Tracy

My friend, @simaginfan knew I liked Folk Music and Pete Seeger. He directed me to tv program from the mid 1960s, called Rainbow Quest. It was pretty much Pete Seeger and his guests du jour singing and playing for about an hour. There were 39 such shows, many preserved on Youtube and each one well worth watching if only to experience Seeger's pure joy in music, which is almost mesmerizing.   I've encountered some artists I'd never heard of and experienced those I do know in a new light and with greater appreciation. 

But this isn't about Seeger. It's about Tracy Newman -- someone I'd never heard of before yesterday.

Ms. Newman is a fascinating woman and one with a variety of talents and successes over the years. I have no plan to outline her bio here,  other than to say she took to Folk Music in her teens, mingled with some of the well-knowns in the early 1960s (even performing in a duo with her boyfriend Barry McGuire -Eve of Destruction- nightly at a Mexican restaurant called El Toril where they were 'discovered'). She and McGuire moved from California to NYC and she preformed at the famous Bitter End for $30 a night plus tips.  People like Dylan and Phil Ochs were part of her following.  Her act consisted of talking, singing and playing.  This seems to have become her trademark, as we'll see in the clips below.

in 1963 she was part of "Hootenanny '63" (of the 25 artists featured in this variety show, she was the only woman) as this Billboard photo from Sept 7, 1963 attests:

Around 1965 Tracy was tapped to do some segments of a childrens' tv show called "What's New."

She did 6 shows, gratis. Filmed unrehearsed and without do-overs or editing for PBS at Brooklyn College, she usually played some songs and did some talking.  Below are a handful of clips from various shows (I'll tell you now, even though she is addressing children, she is totally captivating.)

In this first clip she plays the banjo.  What is amazing is that this is the only song she had ever learned on the banjo and learned it for this segment- Cripple Creek

"Vamos al Baile"  - I don't speak Spanish and I don't know if Tracy Newman does either. Maybe she picked it up at El Toril?  But she sounds good to me.



One of my favorite songs is "There is a Ship." I initially learned to play the recorder just to play this song. Here is the song as it's sometimes called, "The Water is Wide."



Noel Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary does a terrific job singing "The San Francisco Bay Blues."  Tracy Newman does in on kazoo.



I know many variations of the song, "When I first Came to This Land."  The first I heard it was by Pete Seeger. This is a credible  rendition:

The little boy is plucky.

Thanks for share that. I'm from Argentina and it is my first contact with this music.

I was playing guitar with two guys --too many years ago to remember -- someone mentioned something about a banjo, how it would sound good in whatever song we were playing.  I had heard of this before and went and got a sock and stuffed under my strings between the bridge and the sound hole to deaden the vibrations and, while it didn't sound like a banjo, blending in with the other two guitars it did have a banjo "effect.'"

Those would have Pete Seeger salivating.

Buenos dias your self..... is that you in the picture?

No. Sorry. 

terrific stuff - thanks so much!

Speak for your self Steven. Don't drag me into your shenanigans

This pic of batgirl is fine for me

Sorry for put the same photo as you

She sure is captivating. It never ceases to amaze me the sounds these instruments can produce.

Have you ever profiled Edith Baird? Though I think she had no banjo skills

That might pose a Problem.  She was, if not a banjo picker (unlike Susan Sterngold, who played in the 1972 and 1974 U.S. Women;s Championships),  a champion archer. 

Linda Ronstadt comes to mind.