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Soldier's Joy

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

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One of the New Deal programs recorded as much "folk music" as they could find. Here's a group playing Soldier's Joy.


Note the "harp guitar" - plus FDR and daughter Anna. FDR couldn't move his feet, but he and Anna enjoyed the music.

escholarship.org

Recording the Nation: Folk Music and the Government in Roosevelt’s New Deal, 1936–1941

Author(s): Davidson, Mark A. | Advisor(s): Miller, Leta E | Abstract: Beginning in the mid-1930s, government-sponsored fieldworkers canvassed the nation as part of a series of unprecedented folk music research, collecting, and recording projects, conducted under the auspices of the Federal One...
escholarship.org

The recording was made at Warm Springs, Georgia, on January 26, 1933. Want to take a guess at why FDR is called "Governor" in the film?
 
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FDR wasn't president until March of 33. But, if this was part of the New Deal it couldn't have been recorded in January of 33.
 
Good catch. New Deal programs didnt' start until FDR took office, so the film wasn't recorded by a New Deal program. However, as NY governor, FDR had many "New Deal" type programs in place for citizens of NY state. It's also how he learned Frances Perkins would be a great New Deal leader. She got her start in social awareness when she actually witnessed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factor disaster.

francesperkinscenter.org

Her Life

francesperkinscenter.org francesperkinscenter.org

She was a tough woman, and FDR's advisor convinced her to wear a pearl necklace, to appear "less threatening".
 
Great post! "Soldier's Joy" is one of our jam's standard tunes, and one of my favorites to play.
 
Hey Mickey - check out this page, with some details on the banjo players' technique.

 
Thanks, Tom.

Yeah, old time banjo playing has pretty much always been a mixed bag of techniques. I tried years Scruggs style (three-finger bluegrass) years ago (around '75, after listening to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Circle" album, and especially the track of "Soldier's Joy", played by Scruggs and John McEuen). Scruggs played in his trademark style; McEuen complemented him with clawhammer. Gave up after a short time, and took up banjo again about a dozen years ago; this time clawhammer. If I ever get to a comfortable level of proficiency with that, I'd like to take up two- or three-finger old time style, similar to what they're playing in the video,,, and see if I can be able to switch styles while playing. Lofty goal!
 
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