John Herald RIP

never heard of him. I'm pretty sure I'm going to know about him now.

I would think that the only folks who would have heard of have either been following acoustic music in the northeast US for a long time or are geeks (like me) who know far too much about Bob Dylan's Village days.

He was brilliant; he appeared on the soundtrack of "You Are What You Eat", doing wonderful (produced) electric folk music with Peter Yarrow (circa '68) ("The Family Dog") - and the 3 Vanguard label Greenbriar Boys LP's are well worth seeking out: BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!, GREENBRIAR BOYS (1st, self-titled) and RAGGED BUT RIGHT - the debut album has been on CD in Japan, and I think Vanguard keeps a "Best of" CD in print.

He hit on me once, about ten years ago at a music festival. I didn't know who he was, either.

xgau:

John Herald [Paramount, 1973]
This casually joyous solo debut by the former Greenbriar Boy gives in at times to such folky vices as mere flash, mere lyricism, and mere whimsy. But "Fire Song," a casually joyous ditty about how his house burned down, and "Brother Sam," unpresumptuous compassion for a returned Vietnam vet, should inspire Paul Simon to work real hard on the follow-up. And his high notes should inspire Art Garfunkel to go back to architecture school. B+

The John Herald Band [Bay, 1978]
I was about to note bemusedly that Herald's best songs on this album--"Wiggle Worm Wiggle" and "I'm Getting Ready to Go"--could have been written fifty years ago. Indeed they could have, because both are old bluegrass tunes. "Slightly Blind" and "With Every Month" are quite up-to-date. After that, details get hazy. B

The Real Thing [Rooster, 1984]
Fallible though he may be, I'll take this bluegrass-based traditionalist over Ricky Skaggs any day. Maybe his transported singing honors George Jones and Jerry Lee Lewis along with Red Allen and Bill Monroe because his long experience in folkiedom taught him something new about authenticity. Or maybe it's just that he's not above sinning. B+

he's the guy from whom Alex Chilton learned "Alligator Man."

In the new Big Star bio, Chilton says that Bob Dylan had nothing on John Herald, and Dylan knew it...

anyway, what I've heard I like OK, not a big fan of bluegrass/old-timey shit (unless it's Charlie Poole or something) but now I guess I'll have to check him out further...