The Pennywhistlers were a group of American women whose specialty was uncannily-accurate
renditions of Eastern European choral folk songs. Folklorist Ethel Raim formed
the group with her friends in 1962, with the goal of bringing the traditional music
of other cultures to American listeners. They became relatively popular in
folk-music circles during the ‘60s and frequently performed at folk festivals
and on radio programs, singing mostly unaccompanied Balkan, Slavic and Yiddish
songs (though they’d throw in some American folk tunes as well).
They released a few albums:
They released a few albums:
“The Pennywhistlers” (Folkways, 1963) (Reissued
on Verve in 1966 as “Songs from Everywhere.”)
“Folksongs of Eastern Europe” (Nonesuch, 1966) (The
whole album was on youtube last month, but has been taken down. Not on CD.)
“A Cool Day and Crooked Corn” (Nonesuch, 1968) (A more subdued effort, also not on youtube or on CD.)
In
his autobiography, folksinger Theodore Bikel mentioned “a group of seven women
from the New York area who were known as the Pennywhistlers. They had been
organized by Ethel Raim and specialized in Eastern European choral or group
songs, sung mostly a cappella… These women were the closest to the real thing
in authenticity in the United States, a tribute to good musicianship and a good
ear.”
In
her quest for authenticity, Raim traveled to Bulgaria in 1965 to see the national
folk festival there and pick up material in person. (She would later do field recordings of Bulgarian singers, including this track sent into space on the Voyager record.) Since she didn’t know the language, when learning Bulgarian
folksongs Raim would transcribe the syllables, then ask a Bulgarian speaker to
figure out the words. Her efforts paid off in the very authentic-sounding singing styles on the Pennywhistlers' albums.
Here’s
one recent interview with her:
At
some point, Jerry Garcia heard of the Pennywhistlers and their
versions of Balkan traditional songs. All through the ‘60s, Garcia had an
interest in folk singers from different traditions, whether it be old
whaling shanties, gospel quartets, Bahamian spirituals, or the Georgia Sea Island Singers:
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Along
with many other people, he was particularly enchanted by Bulgarian singing. When
Garcia & Phil Lesh were guest hosts on KMPX in April ’67, Garcia introduced
a song from “the Bulgarian folklore scene,” praising the “unaccompanied
two-part singing…just the weirdest intervals you ever heard.”
This
track was from the 1966 “Music of Bulgaria” album on the Nonesuch label, done
by the Ensemble of the Bulgarian Republic (with Philip Koutev directing). Rhoney Gissen reports that Owsley also loved the "Bulgarian Women's Choir" album, and they would play it at his house ("Jerry loved that"). Another fan of the album was David Crosby, who praises it to this day.
This
album was occasionally played on KMPX; the DJ mentioned that “we played some of
this on the air here, because a lot of people reacted very favorably to it. It’s
a great sound to listen to.” In the US, the Koutev Bulgarian National Ensemble could also be heard on the very similar album “Bulgaria's Great Women's Voices” (Monitor, 1963); other more academic Bulgarian folkloric-music albums available in the '60s were “Folk Music of Bulgaria” (collected by A.L. Lloyd on Topic Records, 1964), and
Alan Lomax & A.L. Lloyd’s “Bulgaria” collection in the Columbia World
Library of Folk & Primitive Music series (1959). (Many more well-known
albums of Bulgarian female vocal choirs would be released in later decades.)
How
many of these (or other collections) Garcia heard besides Koutev’s ensemble, I
don’t know. But his interest continued in later years - one person reported "seeing Garcia at the Bulgarian female choir show at the Berkeley Community Theater in 1988, along with Grace Slick and David Crosby." (This was the Bulgarian State Female Vocal Choir concert on 11/18/88, a sold-out show with a thrilled audience.)
