 |
 |
|
Jim Ransom —vocal, six and twelve string guitars, wood drum |
|
by Dick Weissman In recent years more and more albums have been released with all or most of the songs composed by the performer. This has had an unfortunate effect upon both songwriters and performers, because it has tended to confuse what are basically two different kinds of skills. This is not to imply that it is impossible to be a good writer and a good interpreter; it is simply my way of stating that having ability in one area does not neces sarily transfer over to the other one. In this recording Jim Ransom runs counter to this trend, asserting his skills as an interpreter of other people's songs. Only two of his own songs are on this album, and one of them, Rake and A Ramblin' Boy, is his adaptation of a traditional song. The other songs come from friends in the Denver area and a variety of other sources. Two stem from a Folk-Legacy Record by Bob Zentz (Ramblin' Conrad). One of my favorites on this record is the first recording of David Ferretta's Never Had Much Time for Friends, arranged for two guitars, mandolin and violin. This is a song you are bound to hear again in future recorded versions, but this performance is rich and satisfying. Throughout the record you will note the variety of musical settings, from solo piano on Just Like Some Old Jukebox, string band on Sam's Song, to the use of percussion instruments varying from sandpaper, log drum, plastic ripple board to belt (belt?). Many of these percussion ideas came from Jim, others were the work of the mysterious Mountain Goat, as was the string arrangement on Never Had Much Time for Friends. The musical contexts vary from the guitar-flavored ballad To Know Your Love, country-ish Picker and A Grinner, to Jim's own rock-influenced Red-Blooded Man. ABOUT THE SONGS Larimer Street was written by Dick Weissman, musician, arranger, record producerj songwriter and teacher. He wrote this song while in Estes Park, Colorado some years ago. Of all the songs which have been written about Larimer Street, this is perhaps myfavorite. It shows a unique depth and insight into the problem of the old time railroad man, ramblin' man and working man. Just Like Some Old Jukebox is a song about Ramblin' Conrad, the namesake of the well known Folk lore Center in Norfolk, Virginia. Bob Zentz is both proprietor of Ramblin' Conrad's and the writer of this song. I like the way this song paints a very interesting portrait of the man and what his life may have meant. The late David Ferretta, a close friend of mine, wrote Never Had Much Time for Friends, last summer. Tho' he is well known as an instrument expert, coffee house operator, and lead singer and guitarist with The Sunday River Boys Bluegrass Band, this is the first song he has written. Since the day he taught it to me, it has become one of my favorite songs to sing. I began singing Rake and a Ramblin' Boy while I vas stationed aboard a destroyer during a hitch in the Navy. I can't remember where I learned this Child ballad, but all of the "Folkies" on the ship sang it with great zeal. It was a good song for whiling away lonely hours off the coast of Cuba. I first heard To Know Your Love during a recording session at Biscuit City Studios in Denver. It was later released as a single on the Equinox label. After six months or so, I found that I still kept singing bits of it from time to time, so I asked my good friend Sean Michael, the writer of the song, to teach it to me. This version has somewhat evolved from the way he taught it to me, but I think we've been able to hold on to the same feelin>. Shortly after the death of the fine Denver song writer, Dave Ellebrecht, a good friend, I received a tape from his mother containing a number of his songs. On the tape was The Other End of This Road. I had only heard Dave sing the song one time and was happy that the tape refreshed my memory. A friend named Jim Love of KERE Radio, who was a very close friend of his, said that Dave had written it while on a trip to Chicago. I think it does a good job of expressing the feeling of traveling because something is pushing you onward. Me And My Uncle is a much recorded song by John Phillips. John was once a member of "The Journeymen" along with Scotti Mackenzie and Dick Weissman, and then later was one of "The Mamas and the Papas". I learned this song from Harry Tuft, a fine folksinger, member of the folk group Grubstake, Denver Folklore Center owner, and one of the mainstays of the Denver Folk community for a number of years. I first heard this song a number of years ago, but never before had taken the time to learn it. It's sort of a strange song in the way that it invokes a subtle humor while telling a rather non-humorous story of the old west. Red-Blooded Man is a raunchy, semi-boogie, yet highly tongue-in-cheek song which I wrote last fall. I actually didn't "write" it. I just started singing it and it sort of "evolved" into its present form. It is a very enjoyable song to sing if you're in the mood to "get down". We all had a real good time recording this one, so I decided to include it. It tells the story of a travel ing foundation garment salesman, his love affair with a topless dancer, and the struggle which results from the meeting to the two different worlds. This song is the result of an hallucination I had while listening to "progressive country music" on the radio. |
| The wood drum on "Red-Blooded Man" was made by Bart Conway of the Brass Plumb Crafts Coorerative. I'd like to thank him for loaning it to us for this album. I would also like to thank Charles Sawtelle of the Denver Folklore Center and David Ferretta of Ferretta Music Service for the use of some of their wide varieties of instruments—JR.
This record album is dedicated to the memory of mv grandfather, The Honorable Charles E. Ransom |
|
©2000 J. R. Ransom & Taos Music & Art, Inc. All Rights Reserved |