“Margaret’s Voice”

Margaret was a Creek girl attending Haskell Institute in Lawrence, KS

when she made this recording.

I can’t get over the sound of her voice,

pure, innocent, and centuries-old at the same time.

I wanted to work with this song from the first time I heard it.

I wanted to give it a sense of impending alien culture,

and did so by combining it with:

an African-American field holler,

an Appalachian banjo

& urban late-night jazz.

This is all we know about Margaret other than the sound of her voice . . . .

Source Recordings:

“Creek Lullaby” Margaret

recorded by Willard Rhodes in Lawrence, KS – summer of 1943

“I Wonder What’s the Matter” Lightning & group

recorded by John & Alan Lomax at Darrington State Farm, Sandy Point, TX – 1934

“Cluck Old Hen” Wade Ward

recorded by Alan Lomax in Galax, VA – 1959 *

“Creek Lullaby”

(lyric translation)

“Baby, sleep, sleep, sleep

Father has gone to find turtle shells

He said he will come back tomorrow

Baby, sleep, sleep, sleep”

Musicians

Alan Berliant – bass

Orbert Davis – muted trumpet

Kat Eggleston – hammer dulcimer

Jim Gailloreto – saxes & clarinet

Larry Glazier – cello

Pete LaBella – violin

Curt Morrison – electric guitar

Steve Mullen – piano, organ, synth, drum & mallet programming

John Rice – acoustic slide gtr, dobro & archtop guitar

Rob Stone – harmonica

Jeff Thomas – drums & percussion

lead vocal      Margaret     (harmony vocals created by Steve Mullen, using Margaret’s lead vocal)

field holler – “I Wonder What’s the Matter” sung by Lightning & group

banjo – “Cluck Old Hen” performed by Wade Ward

* “Margaret’s Voice” contains elements from “Cluck Old Hen” performed by Wade Ward and recorded by Alan Lomax. Used courtesy of the Alan Lomax Archive, under license from Odyssey Productions, Inc.