Anyway, sometime in fall 1969, Garcia put on the Pennywhistlers’ “Folksongs of Eastern
Europe” album, and ‘Shto Mi e Milo’ was the first song he heard:
Interviewed
by Blair Jackson in 1991, Garcia remembered the moment well:
“I
was listening to records of the Bulgarian Women’s Choir, and also this
Greek-Macedonian music, these Pennywhistlers, and on one of those records there
was a song that featured this little turn of melody that was so lovely that I
thought, ‘Gee, if I could get this into a song it would be so great.’ So I
stole it. [Laughs.] Actually, I only took a little piece of the melody, so I
can’t say I plagiarized the whole thing. Of course it became so transmogrified
when Bob and Phil added their harmony parts to it that it really was no longer
the part of the song that was special for me. That was the melodic kicker
originally, though.” (Goin’ Down the
Road, p.222) A brief song history of ‘Shto Mi e Milo’ is here:
It’s
a traditional song from Macedonia (also claimed by neighboring Bulgaria) – I
couldn’t find its age, but it's frequently performed: there’s a recording as early as 1908. (It’s a rather
popular song for women’s choirs to sing, with plenty of videos available.)
I think the Pennywhistlers' version was its first appearance on an American album; it's listed as a Macedonian song (as Garcia recalled), and perhaps was one of the fruits of Ethel Raim's field trip to the Balkans.
I think the Pennywhistlers' version was its first appearance on an American album; it's listed as a Macedonian song (as Garcia recalled), and perhaps was one of the fruits of Ethel Raim's field trip to the Balkans.
The
Pennywhistlers also sang the song in Pete Seeger’s 1966 “Rainbow Quest” TV
show:
The
melodic bit that caught Garcia’s ear would later become the line, “Whoa-oh,
what I want to know…” This was a surprise to me. I had thought that a catchy
bit like the “Come hear Uncle John’s Band” riff or the initial verse line would
have been the first inspiration for the song, but no, it was a twisting little
melody that he’d use to awkwardly round out the verse – not the most obvious hook
in the song. (It’s possible this wasn’t the only song to fire his imagination –
for instance another Macedonian song, ‘Iz Dolu’ on the Pennywhistler’s “Cool Day”
album, seems to have some melodic resemblance to the Uncle John’s verse, though
that could just be a coincidence or my imagination.)
Once
Garcia had put together the instrumental skeleton of the song, he and the Dead
jammed on it at length as a loud blazing rock tune, trying out different variations. At this point the
lumbering 7/8 riff in the song had become a prominent feature, repeated over
and over at beginning and end. They made a rough tape of their rehearsal and gave it to Robert Hunter to write lyrics for the song.
Hunter
recalled, “That came from a tape that the band made of a tune of Jerry’s. They
had the whole tune together, drums and everything – in fact I still have that
tape – and I played it over and over and tried writing to it. I kept hearing
the words ‘God damn, Uncle John’s mad,’ and it took a while for that to turn
into ‘Come hear Uncle John’s band’…” (Goin’
Down the Road, p.222)
Meanwhile,
Garcia didn’t even wait for Hunter to finish the words before he started
showing off his new tune at Dead shows. It appeared as an instrumental jam at
three shows in early November ’69 – in the Alligator jam on 11/1:
in
the Dark Star on 11/7:
and
in Dark Star again on 11/8:
Hunter
finished the lyrics later that month, and the Dead worked up a singing
arrangement. Garcia would later tell Rolling Stone, “Uncle John’s Band was a
major effort as a musical piece. It’s one we worked on for a really long time
to get it working right.” (Signpost p.70)
Perhaps under the influence of Crosby Stills & Nash, the song was now
filled with group harmonies. (Garcia later mentioned, “They never actually
worked with us, [but] having them around and sitting down and singing with
acoustic guitars was such a turn-on for us that we just got into it.”)
Ironically, the song first inspired by a choral folk tune had moved through a
fast-paced blasting rock phase and then become a gentle calypso-flavored choral
folk tune again.
