1. The Wayfaring Stranger Song
2. Wayfaring Strangers Ladies From The Canyon Raritan Park

Aug 19, 2009  Deeper than recent crit-revisionist darlings Linda Perhacs, Judee Sill, or Vashti Bunyan, Ladies From The Canyon takes a solid look at folk s private and obscure underbelly. Close your eyes and you could just as well be in a hazily lit club at Bleeker & MacDougal as a sun-splashed Laurel Canyon coffeehouse.

Joni Mitchell may not have been the biggest-selling singer/songwriter star of the early '70s, but her influence, particularly on women performers, can't be denied. As the title of this compilation indicates, the artists on this collection of mega-rare cuts by female singer/songwriters of the era are often in a Joni Mitchell mood. Confessional and narrative lyrics, predominant folky acoustic guitars, warm rolling piano, wide and sometimes swooping vocal ranges -- all of those characteristics are here to some degree, even if only a few of the 14 tracks (especially Caroline Peyton's 'Engram,' Judy Kelly's 'Window,' and Barbara Sipple's 'Song for Life') make the inspiration inescapably blatant. Also, to be frank, all of this has far less of an edge (and musical sophistication) than Mitchell's early work, and some of it treads close to the bland side, sometimes with awkwardly earnest lyrical homilies. Still, as an anthology of pleasant woman-sung mild folk-rock from the period with a slight aura of haunting mystery, this is pretty respectable. There's little spaciness on the order of cult artists like Linda Perhacs -- Collie Ryan's reverb-swathed 'Cricket' comes about the closest -- though a few of the other tracks are a bit strange, like Shira Small's funk-jazz-inflected 'Eternal Life,' which boasts wildly optimistic cosmic lyrics. Another slight oddity is 'Wildman' by Ginny Reilly, whose vocal is something like a combination of Mitchell's phrasing and Buffy Sainte-Marie's vibrato. All of these tracks are taken from scarce private pressings save Ellen Warshaw's closing cover of the Rolling Stones' 'Sister Morphine,' which is by far the hardest-rocking cut on the CD, and one of the best.

The Wayfaring Stranger Song

'The Wayfaring Stranger' (also known as 'Poor Wayfaring Stranger' or 'I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger'), Roud 3339, is a well-known American folk and gospel song likely originating in the early 19th century^[1] about a plaintive soul on the journey through life. As with most folk songs, many variations of the lyrics exist.

It has been speculated that 'Wayfaring Stranger' may have been derived from 'The Dowie Dens of Yarrow,' a folk song from the Scottish Borders.^[2] However, the fact that the two songs differ entirely in subject matter calls the theory into doubt.

Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.^[3]

Notable covers and uses[edit]

• In 1935 an arrangement was included in The Sacred Harpshape note songbook.
• It became one of Burl Ives' signature songs, included on his 1944 album The Wayfaring Stranger. Ives used it as the title of his early 1940s CBS radio show and his 1948 autobiography.
• Esther & Abi Ofarim recorded 'Wayfaring Stranger' under the title 'I'm Going Home' in 1966.^[4]
• Actor/singer Michael Parks and Bonnie Bedelia sang 'Wayfarin' Stranger' in the pilot episode of Then Came Bronson in 1969.
• Emmylou Harris covered the song on her 1980 album Roses in the Snow. Harris' version peaked at number 7 on the BillboardHot Country Singles chart.^[5] It reached number 1 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.^[6]
• Natalie Merchant covers 'The Wayfaring Stranger' (as 'Poor Wayfaring Stranger') in her own arrangement on her 2003 album 'The House Carpenter's Daughter.'
• In 2012, electronic music producer Pretty Lights covered 'Wayfaring Stranger', making a collaboration with American bluegrass musicianDr Ralph Stanley and country singer LeAnn Rimes. The track was made for the musical documentary Re:GENERATION Music Project, which describes the process of making music by artists coming from two different musical backgrounds.
• Singer/actor Steve Earle covers 'Wayfaring Stranger' in the 2015 film The World Made Straight.

References[edit]

1. ^Norman Cazden, Herbert Haufrecht, Norman Studer. Folk Songs of the Catskills. SUNY Press, 1982. 292-294. ISBN0-87395-581-1
2. ^Rob Adams. 'Phil Cunningham on how Scots migrants created American music'. Herald Scotland.Cite web requires website= (help)
3. ^Western Writers of America (2010). 'The Top 100 Western Songs'. American Cowboy. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014.Cite uses deprecated parameter deadurl= (help); Cite web requires website= (help)
4. ^http://www.esther-ofarim.de/Disco.htm
5. ^'Emmylou Harris - Awards'. AllMusic. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
6. ^'RPM Country Tracks for August 23, 1980'. RPM. Retrieved June 24, 2013.

Further reading[edit]

• John F. Garst, ''Poor Wayfaring Stranger'—Early Publications,' The Hymn: [A Publication of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada], vol. 31, no. 2, 1980, pp. 97–101

External links[edit]

Wayfaring Strangers Ladies From The Canyon Raritan Park

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics