This is the grave of Alan Freed, visited in the aftermath of a ridiculous amount of snow not allowing me to get a better photo. Born in 1921 in Windber, Pennsylvania, Freed grew up in an ethnically mi
This is the grave of Lamar Stringfield. Born in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1897, Stringfield grew up in the region as the son of a Baptist minister who had parishes through the western part of the sta
This is the grave of Estelle Axton. Born in 1918 in Middleton, Tennessee, Estelle Stewart’s parents were farmers. Her early life seems to have been fairly unexceptional. Like lots of young rural
I hadn’t watched Scorsese’s The Last Waltz in years so I threw it on last night. If anything, it’s even better than I remembered. The Band was no great live act in their later years,
This is the grave of Eubie Blake. Born in 1887 in Baltimore, Blake grew up poor. I know that his gravestone says 1883 and in fact Blake had long claimed this, but the record shows it as 1887. His pare
This is the grave of Leon Russell. The real-life version of Cousin It was born in 1942 in Lawton, Oklahoma. Russell grew up with the piano and proved more than a little adept at it. He was already pla
One last point about the Newport Folk Festival, which is its forward looking vision of younger artists. When Randy Newman played, he got great amusement about being old. He played “I’m Dea
Been quite awhile since I did one of these posts! I’m not sure why, but there’s a whole bunch of Sun Ra stories appearing. Here’s a nice little profile of the great one in The New Yo