After
some practice the Dead were ready to debut the finished song on 12/4/69,
closing a show at the Fillmore West:
The
band introduced the song with a disclaimer: “Well, seems we blew most of the
set just trying to remember how to play, so we’re gonna blow this part of the
set remembering how to sing a song that we just learned how to do – we just
barely know it, we’re gonna just try it though. What the hell.”
There
are no instrumental elaborations yet, but vocally the song is pretty much
complete. The performance is understandably tentative – they're uncertain how to end the song, so after some audible
confusion they end it by repeating the first verse.
The
next performance on 12/12 is much more solid, with extended soloing – there’s a
lovely moment at the end where Garcia, stuck for a verse, just “la-de-da’s” his
way through it and dives into another jam. (Then they segue into a brief Friend
of Mine.)
They
rehearsed the song some more that week, and by the next performance on 12/19
they have the song down and the ending is finalized (though there’s no
jamming).
On
12/26 they easily adapt the song to an acoustic format, where it works
perfectly in the most charming performance yet:
From
there, the song’s progress to album is briefly told. After only about 14 more
live performances, the Dead were ready to record the song, and quickly wrapped
it up in their studio sessions in early March 1970. They picked it as the first
song on the Workingman’s Dead album, and also selected it to be the single.
(Phil commented, “Uncle John’s Band was picked because it was obvious.”) Warner
Bros. felt it was too long and profane for airplay, so an edited version went
out to stations, trimmed for AM listeners:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg7jlrs4ioQ
(in mono and profanity-free for radio
play)
Afterwards,
Garcia groaned about the single: “I gave them instructions on how to properly
edit it, and they garbled it so completely and we didn’t get a chance to hear
it until way late, and it was…oh fuck, what an atrocity.”
Weir complained about it, too: "I wasn't pleased - they hacked it to ribbons. It was absolutely necessary, everything they did, but we should just never have tried it. It didn't get us all that much exposure."
Weir complained about it, too: "I wasn't pleased - they hacked it to ribbons. It was absolutely necessary, everything they did, but we should just never have tried it. It didn't get us all that much exposure."
Nonetheless,
the single did well – while their previous singles like ‘Dark Star’ had flopped
and disappeared without a trace, Uncle John’s made it to the top 100 and found
plenty of listeners. Garcia claimed, “I have no interest about singles so I
don’t want to bother about it… It would be nice to have a single, but a hit
single usually means 12-year-old audiences.”
12-year-olds
remained rare at Dead shows, but the crowds trying to get in soon swelled to
unmanageable size as the Dead experienced the first pangs of success. Garcia
may not have admitted it, but the influence of folk music on his songwriting
had played a small part in making him a rock star.
(“If I could get this into a song it would be so great…”)
As
for the Pennywhistlers, they might never have heard of the Grateful Dead, but
they probably could have sung Uncle John’s Band better than the Dead did!
