Francis Moreland Warner (April 5, 1903 – February 27, 1978) was an American
folk song
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...
collector, singer, musician, and
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
executive. He and his wife Anne Warner (born Elizabeth Anne Locher, October 18, 1905 – April 26, 1991) collected and preserved many previously unpublished traditional song versions from the eastern United States, including "
Tom Dooley", "
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" is a traditional African-American spiritual, first published in 1927. It became an international pop hit in 1957–58 in a recording by English singer Laurie London, and has been recorded by many other si ...
", "The Days of Forty-Nine", and "Gilgarrah Mountain", a New Hampshire version of the song more widely known as "
Whiskey in the Jar
"Whiskey in the Jar" ( Roud 533) is an Irish traditional song set in the southern mountains of Ireland, often with specific mention of counties Cork and Kerry. The song, about a rapparee ( highwayman) who is betrayed by his wife or lover, is ...
".
Early life
Frank Warner was born in
Selma, Alabama
Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. About ...
, United States,
and grew up in
Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States ...
and
Durham, North Carolina
Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
. He attended
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
, and was president of the university's
Glee Club
A glee club in the United States is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it w ...
. As a student of pioneer song collector Professor
Frank C. Brown, he developed his interest in traditional folk music, and made his public singing debut to accompany a lecture by Brown at the
North Carolina State Fair
The North Carolina State Fair is an American state fair and agricultural exposition held annually in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1853, the fair is organized by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. It attrac ...
in
Raleigh
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
in 1924.
He graduated in 1925 and continued his studies at the
School of Social Work
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...
at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
before deciding to work for the
Young Men's Christian Association
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
and joining the YMCA training school. He continued to perform occasionally, singing and playing guitar and banjo, and began spending vacations collecting folk songs. He started work at the YMCA in
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...
, in 1928, before moving to work in New York City in 1931.
[ Biography by Craig Harris at Allmusic.com]
Retrieved 5 April 2014[ ''From The Mountains to the Sea: The Anne and Frank Warner Collection'']
Mountains2thesea.com, Retrieved 5 April 2014
Marriage and song collecting
He married Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
-born Anne Locher in New York in 1935. She had studied literature at Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
before working as a secretary in New York.[ Biography by Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. at Allmusic.com]
Retrieved 6 April 2014 The couple lived in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
, in a literary community among friends including Stephen Vincent Benét
Stephen Vincent Benét (; July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, ''John Brown's Body'' (1928), for which he receive ...
, Carl Carmer
Carl Lamson Carmer (October 16, 1893 – September 11, 1976) was an American writer of nonfiction books, memoirs, and novels, many of which focused on American myths, folklore, and tales. His most famous book, ''Stars Fell on Alabama,'' was an auto ...
, Marianne Moore
Marianne Craig Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was an American modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. Her poetry is noted for formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit.
Early life
Moore was born in Kirkwood ...
, Clifton Fadiman
Clifton Paul "Kip" Fadiman (May 15, 1904 – June 20, 1999) was an American intellectual, author, editor, radio and television personality. He began his work with the radio, and switched to television later in his career.
Background
Born in Bro ...
, and DuBose Heyward. They continued to spend their vacations traveling in rural parts of the eastern United States
The Eastern United States, commonly referred to as the American East, Eastern America, or simply the East, is the region of the United States to the east of the Mississippi River. In some cases the term may refer to a smaller area or the East C ...
, including the Adirondacks
The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...
, the Appalachians
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...
and New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
, as well as in eastern Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, to obtain folk material.[ Most of their material was collected in ]upstate New York
Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...
and in North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
.[
Between 1938 and 1969 Anne and Frank Warner recorded over one thousand traditional songs and stories.][ Library of Congress, ''Anne and Frank Warner Collection, AFC 1950/002'']
Retrieved 6 April 2014 On their travels they met and recorded singers including Yankee John Galusha, Frank Proffitt
Frank Noah Proffitt (June 1, 1913 – November 24, 1965) was an Appalachian old time banjoist who preserved the song " Tom Dooley" in the form we know it today and was a key figure in inspiring musicians of the 1960s and 1970s to play the trad ...
, Lena Bourne Fish, Lee Monroe Presnell, and Sue Thomas.[ In 1938, they met traditional ]Appalachian dulcimer
The Appalachian dulcimer (many variant names; see below) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of ...
maker Nathan Hicks and his son-in-law Frank Proffitt in Beech Mountain, North Carolina
Beech Mountain is a town in both Avery and Watauga counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 320. The town is located atop Beech Mountain and is the highest town east of the Rocky Mountains ...
