boomchucker - Posted - 09/30/2008:  11:13:34

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I was watching a video I rented from Netflix last night, an old Rainbow Quest with Pete Seeger, and discovered Hedy West for the first time. Wow. She was the "real deal" as Pete comments in the film. I rented the film to watch the Mississippi John Hurt footage and was truly amazed at Hedy West, and also amazed at the playing of Paul Cadwell who played a banjo strung with fishing line! I recommend this video if you haven't seen it. Anyway, I did a search for her music and found that it is all out of print. But, you can download two albums of hers from iTunes for $9.99 each!
Sadly, Hedy West died of cancer in 2005, but from what I've read about her life she was a wonderful person and musician. I'm posting this because oldwoodchuckb mentioned her in a post and I thought he might want to get these albums before they disappear.

Brian

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." - Famous fiddler, Albert Einstein

chip arnold - Posted - 09/30/2008:  12:04:52

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Hedy was an amazing musician. She was bold and out front with her banjo playing in a way that I've never heard from anyone else. I had the good fortune to meet her here in her grandmother's little country store back when I was first learning 2-finger style playing. There's a short blog entry of that meeting here: http://www.banjohangout.org/myhango...7&blogid=637 Hedy's cousins, aunts and uncles still live here and own the local weekly paper. They pretty much disassociated themselves from Hedy's father, mother and the kids because of Mr West's communism and generally leftward political leanings. Harold West and family moved to Rome, Ga. where Hedy was mostly raised.

**********************
Take what is given
Give what is taken

Chip Arnold

banjo_brad - Posted - 09/30/2008:  13:05:06

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I bought her album (vinyl) "Old Times and Hard Times" from Amazon (I think), about a year ago. Great album - now I may have to sign up for iTunes to get those. I believe the album I have has been autographed by Hedy - there's some writing on it that doesn't look like it was printed on.

Brad
------------------
www.PricklyPearMusic.net
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/5/ My ezFolk page
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/3371/ Tucson Old Time Music Circle page on ezFolk
http://www.totmc.org Tucson Old Time Music Circle Homepage

boomchucker - Posted - 09/30/2008:  13:20:29

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Chip, she played a variety of styles, right? Sometimes mixing them, like clawhammer and up-picking in the same tune if I'm not mistaken. Her recordings should be released. I wonder who owns the rights. Her style sounded very old, like a field recording, not heard much these days. If you haven't seen the video you should check it out. Paul Cadwell who played what I guess could called ragtime banjo, was equally amazing.

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." - Famous fiddler, Albert Einstein

stanger - Posted - 09/30/2008:  14:32:02

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Hi, boom...
I saw Hedy in concert when I very first began playing, and she was a major influence on me for a long time.
She was the real deal all right- as I recall, she was a Georgia gal who picked up the banjo as a child while working in her Grandmothers little crossroads store, but she went on to become highly educated. I talked to her for some time after the show- she was quiet, very polite, and gave very direct answers. I was 18, and got a total crush on her on the spot! (she must have been all of 24 or 25)

She had real vocal authority that came from really knowing and connecting to the folks who taught her the songs she sang; her singing was very simple and clear. He playing style was mostly a combination of the Seeger style while backing her vocals intersperced with double-thumbed up-picked breaks and phrases. She could clawhammer, and did on some tunes, but not all that much. She played a Seeger Vega.

Her recordings were all on the Vanguard label, as far as I know. She was an exceedingly good folk musician and a most excellent person.
regards,
Stanger

The pen is mightier than the pigs.

boomchucker - Posted - 09/30/2008:  15:36:15

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You're so lucky to have met her, she sounds fascinating. I read some album liner notes online and you can tell she was very educated and passionate about her art. I wish someone would do a documentary about the lesser known folk musicians and the real folk movement before all the commercialization. Thanks for the stories guys, I love hearing about the people behind the songs.

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." - Famous fiddler, Albert Einstein

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 09/30/2008:  15:40:45

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stanger,
I had the same experience with Hedy - I thingk I was 17 though. I've had more than a crush ever since, and saw her many times in the early 60s and the late 70s. I've always regretted that I didn't connect her to a couple record labels that migth have been willing to work with her, but she said she had a record deal ongoing. - that record never appeared, and all I haev are a couple really bad audience tapes of her new material from that time. Hedy could improvise vocally like Billie Holiday, but in a wway that sounded like the singing of the old ladies in rocking chairs like Mrs Riddle and Mrs Kimble. Hedy did it while playing her banjo however, and fitted everything into a pulse that a modern audience could relate to - like Martin Carthy. She was a unique and yet very traditional performer. I don't know which of her albums are available but if they are the two on Vanguard - you are gettting an incredable bargain.
Many of her later "Topic" records suffer from low studio quality but Hedy is worth hearing and 9 buck an album is a bargain.
The only track of hers I am seeking is one called "The New Restaurant" from one of her Topic albums. All the mp3s etc I've found of it seem to come from one copy of the lp and there is a terrible recuirring sound glitch that sounds like a "Dimple" a deep but localized warp.
There are a lot of quality glitches in an album she shared with a Scottish traditional singer (Ian McCallum???) but that was never officialy released which I assume happened because the original tapes were damaged. Consequently I suspect there are no improvements to be found there.

