Event

Lost Radio Rounders

Carl Sandburg. Poet of the people, certainly, but few know that Sandburg was also one of the most important song collectors of the early 20th century. His "American Songbag," published in 1927, remains a keystone of folk literature and a divining rod for musicians fascinated by the deep roots of American music. In fact, in 2004 popular family musician Dan Zanes recorded "Parades and Panoramas," an entire album of songs culled from the book.

With "Carl Sandburg's American Songbag," Lost Radio Rounders--Tom Lindsay and Michael Eck-- bring their unique, witty acoustic duo stylings to popular Sandburg selections such as "The Midnight Special," "John B. Sails" "Shenandoah" and "Turkey in the Straw." Pete Seeger, whom Sandburg called "America's tuning fork," has given his blessing to Lost Radio Rounders, urging them to keep the old songs alive, saying, "It's so important that you are doing this."

Opener Putnam Smith, who hails from Portland, Maine, could be an old-world troubadour fresh from the 19th Century. After all, he lives in a log cabin, plays his Grandfather's banjo, and has printed up
the jackets of his new CD on a 1901 Pearl Letterpress (hand set type, pedal powered!). Yet this rootsy multi-instrumentalist songwriter (he also plays guitar, mandolin, and piano), steeped as he is in old-time Appalachian traditions, is very much a storyteller for the modern age.