AMERICANARAMA!
Our live set includes songs by Bob Dylan, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Grateful Dead, Billy Strings, the Carter Family, Flatt & Scruggs, Pete Seeger, Charlie Poole, Red River Dave, Avett Brothers, Bright Eyes, White Stripes, Tom Waits, Violent Femmes, John Prine, Billy Bragg, Woody Guthrie, the Beatles, Johnny Cash, as well as choice fiddle, traditional and string band tunes.
LOCAL HISTORY SONGS
A sampling of some of the traditional and original songs in our set that pertain to Western New York history:
The Automatic Man.
Sometimes entrepreneurs have some… unusual inventions. Phillip Perew of Goose Island in Tonawanda certainly had some interesting ideas. One such invention was the Mechanical Man, an automaton standing over 6 feet in height. This automatic man was built to pull a cart, and was used as an advertisement. It is purported to have been in the opening parade at the 1901 Pan-Am exposition, and Perew took the man to various cities. Pulling a cart, advertising… what else could this Automatic Man be used for? In the end, it became a brand likeness for a hooey foot corn cure.
The Burning of Buffalo.
Buffalo and the Niagara Frontier was an instrumental location during the War of 1812 due to the proximity to the Canadian border. On the night of December 18, 1813, British troops crossed the Niagara River and ambushed the American-held Fort Niagara, gaining control of it before marching east and south. Lewiston, NY was burned on December 19th, and the young village of Buffalo was put to flame on December 30. What caused the British troops to disregard the rules of engagement and attack civilians, in the middle of winter no less? The American troops had set fire to homes of Canadian civilians just days before.
The words and tune for this song were written by Dennis; the jig and reel were composed by Andrew.
E-ri-e Canal (The E-ri-e Was Risin').
Canawlers were an integral part of the shipping business in the 1800s, moving goods and people across the state from NYC to Buffalo, NY. Knowing their worth, the canawlers thought themselves right up there with the sailors of the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. The sailors - the true sailors - did not share this view, calling them “dry-land sailors” or “horse ocean sailors.” After all, what’s the worst that can happen when a big storm hits while on the canal? You fall into 4 foot deep water and wade out?
This rousing number laments an imminent tragedy in its singalong chorus: "The E-ri-e was a-rising, and the gin was a-getting low!"
From Buffalo to Troy.
"Johnny Bartley used to sing [it] at the 'Alhambra Varieties' on Commercial Street, in Buffalo, in the eighteen-eighties." Harold W. Thompson's "Body, Boots & Britches" (1939)
Highway 62.
A fever dream history of Niagara Falls Boulevard and beyond, name-checking former Buffalo mayor and two-time president Grover Cleveland, McKinley assassin Leo Czolgosz, and touching on the intergenerational anguish of certain Buffalo sports disappointments that shall not be named here.
The Legend of Hannah Johnson.
The Erie Canal allowed for increased immigration from the east side of the state to the western frontier. People travelled the canal to make a new life in a new place; one of these people was Hannah Johnson (c.1799-1883), a former slave from Albany, N.Y. Johnson, called "Black Hannah" by her white neighbors, settled in the Town of Wheatfield, just outside the nascent village of Tonawanda, and was known locally as a conjure woman and fortune teller. Legend tells us that Hannah Johnson’s cabin was also a stop on the Underground Railroad, and she helped fugitive slaves to escape to Canada and freedom.
Low Bridge! Everybody Down!
Everyone who grew up in the area of the Erie Canal learned this song at some point in their childhood: we all know about the mule named Sal, and how there would be a call of “Low bridge!” as a boat approached the next town on the canal. This version of the song is closer to the original version, outlining the misadventures of a canal worker and his trusty sidekick. The familiar response of “15 miles on the Erie Canal” is actually supposed to be “15 years on the Erie Canal;” our narrator is reminiscing on his time working on the canal as it is being modernized and turning from mules and horses to barges. The narrator could stay on the canal, but his loyalty to his mule keeps him from leaving her: “we better look around for a job, old gal.”
The Lumbershovers' Song.