, and recorded Proffitt's performance of the song "Tom Dooley". Using a wooden banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
made for him by Hicks, Warner later began performing the song, which became an international hit in the 1950s in recordings by both The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, ...
and Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002), known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the "King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scotl ...
.[ Frank Warner at Paroland]
Retrieved 5 April 2014 The Warners collected "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" from Sue Thomas at Nags Head, North Carolina
Nags Head is a town in Dare County, North Carolina, United States. It is a busy vacation spot because of its beaches and sand dunes of Jockey's Ridge. The population was 3,146 at the 2020 census.
History
Early maps of the area show Nags Head as ...
.[
As non-professional collectors, they had no outside financial help, and often recorded only short extracts of songs, with Anne Warner transcribing the remainder manually using ]shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...
.[ She later said:]"We had a recording machine by this time 939and small discs. This was long before tape, and because our supply of discs was short, we would record two stanzas of a song - to get the melody - and stop the machine. The fortunate aspect was that I got them all down correctly then and there. From then on, we spent our month's vacation, which we each had each year from our regular jobs, working as hard as we did any other time - usually spending two weeks in the South and two weeks in the North..".
According to Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, sch ...
, writing in the 1990s: "For many years the Warners spent every vacation and every scrap of spare cash on their recording trips. It was a continuous act of unpaid, tender devotion to American folk song and a life-long love affair with the people who remembered the ballads...".[
Beside his unpaid work in collecting folk songs, Frank Warner continued in his employment by the YMCA, becoming a member of its national council, and from 1952 until his retirement was general secretary for operations in ]Nassau
Nassau may refer to:
Places Bahamas
*Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence
Canada
*Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792
*Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...
and Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
counties, Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
.[
]
Performances and recordings
Frank Warner recorded several album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
s of the material the couple collected. The first was a set of three 78s, ''Hudson Valley Songs'', for the Disc Company of America in 1946, where he was accompanied by Bess Lomax, Butch Hawes, Pete Seeger
Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...
and Tom Glazer
Thomas Zachariah Glazer (September 2, 1914 – February 21, 2003) was an American folk singer and songwriter known primarily as a composer of ballads, including: "Because All Men Are Brothers", recorded by The Weavers and Peter, Paul and M ...
. In 1951, he issued another 78, containing "Got the Whole World in His Hand", which - together with his own version of "Tom Dooley" - was among the songs he included on his first 10" LP, ''American Folk Songs and Ballads'', released by Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...
in 1952. He recorded two more albums for Elektra, ''Songs and Ballads of America's Wars'' (1954), and ''Our Singing Heritage, Vol.III'' (1958; later reissued as ''American Traditional Folk Songs''). In 1961, he recorded ''Songs of the Civil War: North and South'', for the Prestige International label. Anne Warner wrote the liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes.
Origin
Liner notes are desce ...
for his albums.[
Frank Warner also appeared regularly on radio and TV, and gave hundreds of lectures and public appearances before educational, civic and community audiences.][ His banjo playing and singing was featured in the 1957 movie '']Run of the Arrow
''Run of the Arrow'' is a 1957 American Western film written, directed, and produced by Samuel Fuller and starring Rod Steiger, Sara Montiel, Brian Keith, Ralph Meeker, Jay C. Flippen, and a young Charles Bronson. Set at the end of the American ...
'' starring Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen Steiger (; April 14, 1925July 9, 2002, aged 77) was an American actor, noted for his portrayal of offbeat, often volatile and crazed characters. Cited as "one of Hollywood's most charismatic and dynamic stars," he is closely assoc ...
.[ He authored ''Folk Songs and Ballads of the Eastern Seaboard: From a Collectors Notebook'', published in 1963, and became a member of the board of the ]Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. It was one of the first modern music festivals in America, and remains a foca ...
, vice president of the Country Dance and Song Society
The Country Dance and Song Society (abbreviated CDSS) is a nonprofit organization that seeks to promote participatory dance, music, and song with English and North American roots.
History
CDSS began in 1915 as a series of American chapters of t ...
of America, and president of the New York State Folklore Society.[ The couple also published essays on traditional American folk culture and music, in a variety of journals.][
From the 1950s, Frank Warner performed in concert halls - including ]Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
- and in colleges and at folk festivals across the US,[ including the First Annual Newport Folk Festival in 1959,][Program notes for 1959 Newport Folk Festival]
Retrieved 6 April 2014 and the 1961 festival.[ He was often joined onstage by Anne and by their sons Jeff and Gerret Warner, who accompanied them on guitar, ]concertina
A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front.
The ...
, jew's harp, and spoons
Spoons may refer to:
* Spoon, a utensil commonly used with soup
* Spoons (card game), the card game of Donkey, but using spoons
Film and TV
* ''Spoons'' (TV series), a 2005 UK comedy sketch show
*Spoons, a minor character from ''The Sopranos''
...
. Both sons later performed and recorded on their own. An informal concert by Frank Warner and his sons in 1973, at the Cider Press in Dartington
Dartington is a village in Devon, England. Its population is 876. The electoral ward of ''Dartington'' includes the surrounding area and had a population of 1,753 at the 2011 census. It is located west of the River Dart, south of Dartington H ...
, Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, was recorded,[ and was later released by Folktrax as ''Listen To America Sing: Frank Warner & Family in Concert''.][ ''Listen To America Sing'' at Folktrax.org]
Retrieved 6 April 2014
Frank Warner's last album, ''Come All You Good People'', with accompaniment by his sons and liner notes by Anne Warner, was released by Minstrel Records in 1975.[ Anne Warner, Liner notes for ''Come All You Good People'', 1975]
Retrieved 6 April 2014
Retrieved 6 April 2014
Death
Frank Warner died at his home on Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
in 1978, at the age of 74.[
]
Archiving and legacy
The Warners donated their collection of recordings, photographs and other documentation to the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
American Folklife Center
The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. was created by Congress in 1976 "to preserve and present American Folklife". The center includes the Archive of Folk Culture, established at the library in 1928 as a repos ...
, in 1950 and 1972.[ Additional recordings, moving image, and written material, including correspondence, is held in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University.][ Duke University, ''Guide to the Frank and Anne Warner Papers, 1899-2000 and undated, bulk 1933-1985'', Collection Overview]
Retrieved 6 April 2014
After her husband's death, Anne Warner spent several years archiving and compiling their recordings, publishing a book, ''Traditional American Folk Songs from the Anne and Frank Warner Collection'' in 1984.[ She also wrote liner notes for compilations of Frank Proffitt's recordings.][ Anne Warner died in 1991 at the age of 85.][
Collections of the Warners' ]field recording
Field recording is the term used for an audio recording produced outside a recording studio, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It also applies to sound recordings like electromagnetic fields or vibra ...
s, co-produced by Jeff and Gerret Warner, were released by Appleseed Recordings
Appleseed Recordings is an American folk music record label founded by Jim Musselman in 1997.
History
Appleseed's first album was a tribute to Peter Seeger. Musselman approached musicians and others (writer Studs Terkel, actor Tim Robbins) to re ...
in 2000 as ''Music From the Anne & Frank Warner Collection, Vol. 1: Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still'' and ''..Vol. 2: Nothing Seems Better to Me: The Music of Frank Proffitt and North Carolina''.[ Appleseed Recordings: Warner Collections]
Retrieved 6 April 2014 Jeff and Gerret Warner also produced
From the Mountains to the Sea
', a two-hour, multimedia presentation on the lives of Anne and Frank Warner and their collecting activities.[
]
Discography
* ''Hudson Valley Songs'' (3x 78 album, Disc, 1946)
* ''American Folk Songs and Ballads'' (10" LP, Elektra, 1952)
* ''Songs and Ballads of America's Wars'' (10" LP, Elektra, 1954)
* ''Our Singing Heritage, Vol.III'' (Elektra, 1958)
* ''Songs of the Civil War: North and South'' (Prestige International, 1961)
* ''Come All You Good People'' (Minstrel, 1976)[
]
References
External links
Frank and Anne Warner Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest with Frank Warner, 1966
Frank & Anne Warner 1999 Folk Alliance International Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
- video
Jeff Warner website
Gerret Warner website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warner, Frank (folklorist)
1903 births
1978 deaths
People from Selma, Alabama
American folk-song collectors
Duke University alumni
Elektra Records artists
American folk singers
20th-century American singers
Columbia University School of Social Work alumni