Lonesome tunes: Kentucky mountain balladry

              1917
LONESOME TUNES

LORAINE WYMAN SINGS THEM


Kentucky Mountain Balladry


HOWARD BROCKWAY PLAYS THEM



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FOR DATES AND TERMS ADDRESS
LORAINE WYMAN
354 WEST 55th STREET
NEW YORK



AT least one reason for the swift and sure acceptance given to The Lonesome Tunes, as presented by Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway, is the fact that they amuse as well as instruct.  A charming program it is, partly discoursive of the entertaining and humorous incidents of the unusual trip on which this rare musical material was secured, and partly interpretative; Miss Wyman singing, and Mr. Brockway playing his harmonizations of the original themes.

Loraine Wyman has built for herself a fine reputation as a singer of chansons and folk songs.  Howard Brockway as a composer, pianist and lecturer has long been an accredited musical personage.  Together these two artists went to the backwoods region of the Kentucky mountains for what they knew existed—folk songs—the legacy of the English, Scotch and Irish forbears of the Mountain Whites.  Three hundred and more miles they tramped, musical mendicants, begging from cabin to cabin for the alms of folk tunes from the sturdy, kindly mountain people, who for generations—ever since Daniel Boone took them into that part of the country—have dwelt there in a deep seclusion, unlettered and untaught.  They have had bequeathed to them through oral tradition a heritage of folk songs from father to son.  They sing of events, places and things of which they have not the slightest knowledge.  Airs that once came from Merrie England are now redolent of The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, and are called Lonesome Tunes and Fast Music.  Speaking of their experiences with these mountain folk, Miss Wyman says: Shy they were at first, and very reluctant to sing for us, but once persuaded they would sing song after song, ballad after ballad.  We collected eighty melodies.  They were no end amazed and amused to see us putting their songs on paper.  Mr. Brockway's quick dots and barrings, and my speedy scribing of the many verses filled them with delight and a proud satisfaction that they possessed something which city folks were eager to have.  Often I had to bribe, by singing to them first, and my chansons won for us many 'ballets' from the timid ones who would finally consent to 'howl' for us.

And in very truth it is howling as the program illustrates, for before Miss Wyman gives her own delightful interpretations of these songs, she performs a verse in the manner of the natives.  The people, the songs, the country from which they come all have an individuality essentially American.  It is American folk music at its best, and its charm and worth are being exploited by two American artists on the best American concert platforms.

From a Letter to Mr. Brockway

The Kentucky songs which you have reawakened to life may open a way for a new era of American folk song, especially if presented in such an irresistible way as you and Miss Wyman are presenting them.  I am sure you will have a tremendous success with them.

Signed, Fritz 



New York Tribune
—Miss Wyman and Mr. Brockway have put the American music world under a debt of gratitude which it will be difficult to repay.  Their joint labors in unearthing the wealth of material lying in the songs of the Kentucky mountaineers; the sympathetic accompaniments with which Mr. Brockway has embellished them, and the skill with which Miss Wyman sings them are above praise.  The large audience which listened to them last night must have been impressed with the pathos, the beauty, the humor of both words and music.  Miss Wyman and Mr. Brockway have presented one of the real musical events of the season.


New York Times
—A significant instance of the interest that is felt, and felt continually stronger among musicians and the musical public in folk songs and ballads, was given last evening at the concert of Miss Wyman and Mr. Howard Brockway.  Mr. Brockway's playing of the Lonsome Tunes was exquisite and Miss Wyman's singing is that of an artist in vocal technique, style and finish.  It is indeed extremely charming, ingratiating and exactly adapted to her purposes.  The audience was large, very interested and applauded much.


New York Evening Mail
—Those descendants of Daniel Boone and other colonial wearers of the coon-skin hat, who live in lonesomest Kentucky, will probably never have an inkling of the pleasure they furnished last night to an audience, urbane and musical, at the concert given by Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway, of ballads culled from the Blue Grass State.  A number of musical notables sat in the audience.


New York Evening World
—These tunes make a very human appeal, as the real folk songs of all countries do.  Miss Wyman sings them with directness and simplicity.  Mr. Brockway received an ample share of appreciation for his clever arrangements and sympathetic accompanying.


New York Sun
—Miss Wyman and Mr. Brockway gave an entertainment last night which proved to be one of the most delightful and uncommon concerts this tired old town has had in many moons.  Miss Wyman told the folks about the people in the mountains, imitated their way of singing, and then sang songs with her own witching charm and in her own inimitable style that made every one happy.  Miss Wyman and Mr. Brockway should be kept busy.  They have an entertainment of delicate and persuasive charm which should appeal to all sorts of people, from the tired business man to the college professor or a sociologist.


New York Herald
—Seldom has a more novel program been presented at a song recital than that with which Miss Loraine Wyman and Mr. Howard Brockway delighted a large audience last night.  In addition to a charming personality, Miss Wyman exhibited a sharp talent for comedy.  Miss Wyman and her humor and her Lonesome Tunes are among the pretty things of life.


New York Evening Post
—The large and very distinguished audience which filled the Cort Theatre last night had an unusual and interesting musical treat when Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway disclosed to New York some of the results of their search for musical nuggets in the mountains of Kentucky.  Mr. Brockway's settings are appropriate, and serve as a pretty surrounding to the melodies which he and Miss Wyman discovered.  Miss Wyman's arch and piquant charm, her grace and her beauty, all add immeasurably to the entertainment.


New York American
—It is worthy of note that many of the most prominent musicians, resident and visiting, were attentive to this most interesting contribution to American folksong.