North Tonawanda was an important port city along the Erie Canal, with lumber being the primary commodity. Lumber was not harvested from the North Tonawanda woods; rather, lumber was brought over the Great Lakes from Michigan and other midwestern states up Tonawanda Creek for transport to eastern New York State. The lumber was offloaded at North Tonawanda, rendered into more usable forms, then loaded onto canal barges. This song, influenced by sea and work shanties, highlights some of the camaraderie among the lumbershovers and dock workers who worked in the shipping and receiving yards. Some of its depictions were inspired by Richard Garrity's book, "Canal Boatman: My Life on Upstate Waterways" (New York State Series).
Murder at the Docks.
Not all experiences at the docks were good. One specific tragedy occurred on October 7th, 1895, when Captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles and daughter Flora were attacked and the two men murdered. This song tells the story of the friction between dock workers and crews that led to this heinous crime. On the P. W. Scribner docks in Tonawanda in 1895, they exploded into the grisly double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles, as surviving daughter Flora hiding in the cabin below is left to drift towards the falls with her dead father and mortally wounded brother.
O Mighty Niagara.
The Mighty Niagara has claimed many victims throughout history: sightseers who accidentally wandered into the rapids, daredevils looking for fame and fortune, and those who have decided to leave this world. This song will introduce listeners to a few of the hapless daredevils who have challenged the great cataract.
O Captain, My Captain
(The Love Song of Samuel de Champlain).
(The Love Song of Samuel de Champlain).
When French explorer Samuel de Champlain met up with his young interpreter and guide Étienne Brûlé in 1615 after a four-year separation, it might have gone something like this. This gently fictionalized account "critiques colonial practices, prompting listeners to reconsider historical narratives of discovery". That's what ChatGPT says, anyway.
The Pirate, Michigan.
In 1827, three Niagara Falls hoteliers - William Forsyth, John Brown, and General Parkhurst Whitney - purchased a schooner that had been deemed unsafe for sailing. They painted it black, filled it with “ferocious wild animals” (what was advertised as panthers, wild cats and wolves ended up being 2 bears, a buffalo, a dog, and a goose), and sent it plunging over the Falls. Why? To make money, of course. Over 10,000 people came to see the Pirate, Michigan and the fate of its animal crew. Before its fateful journey was complete, the bears both managed to escape and swim to the safety of Goat Island. The other animals were better contained and unable to free themselves. The only survivor was the goose.
Set to the tune of McNamera’s Band with a fiddle and mandolin interlude of Swallowtail Jig, The Pirate, Michigan will take listeners back to the dark frivolity of September 8, 1827.
White House Blues.
The Pan-American Exposition in 1901 was supposed to bring fame and fortune to Buffalo, NY, with marvels such as the new electric lights powered by Niagara Falls. Unfortunately, the expectation exceeded the reality, and in September, it was looking like the Pan-Am Exposition was going to trickle to a close. Still, President McKinley made a trip to see the exhibits before their close. On September 6, 1901, while shaking hands with his constituents in the Music Hall, McKinley was shot by an anarchist, Leon Czolgost. McKinley died on September 14th, and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was inaugurated as president.
In the folk tradition, there are many versions of this song available to learn or listen to. Yellow Jack’s version was arranged by Dennis Reed, Jr.
The Theodore Roosevelt Inauguration Site is located on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo; it is a national park. The site where McKinley was shot can be found on Fordham Drive in Buffalo; there is a historic marker at the approximate location.
Where Is Love?
On December 15, 1824, John Love, a moneylender from the Boston, NY area, was murdered. The Thayer brothers - Israel, Nelson, and Isaac - were unable to pay back the money they owed Love, so instead, they killed him and attempted to bury his body in the frozen ground. If that wasn’t bad enough, they then tried to collect other debts they knew were owed to Love. The Thayer brothers were caught, tried, and sentenced to die in the first and only public hanging in Buffalo. Despite the fact that Buffalo and the area were still young, the hanging attracted crowds of over 20,000 people.
Zolgotz.
Another song about the McKinley assassination.