And
as for actual pennywhistles blowing…the Dead didn’t use them, but a
slide-whistle did make a memorable appearance in one of the shows where Uncle
John’s was introduced, playing the national anthem…
*
APPENDIX
– PENNYWHISTLER PRESS
Though not a very well-known group outside folk circles, the Pennywhistlers received some positive notice in the press. The Boston Globe called them “a group of women who sing music from the Balkans with magnificent verve and musicianship.” (8/27/67)
The Globe also reported on the 1968 Newport folk festival: “The Pennywhistlers, who don’t whistle at all, but are a well-disciplined choral group of seven girls, did a series of Slavic-Balkan songs.” (7/27/68)
The Chicago Tribune, reviewing Songs From Everywhere: “The seven American girls who make up the Pennywhistlers have remarkably acute ears, both for the sound shades of language and the pitches which make music… They are real experts.” (12/18/66)
The longest article I found came from the Kingston Daily Freeman, NY, 8/17/68:
“7 PENNYWHISTLERS
Though not a very well-known group outside folk circles, the Pennywhistlers received some positive notice in the press. The Boston Globe called them “a group of women who sing music from the Balkans with magnificent verve and musicianship.” (8/27/67)
The Globe also reported on the 1968 Newport folk festival: “The Pennywhistlers, who don’t whistle at all, but are a well-disciplined choral group of seven girls, did a series of Slavic-Balkan songs.” (7/27/68)
The Chicago Tribune, reviewing Songs From Everywhere: “The seven American girls who make up the Pennywhistlers have remarkably acute ears, both for the sound shades of language and the pitches which make music… They are real experts.” (12/18/66)
The longest article I found came from the Kingston Daily Freeman, NY, 8/17/68:
“7 PENNYWHISTLERS
On
August 20, the Woodstock Playhouse Tuesday Folk Concert Series will present the
Pennywhistlers, seven young women, who although born in the U.S., have a great
love for the music of the Danube, Russia, and the Slavic lands. They bring to
their audiences the intricate rhythms, earthy vocal qualities, and engaging
harmonies of the peasant music of Eastern Europe. True to their heritages, they
also sing Yiddish – all are from Jewish families and can speak Yiddish – as
well as American traditional and contemporary songs.
The Pennywhistlers have appeared on campuses across the country, at Lewisohn Stadium, Philadelphia and Newport Folk Festivals; come to Woodstock direct from their appearance at this year’s Newport Festival. They have also performed on TV and radio and have recorded on the Folkways and Nonesuch labels. Concerts at Carnegie and Town Halls led the New York Times to call their recital “brilliant and surprising, polished and joyous… A good deal of the group’s material is drawn from the glorious folk-choral tradition of Eastern Europe, laced with athletic leaps, wild harmonies, dissonances, rough edges and surprising intervals… Not only is the material completely fresh and appealing, but the performances were equal to the repertory.”
For an evening of pure enjoyment, the Woodstock Playhouse is the place to be next Tuesday night. There you’ll hear Bulgarian planting songs (the group’s director, Ethel Raim, recently returned from a research trip to Bulgaria and Eastern Europe), Hungarian live lyrics, and Croatian hymns, “many of them sung a capella – sustained by the septet’s own strong harmony,” according to a Time magazine review.
Francine Brown, Shelley Cook, Joyce Gluck, Alice Kogan, Deborah Lesser, Ethel Raim, and Dina Silberman make up The Pennywhistlers. They are being hailed as one of the most exciting singing groups to come along in years and they’ll be at the Woodstock Playhouse for one night only, Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 8:40 p.m.”
The Pennywhistlers have appeared on campuses across the country, at Lewisohn Stadium, Philadelphia and Newport Folk Festivals; come to Woodstock direct from their appearance at this year’s Newport Festival. They have also performed on TV and radio and have recorded on the Folkways and Nonesuch labels. Concerts at Carnegie and Town Halls led the New York Times to call their recital “brilliant and surprising, polished and joyous… A good deal of the group’s material is drawn from the glorious folk-choral tradition of Eastern Europe, laced with athletic leaps, wild harmonies, dissonances, rough edges and surprising intervals… Not only is the material completely fresh and appealing, but the performances were equal to the repertory.”
For an evening of pure enjoyment, the Woodstock Playhouse is the place to be next Tuesday night. There you’ll hear Bulgarian planting songs (the group’s director, Ethel Raim, recently returned from a research trip to Bulgaria and Eastern Europe), Hungarian live lyrics, and Croatian hymns, “many of them sung a capella – sustained by the septet’s own strong harmony,” according to a Time magazine review.
Francine Brown, Shelley Cook, Joyce Gluck, Alice Kogan, Deborah Lesser, Ethel Raim, and Dina Silberman make up The Pennywhistlers. They are being hailed as one of the most exciting singing groups to come along in years and they’ll be at the Woodstock Playhouse for one night only, Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 8:40 p.m.”
