The New Lost City Ramblers

50 Years of Folk

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When Tom Paley left the Ramblers in the summer of 1962, the group lost a superb guitarist and banjoist whose sardonic wit had become a hallmark of the Ramblers' stage shows. But Tracy Schwarz was an outstanding fiddler and vocalist whose presence freed Mike from his fiddling duties to spend more time on the banjo and mandolin. Tracy enabled the trio to expand its repertoire to include more bluegrass and 1940s country songs as well as older ballads, which he sang in a plaintive, unaccompanied mountain style. The Ramblers would go on to produce another seven Folkways LPs and play hundreds of live shows with Tracy until they curtailed their touring activities in the mid-1970s.

The Ramblers' musical achievements alone were sufficient to earn them a significant place in the history of the postwar folk revival. But that was only part of their story, for unlike most urban folk musicians, they were not satisfied to learn tunes and techniques solely from records or at song swaps. Rather, they insisted on traveling back to the source. They hauled tape recorders and cameras south to document the lives and music of scores of traditional folk musicians. They shared that music with city fans through the Folkways recordings they produced, and arranged for southern artists to appear at festivals and folk music venues throughout the Northeast, Midwest, and West Coast. Thanks to their efforts, traditional artists Elizabeth Cotten, Roscoe Holcomb, Dock Boggs, Tom Ashley, Cousin Emmy, Eck Robertson, and Maybelle Carter—to name but a few—were welcomed into the 1960s folk music revival.

The Smithsonian Folkways has released a box set of their best material titled 50 Years: Where Do You Come From? Where Do You Go? This collection features two previously released CDs of the Ramblers classic Folkways recordings: The Early Years, 1958–1962 with the original trio, and Volume II, 1963–1973, with Tracy Schwarz replacing Tom Paley. A third disk—Where Do You Come From? Where Do You Go? presents more choice Ramblers' selections along with their field recordings of the traditional southern musicians who inspired them.

In addition a full-length book on the Ramblers is now being completed by this writer. Keep an eye out for Gone to the Country: The New Lost City Ramblers and the Urban Folk Music Revival.

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