Re: Tony Rice's "House Carpenter" source
"House Carpenter" is a traditional (passed on orally from person to person) ballad (in folk song terminology, a song that tells a story), also called "The Daemon Lover," and included in English and Scottish Popular Ballads, the definitive collection of older ballads by the Harvard scholar, James Francis Child (Child Ballad #243). The song exists in many variations. American versions similar to Rice's are common (though I suspect the guitar arrangement is his own). Doc Watson, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan are among the many who have recorded the song. Doc said that he learned his version from his parents. Bertrand Bronson included many American ballad tunes in Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads (1957 - 1972). I'd be surprised if a variant close to Rice's isn't in Bronson's collection. Again, I'm talking about the basic tune, not Tony's interpretation. Clarence Ashley's version of the song was included in the Folkways record set, "Anthology of American Folk Music" (1952), a highly influential source for folk revivalists of the 1950's and early 60's, including Dylan and Baez.
Here's Clarence Ashley's version:
information on the ballad:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daemon_Lover
information on Child Ballads:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Ballads
information on "Anthology of American Folk Music":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthol...can_Folk_Music
Doc Watson's version:
If the links don't work search YouTube for: "Clarence Ashley/House Carpenter" and "Doc Watson/House Carpenter".
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
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