Homegrown Music... and Musical Instruments! Good News for Homegrown Music Lovers

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(Any companies or individuals that might be inclined to write to me for a listing should know, however, that I usually put my column together about four months before it actually appears. So Homegrown Music doesn't exactly provide instant press coverage!)

ADELPHI RECORDS, INC. (Dept. TMEN, P.O. Box 288. Silver Spring, Maryland 20907) is primarily concerned with the East Coast folk music scene. The people there sent me several albums to try out, including Saul Broudy's Travels With Broudy... which is a nice mixed bag of songs by one very talented harmonica player and singer. I don't know whether Adelphi puts out a catalog—or what the company charges per album—but a letter (with a self-addressed, stamped envelope and a dollar for the firm's trouble) should get you some kind of list of the albums it offers.

WISE WOMEN ENTERPRISES (Dept. TMEN, P.O. Box 297, West Station, New York 10014... $6.00 per album, postpaid) is a company that aims to give women a crack at the production end of the recording industry (an area that—in larger firms—they are often left out of), as well as at performing. The firm sent me an album called Debutante, by Willie Tyson, which is an outstanding combination of very beautiful music and meaningful social protest. I particularly recommend the song "Debutante Ball"... a sharp comparison between certain human courtship rituals and the proceedings at a local cattle auction.

SWALLOWTAIL RECORDS (Dept. TMEN. Box 843, Ithaca, New York 14850... albums $5.00 each plus 75¢ postage and handling per order, or $4.50 apiece for orders of five or more) offers a free one-page catalog including English ballads, traditional American and Balkan tunes, contemporary music, and string bands.

MARGARET PLAYS THE MUSICAL SAW (available from the artist—Margaret Steinbuch—at Dept. TMEN, 3572 Schwartz Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45211... $6.50 postpaid) is a collection of old melodies performed by a seventy-year- old grandmother and veteran of the vaudeville stage. Margaret only recently took up the musical saw (the violin was her instrument for most of her first 60 years!), but she's a masterful performer.

HENRY THE FIDDLER AND FRIENDS... THE FIRST ALBUM (available from Henry the Fiddler, Dept. TMEN, 613 Michigan Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60202... $6.00 postpaid) is an album recorded live at Fiddler's Grove (Union Grove, North Carolina). The disc really captures the excitement of the kind of jam sessions that are among the most important features of any folk festival.

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