An Instrument of Folk Music History
I like living in the DC area because of the big ol' chunks of history contained in the region.
You can't spit here without hitting something that was important to someone who is dead now.
On occasion, history spits back and hits me. Such was the case a few days ago when I was asked by friends at the Library of Congress for a favor*. To wit: "Would I like to come to the Archive of Folk Culture in the American Folklife Center and change the strings on Burl Ives' guitar?".
"Hell, yes. I will change Burl Ives' Guitar strings."
Ives will be known to many of you for his voice-over work on various Christmas specials. "Have A Holly, Jolly Christmas" is one of his best known X-mas songs. He also had a substantial acting career. To members of my peer group he was better known for singing rather corn-ball Americana folksongs through most of the 1940-70s. I won't list them all. But let it be said that (back in the days when folk music was played along-side country, Sinatra, show tunes, and rock-a-billy on the same radio stations) he made a number of hits of well known folk titles about farm life, slave life, the sailor's life, the drunken gambler's life and such. I learned most of them while learning to play guitar.
So I gladly braved the oppressive heat of DC in late summer and made my way to the folk archives through streets of molten lava. The burning pigeons falling from the sky were a constant annoyance.
On arrival, I was quickly treated for my burns and ushered to the stacks, where my friend Jennifer waited with the holy icon.
The case, as all cases from that era, had a broken handle. It was part of the uniform.
I opened it and found a lovely instrument with several strings popped. Records indicate that only one other string change has been done since Ives donated it to the collection in 1989.
The guitar is a Herman Hauser II nylon string, hand made in Germany in the '60s. Very pretty. the strap is a simple thick bit of cotton clothes line or such tied off at the neck and body. This is in keeping with the adopted style of folkies pretending to be poorer than they are; because folk singers caterwaulling about working in the mines, or fishing for squid, or plowing the fields while wearing Brooks Brothers suits and driving Mercedes cars would spoil the image.
I took about an hour changing the strings and checking out the instrument.
Then I played tunes on it for another three or so hours, retuning it as the strings settled in. It is a nice guitar. Balanced tone, and a relatively thin neck. Easy to play.
While I played, I thought about Ives, his songs, how many I had learned from his records, and how much I owed to his music and his performance.
***following paragraph edited to correct a factual error***
I also thought about the damage he did to friends in the 1950s when he was dragged to DC to testify before before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS)(In a previous version of this text I mis-identified it as HUAC. Though they were cut from the same cloth, they were different entities. Sorry for the error.)
Ives, in fear of his career being destroyed like many blacklisted artists of the day, was pressured into naming fellow folk singer friends who had expressed leftist socialist leanings and so could be accused of working for Stalin. Singing "If I had A Hammer" was viewed as "If I Had A Hammer And Sickle" by 1950s version of neo-cons. Ives caved to the goons. He seems to have deeply regretted the whole matter later in life. I made sure to play several tunes by those he damaged to help balance the karma of the guitar.
I made a detailed report on the current condition of the instrument, then headed home. On the way out, I glanced toward the Capitol Building, where the whole ugly mess happened a half century ago.
We're done with those unworthy tactics now, right?
* this isn't a precisely accurate version of what happened, but it is clearer than the exact truth.
You can't spit here without hitting something that was important to someone who is dead now.
On occasion, history spits back and hits me. Such was the case a few days ago when I was asked by friends at the Library of Congress for a favor*. To wit: "Would I like to come to the Archive of Folk Culture in the American Folklife Center and change the strings on Burl Ives' guitar?".
"Hell, yes. I will change Burl Ives' Guitar strings."
Ives will be known to many of you for his voice-over work on various Christmas specials. "Have A Holly, Jolly Christmas" is one of his best known X-mas songs. He also had a substantial acting career. To members of my peer group he was better known for singing rather corn-ball Americana folksongs through most of the 1940-70s. I won't list them all. But let it be said that (back in the days when folk music was played along-side country, Sinatra, show tunes, and rock-a-billy on the same radio stations) he made a number of hits of well known folk titles about farm life, slave life, the sailor's life, the drunken gambler's life and such. I learned most of them while learning to play guitar.
So I gladly braved the oppressive heat of DC in late summer and made my way to the folk archives through streets of molten lava. The burning pigeons falling from the sky were a constant annoyance.
On arrival, I was quickly treated for my burns and ushered to the stacks, where my friend Jennifer waited with the holy icon.
The case, as all cases from that era, had a broken handle. It was part of the uniform.
I opened it and found a lovely instrument with several strings popped. Records indicate that only one other string change has been done since Ives donated it to the collection in 1989.
The guitar is a Herman Hauser II nylon string, hand made in Germany in the '60s. Very pretty. the strap is a simple thick bit of cotton clothes line or such tied off at the neck and body. This is in keeping with the adopted style of folkies pretending to be poorer than they are; because folk singers caterwaulling about working in the mines, or fishing for squid, or plowing the fields while wearing Brooks Brothers suits and driving Mercedes cars would spoil the image.
I took about an hour changing the strings and checking out the instrument.
Then I played tunes on it for another three or so hours, retuning it as the strings settled in. It is a nice guitar. Balanced tone, and a relatively thin neck. Easy to play.
While I played, I thought about Ives, his songs, how many I had learned from his records, and how much I owed to his music and his performance.
***following paragraph edited to correct a factual error***
I also thought about the damage he did to friends in the 1950s when he was dragged to DC to testify before before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS)(In a previous version of this text I mis-identified it as HUAC. Though they were cut from the same cloth, they were different entities. Sorry for the error.)
Ives, in fear of his career being destroyed like many blacklisted artists of the day, was pressured into naming fellow folk singer friends who had expressed leftist socialist leanings and so could be accused of working for Stalin. Singing "If I had A Hammer" was viewed as "If I Had A Hammer And Sickle" by 1950s version of neo-cons. Ives caved to the goons. He seems to have deeply regretted the whole matter later in life. I made sure to play several tunes by those he damaged to help balance the karma of the guitar.
I made a detailed report on the current condition of the instrument, then headed home. On the way out, I glanced toward the Capitol Building, where the whole ugly mess happened a half century ago.
We're done with those unworthy tactics now, right?
* this isn't a precisely accurate version of what happened, but it is clearer than the exact truth.