Logan Eberhardt English (November 29, 1928 – March 9, 1983) was an American
folk singer
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 ...
, poet, actor, and playwright. As
MC at
Gerde's Folk City
Gerdes Folk City, sometimes spelled Gerde's Folk City, was a music venue in the West Village, part of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, in New York City. Initially opened by owner Mike Porco as a restaurant called Gerdes, it eventually began to presen ...
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 ...
, he was influential in
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
's early career, and also recorded one of the earliest albums produced as a tribute to
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspired ...
.
Life
He was born in
Henderson, Kentucky
Henderson is a home rule-class city along the Ohio River and is the county seat of Henderson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 28,757 at the 2010 U.S. census. It is part of the Evansville Metropolitan Area, locally known as the ...
, later moving to a farm in
Bourbon County.
[ Liner notes for ''Gambling Songs'']
Wirz.de, Retrieved 3 April 2014 His mother, Corilla (née Eberhardt), was a former
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
singer. Both his father, Logan B. English, and his maternal grandfather, Fredrick W. Eberhardt, were
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
ministers; Eberhardt was a published author, and Logan B. English was a farmer and prominent civic leader.
[ English family papers, 1884-1986, University of Kentucky]
Retrieved 3 April 2014 Logan E. English later said that his grandfather's preachings, and the songs of the field hands on his father's farm, were vital in shaping his love of
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
and the
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...
.
He attended the
Millersburg Military Academy before studying acting and speech at
Georgetown College
Georgetown College is a private Christian college in Georgetown, Kentucky. Chartered in 1829, Georgetown was the first Baptist college west of the Appalachian Mountains.
The college offers 38 undergraduate degrees and a Master of Arts in educat ...
. After serving in the
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
in
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, he returned to complete a
Master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in
Fine Arts
In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...
at
Yale School of Drama
The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in e ...
.
[ He started to pursue an acting career in New York, and also began singing traditional ]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 ...
s in clubs 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 ...
and elsewhere. English had what was described as a "startlingly melodious voice, and a winning personality"; he was a talented guitarist, but did not write his own songs.[ Biography by Bruce Eder]
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
. Retrieved 3 April 2014
He began singing professionally in 1956.[ The following year, he recorded two ]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 for the Folkways label - ''Kentucky Folk Songs and Ballads'', and ''The Days of '49: Songs of the Gold Rush'', the latter with 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 ...
ist Billy Faier
Billy Faier (December 21, 1930 – January 29, 2016) was an American banjo player and folk music evangelist. He, along with Pete Seeger, was one of the early exponents of the banjo during the mid-20th-century American folk music revival.
...
- and a third album, ''Gambling Songs'', for the Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...
label.[ Stefan Wirz, "Logan English: Discography"]
Retrieved 3 April 2014 His recordings and regular performances of traditional songs, in New York and Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, helped put many of the traditional songs into wider circulation; his version of "Geordie", for example, was heard by Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
who performed and recorded the song in 1962.[
English performed at the opening night of ]Gerde's Folk City
Gerdes Folk City, sometimes spelled Gerde's Folk City, was a music venue in the West Village, part of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, in New York City. Initially opened by owner Mike Porco as a restaurant called Gerdes, it eventually began to presen ...
club in Greenwich Village in 1960, together with Carolyn Hester
Carolyn Sue Hester (born January 28, 1937) is an American folk singer and songwriter. She was a figure in the early 1960s folk music revival.
Biography
Hester's first album was produced by Norman Petty in 1957. She made her second album for Tr ...
.[ Smithsonian Folkways: ''American Folk Ballads'']
Retrieved 3 April 2014 He knew Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspired ...
through mutual friends Bob and Sid Gleason, and was instrumental in securing Bob Dylan his first appearance at Gerde's in 1961. His widow Barbara Shutner said:
My husband Logan English and I met Bob Dylan at Bob and Sid Gleason's house... One night we were all sitting around and Woody said something like, "Play something" to this kid sitting on the couch. The kid was Bob Dylan, and he sang and it was just beautiful. So Logan said, "I'm working at Gerde's. I'm the MC. We'll get you to play there." So that Monday night, Bob came in and did his first set.
