Folksongs and Ballads cover

Folksongs and Ballads

Tia Blake and Her Folk Group

Album · 1971 · SFP SFP 52 009

Folksongs & Ballads, credited to Tia Blake and Her Folk-Group, was released in France by the label SFP in February 1971 (SFP 52 009). Blake, born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1952, had moved to Paris after finishing high school in 1970; she recorded this album of American and Irish folk songs at the age of eighteen. Benito Merlino, a Sicilian folk singer she met in Paris, helped her get the audition that led to the record.

The eleven tracks include “Betty and Dupree,” “Black Is the Color,” “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow,” “The Rising of the Moon,” “Hangman,” “Plastic Jesus” and “Polly Vaughn.” Blake sings and plays guitar alongside two other guitarists, and Sydney Aufrere plays flute. A month after the release she and the group performed songs from the album at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris, the only live performance given to promote it.

The pressing was small. The album was reissued on CD by Water in 2011, with added Paris demos from 1973 and later recordings made in Montreal, and on vinyl by Ici bientôt in 2022.

Tracklist

  1. 1 Betty and Dupree 3:30
  2. 2 Black Is the Colour 2:28
  3. 3 Wish I Was a Single Girl Again 2:35
  4. 4 I’m a Man of Constant Sorrow alt version 2:55
  5. 5 Jane, Jane 3:37
  6. 6 Lost Jimmie Whalen 2:20
  7. 7 The Rising of the Moon 3:56
  8. 8 Hangman 3:22
  9. 9 Turtle Dove 2:56
  10. 10 Plastic Jesus Source Recording Ed Rush, George M. Cromarty · key Bb · 96 bpm 2:33
  11. 11 Polly Vaughn 4:23

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