Images for the Old, Weird America Talk

Posted on December 2nd, 2009



KEXP DJ Greg Vandy will be speaking Thursday night at 7 pm at the Frye Art Museum. Admission is FREE! It is part of the Old, Weird America Exhibit. Greg asked me to draw this map of Harry Smith’s influence on the folk revival and Greil Marcus’ book Invisible Republic/The Old, Weird America.

  • Muffy Sainte-Marie

    Very nice! I do immediately notice a paucity of women on this map – what about the Carter Family? Hazel Dickens? Aunt Molly Jackson? Karen Dalton? Odetta? Bessie Smith? etc., etc.
    Also – it would be interesting to do a "map"/"family tree" like this of the characters in the songs – Pretty Polly, Omie Wise, Barbara Allen, Fair Ellen, The Wagoner's Lad, Henry Lee, Black Eyed Susie, The House Carpenter…they all sounds like characters in a play, don't they…

  • D. Christie

    The Carter Family was neither "rediscovered" in the folk revival sense (although the NLCR's went and found them and played with Sara and Maybelle) nor part of the Folk revival- they were part of the original wave of early commercial country music, Hazel Dickens is more bluegrass, Bessie Smith was neither rediscovered nor part of the revival, Odetta was part of the first wave of Harry Belafont 50's pop folk- not really what I was tasked to cover in this map- I did miss Karen Dalton- however, I only had a few hours to make the thing without aid of a computer.

  • roadhouseradio

    Drew! I love your cartographic masterpiece!! Thanks for helping me and sitting thru my presentation. Hopefully it wasn't too painful. I'm a big fan!