He sang at 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 ...
, toured extensively in the US and Canada, Deirdre A. Scaggs, Andrew W. McGraw, ''The Historic Kentucky Kitchen'', University Press of Kentucky, 2013, pp.150-151
Retrieved 3 April 2014 had a radio show on station WBAI
WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic music. ...
, and appeared in several plays, both on and off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
. He also wrote poetry. Two of his verses, ''The Wind That Shakes The Barley'' and ''Beware You Sons of Sorrow'', appear in ''The Kentucky Anthology: Two Hundred Years of Writing in the Bluegrass State'', in which English is described as "Bourbon County's poet-errant, a man who loved Kentucky but who could never live for very long in the land that formed and nourished him and provided him with material for his poetry, plays and songs."[
He appeared on several compilations and live recordings of folk music in the early 1960s, including ''The ]Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
Treasury of American Folk Music''.[ In 1962 he recorded the album ''American Folk Ballads'' for Monitor Records. The songs included ]sea shanties
A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional Folk music, folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large Merchant vessel, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessels. The term ''shanty ...
and children's songs
A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied ...
, with English writing a short description or story about each song in 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 ...
. He wrote:
From the wild-flower dusks of mountain twilights, out of steamy southern mud-flats and dusty midland prairies, off the sun-silver steel of cinder-blown railroad tracks and out of the chill damps of prison cells - from churches and saloons, cradles and gravesides come the songs of America that must be sung.
He recorded the album ''Logan English Sings the Woody Guthrie Songbag'' for 20th Century Fox Records
20th Century Fox Records (also known as 20th Fox Records and 20th Century Records, or simply 20th Century Fox Film Scores and Fox Records) was a wholly owned subsidiary of film studio 20th Century Fox. The history of the label covers three dis ...
in 1964. Released three years before Guthrie's death, and described as "an unselfish effort to boost the awareness of the iconic folk legend",[ it contained versions of thirteen of his songs, and led to English's identification as one of Guthrie's major interpreters.][ However, English's unwillingness to write his own songs, coupled with a chronic drinking problem, also made it increasingly difficult for him to maintain a successful performing or recording career.][
He later moved to ]Saratoga Springs, New York
Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 2 ...
, where he taught and gave occasional public performances.[ In 1974, he released his final album, ''Woody Guthrie's Children's Songs'', for the Folkways label.][ In 1979, he published a long autobiographical poem, ''No Land Where I Have Traveled: A Kentucky Poem'', which was reprinted in 2001.][ He also wrote two full-length plays, and was commissioned by the Actors Theatre of Louisville to write a play based on the life of Kentucky politician Cassius Marcellus Clay, which was unfinished at the time of his death.][
He died in Saratoga Springs in 1983, at the age of 54, when he was hit by an automobile while walking.][
]
Discography
* ''Kentucky Folk Songs and Ballads'' (Folkways, 1957)
* ''The Days of '49: Songs of the Gold Rush'' (with Billy Faier
Billy Faier (December 21, 1930 – January 29, 2016) was an American banjo player and folk music evangelist. He, along with Pete Seeger, was one of the early exponents of the banjo during the mid-20th-century American folk music revival.
...
) (Folkways, 1957)
* ''Gambling Songs'' (Riverside, 1957)
* ''American Folk Ballads'' (Monitor, 1962)
* ''Logan English Sings The Woody Guthrie Songbag'' (20th Century Fox, 1964)
* ''Woody Guthrie's Children's Songs'' (Folkways, 1974)
References
External links
Guide to the English Family papers, 1873-1983
housed at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:English, Logan
1928 births
1983 deaths
American folk singers
People from Henderson, Kentucky
Military personnel from Kentucky
Folk musicians from Kentucky
Poets from Kentucky
20th-century American poets
20th-century American singers
Singers from Kentucky
Folkways Records artists