If you are interested in what I say and would like to know more, it ony cost the price of an email. Write me at:
oldwoodchuckb@yahoo.com
and I will send you a copy of the entire Rocket Science Banjo with all the text now in PDF, plus all the exercise tabs and jpgs as well as "25 tunes" (which is now up to about 38) in banjo tab, playable with the MIDI built into your computer, so you can play along at whatever speed you choose to set.
put RSB in the subject line.
I neither keep nor re-use your email

You can watch the videos for some Rocket Science Banjo subjects starting here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdRuf4X0X7g
Banjo Brad is hosting How To Mold A Mighty Pinky adn other material at
http://home.thegrid.net/~fjbrad/id20.html

chip arnold - Posted - 09/30/2008:  17:55:29

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I mixed up Hedy's daddy's name with another of the Wests. His name was Don not Harold. here is a link to some info and I'm sure if you Google Don West poet you'll find plenty more. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/...sp?id=h-2569

**********************
Take what is given
Give what is taken

Chip Arnold

brokenstrings - Posted - 09/30/2008:  20:51:32

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Hey, I'm glad to see a thread on her. Someone told me I was holding my banjo at too extreme an angle (I didn't want to poke someone's eye out), "but then Hedy West sometimes did that too." She is not forgotten.

Jessy

Frailaway, ladies, frailaway!

boomchucker - Posted - 09/30/2008:  23:17:58

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I downloaded both albums, they are the Vanguard albums. Very good stuff, I may try the seeger style again because of her.

On the Rainbow Quest video she plays three songs, Cotton Mill Girl (up-picking), Little Sadie, learned from a man named Hobart Baily of Hippo Kentucky (clawhammer), and The Ballad of William Moore, sung in German about a postman who goes down south to fight for civil rights and is gunned down, played "Seeger" style I guess.. Through the entire show she speaks with a bit of a German accent. I think she had been living in both Germany and Britain at the time. My favorite was Little Sadie, she sounded ancient.

Her dad was the founder of the Appalachian South Folklife Center in Pipestem, Summers County, West Virginia, he was a union organizer, and a socialist, a teacher, a poet... Here's more info about him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_West_(educator)

Brokenstrings, her long neck banjo probably necessitated holding it at a steep angle or she couldn't reach! I hold my banjo at a pretty steep angle too, with no strap.

Good night all.

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." - Famous fiddler, Albert Einstein

boomchucker - Posted - 09/30/2008:  23:25:37

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I just found Old Times and Hard Times at this website if anyone is interested:
http://www.folk-legacy.com/store/sc...idproduct=62
You can buy a songbook that goes with it for $2 extra.

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." - Famous fiddler, Albert Einstein

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 10/01/2008:  13:17:34

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In the 60s when she sat for all her sets, Hedy held the banjo neck almost striaght up, and her left hand hovered above her eye level frequently.
In the late 70s she always stood and the banjo head was off to her right side, the neck slanted slightly up and here right hand over the upper frets.
Both when sitting and standing she maintained her amazing repertoire of strums, picking patterns, frails and unnamable attacks. If you caught her two nights in a row she would do a song differently each night and her banjo playing always went along with her voice. It was like watching Coltrane solo.

If you are interested in what I say and would like to know more, it ony cost the price of an email. Write me at:
oldwoodchuckb@yahoo.com
and I will send you a copy of the entire Rocket Science Banjo with all the text now in PDF, plus all the exercise tabs and jpgs as well as "25 tunes" (which is now up to about 38) in banjo tab, playable with the MIDI built into your computer, so you can play along at whatever speed you choose to set.
put RSB in the subject line.
I neither keep nor re-use your email

You can watch the videos for some Rocket Science Banjo subjects starting here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdRuf4X0X7g
Banjo Brad is hosting How To Mold A Mighty Pinky adn other material at
http://home.thegrid.net/~fjbrad/id20.html

stanger - Posted - 10/01/2008:  15:19:55

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quote:

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Originally posted by oldwoodchuckb

stanger,
I had the same experience with Hedy - I thingk I was 17 though. I've had more than a crush ever since, and saw her many times in the early 60s and the late 70s. I've always regretted that I didn't connect her to a couple record labels that migth have been willing to work with her, but she said she had a record deal ongoing. - that record never appeared, and all I have are a couple really bad audience tapes of her new material from that time. Hedy could improvise vocally like Billie Holiday, but in a way that sounded like the singing of the old ladies in rocking chairs like Mrs Riddle and Mrs Kimble. Hedy did it while playing her banjo however, and fitted everything into a pulse that a modern audience could relate to - like Martin Carthy. She was a unique and yet very traditional performer. I don't know which of her albums are available but if they are the two on Vanguard - you are gettting an incredable bargain. (clipped the rest)

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You summed it up perfectly, Tony!
That was a beautiful post.
I only saw Hedy once, but I never forgot her or her music. I was lucky enough to hang out with her for about an hour after the show, and she was as impressive on a personal level as she was as an entertainer. Hedy was a true Southern lady- very polite, and very clear in her thoughts and speech. She had deep thoughts, and could articulate them very well.
But at the same time, she was fun, too. At a time when folksingers often took themselves very seriously, she seemed to be very comfortable with her music, and was just an all round good ol' girl.
She exuded real class, and I often wondered why she never became as famous as Joan Baez or her other contemporaries. She sure deserved the opportunity that never came.
regards,
Stanger

The pen is mightier than the pigs.

timmo_1949 - Posted - 10/01/2008:  16:32:37

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For those of you use who still use the dinosaur of the internet, newsgroups, there was recently a posting of lots of Hedy West material on alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.folk
This includes a rare live recording of 25 tracks taped at the Jazzkeller in Pforzheim, southern Germany, by Hese Schroeter sometime in 1968.



Timmo
"Bother Yum-Yum!"
http://savethebanjos.com