalin,'” which is on my Christmas playlist; and “This Land is Your Land,” my introduction to Woody Guthrie.

Another mystery solved

In 1981, I recorded a Dixieland jazz piece that was playing on KLON in Long Beach, Calif. I didn’t hear the name of the song or the performers. But if I had to guess, I would have said it was from the ’20s or ’30s, recorded in New Orleans, and entitled ‘Fare Thee Well.'”

Wrong, wrong and wrong.

Thirty-five years later, after an internet search on some of the lyrics, I finally found it. I was directed first to a song called “Mama’s Gone, Goodbye,” recorded by Peggy Lee. Right song, but not the recording I was looking for.

I found many different versions of the song on YouTube, some of which dated to the mid-1920s, including one sung by Sippie Wallace and a recording from a piano roll made by the song’s composer.

The recording I was looking for turned out to be from a 1960s-era jazz revival band, Big Bill Bissonnette and the Easy Riders Jazz Band, with Victoria Spivey on vocals.  They were based in Connecticut, of all places, and the recording was made in Wallingford (hometown of my Yale ancestors) on August 9, 1964.

Here it is:

Faded Coat of Blue

I first heard this recording of “Faded Coat of Blue” on the radio in California, more than 25 years ago. More than any other song I can think of, it has changed my life.

I was captivated by the singer’s voice, and for years I sought to learn more about her. At first, I knew only her name, Betsy Rutherford. I eventually learned that she was from Galax, Va., that she had recorded an album entitled “Traditional Country Music” in 1970, and that she had died in 1991.

This was the first song on Betsy’s only LP, a wonderful album that beautifully showcased her strong voice and smooth singing style. With the support of Betsy’s family, I made this video and posted it on YouTube almost four years ago. I’m pleased to see that it has now been seen by 4,000 people who otherwise might not have heard her music.

Although she didn’t record any other albums, I have been able to track down some recordings of her performances, and I have posted more than 20 of those songs on YouTube. But this was the first, and it remains my favorite.

A mystery no more

“Falling in Love”

I taped this song off the radio in 1982, and had never known who the singer was — until today. It was a mystery to me, and I believe it was that air of mystery that helped make this one of my favorite country-pop songs of the 1980s.

I had been pretty sure the name of the song must be “Falling in Love” (or perhaps “Fallin’ in Love”), for obvious reasons. But searches under that name never turned up this song.

I thought her voice sounded a little like Donna Fargo, but I couldn’t find it in her discography. Just an obscure song by an obscure singer, I had concluded.

Occasionally I would search on a snippet of lyrics from the song, without success. Until today. I tried again, and this time I got hits for a Juice Newton song called “Falling in Love” — and the lyrics matched. So while it might have been an obscure song, it turns out that the singer is pretty well known.

“Falling in Love” was a track from Juice Newton’s 1982 album “Quiet Lies,” and it was written by two of Nashville’s leading songwriters, Wayland Holyfield and Bob McDill. I shouldn’t have been surprised, since McDill, in particular, wrote some of my favorite songs from that era.

I still think it is a little gem of a song, even if the mystery is gone.