Merrick Jarrett - Song of the Old West

MERRICK JARRETT is a young Toronto folk-singer who has specialized in cowboy songs. His singing career started in 1941 while he was serving as an airman in Newfoundland. After winning an amateur show, he was featured on a weekly radio program from VORG, Gander. Returning to Toronto after the war, he had his own folk-song program on a local station for three years. In 1952, he made his debut on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation network in a folksong series called "A Man and A Maid" with Joyce Sullivan. In 1956, he acted as both narrator and singer in "Cowboy Songs of the Old West," a 14 week series prepared by Edith Fowke for the CBC. These programs proved very popular and from them were chosen the songs for this recording.

Download

Jim Howie - Gooseberry Pie - Prairie Schooner (1975)

The music of James Dale Howie reflects a long tradition of Anglo-Scots and southern mountain people and also presents a superb example of the sounds of early radio passing into the repertoire of a traditional singer. Jim was born on December 20, 1934, to Luella Fullerton and Walter Roland Howie on the outskirts of the village of Eden, Randolph County, in southern Illinois. His grandparents and great-grandparents lived in Randolph County, arriving there from Northern Ireland, England and South Carolina before the Civil War.

(excerpt of the liner notes. the rest is in the download folder.)

Thanks go to Drew Christie, who does the Democracy for the Cartoons Blog, for transferring and letting me borrow this album.

Download