The Farmer's Curst Wife- Ball (VA) 1959 REC Lomax
[Alan Lomax recorded The Farmer's Curst Wife by Estil C. Ball in 1959 in Virginia. It may have been recorded in an earlier session but there's no listing for it.]
All Music biography [ Estil C. Ball ]
by Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
Husband-and-wife team E.C. and Orna Ball never matched groups like the Carter Family in popularity, but the Balls nonetheless made a significant, though quieter, contribution to the development of old-timey music and gospel. Unlike the Carters, the Balls seldom ventured far from their home on the Virginia-North Carolina boarder (in Rugby, VA) where they owned a general store and service station. At 12, E.C. Ball (1913-1978) learned to play fingerstyle guitar and joined the Rugby Gully Jumpers. Ball met Alan Lomax at the Galax Fiddler's Convention (which was only 30 miles from Rugby), which led to a recording session in 1941 (though the recordings may have been completed as early as 1938 at the Balls' Rugby home). These recordings would later be released as E.C. Ball by County in 1997 and include songs like "Sweet Bye and Bye" and "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." Lomax recorded both E.C. and Orna Ball (who played accordion) in 1959 and 1960 when he returned from England. In his liner notes to E.C. Ball With Orna Ball, Frank Weston recalled hearing these recordings broadcast on the BBC: "I couldn't understand how a musician of that caliber should have to drive a bus for a living." the Balls recorded again for County in the late '60s, with E.C. Ball With Orna Ball & the Friendly Gospel Singers , and again for Rounder in the early '70s on an album that also included secular material. Many of E.C. Ball's songs would later be recorded by Peter Rowen, Jerry Douglas, Ginny Hawker, and Robin & Linda Williams. E.C. Ball died in 1978. Husband and wife, E.C. and Orna Ball are one of the great singing duos of old-time and traditional music," wrote Steve Gardner in Music Hound Folk.
Wiki bio- Estil Cortez Ball (1913–1978) was an American singer-songwriter, fingerstyle guitarist, and country gospel and folk musician from Rugby in Grayson County, Virginia.
From the mid-1950s until 1975, Ball performed with his wife Orna and their Friendly Gospel Singers in churches and on the radio, especially on WKSK (AM) in West Jefferson, North Carolina and WBOB (AM) in Galax, Virginia. Ball's first recordings were made by John A. Lomax on behalf of the Library of Congress at the 1937 Galax Fiddler's Convention in Galax, Virginia, where E.C. performed with his Rugby Gully Jumpers string band (named after Paul Warmack's Gully Jumpers).[1] Lomax recorded the string band and several duets by E.C. and Orna. John's son Alan Lomax recorded Ball three years later, in 1941, at E.C.'s home in Rugby, Virginia, and there again in 1959.[2]
County Records released Ball's first LP in 1967, as E.C. Ball and the Friendly Gospel Singers. Two more LPs followed in the 1970s on Rounder Records: E.C. Ball and Fathers Have A Home Sweet Home.[3] Ball was also recorded by John Cohen for his 1975 compilation album High Atmosphere: Ballads and Banjo Tunes from Virginia and North Carolina.
E.C. Ball's most famous composition was a piece he called "Tribulations," based, as he told Alan Lomax in 1959, "on the last book in the Bible: Revelations." It has been frequently covered by other musicians as "Trials, Troubles, Tribulations."
Ball died in 1978 in Grassy Creek, North Carolina, and is buried at Corinth Baptist Church in Rugby, Grayson County, Virginia.[4]
In December 2009, a tribute album was released entitled Face A Frowning World: An E.C. Ball Memorial Album, on the Tompkins Square label, produced by Nathan Salsburg. Singers interpreting songs from E.C.'s repertoire include Jolie Holland, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Jon Langford, the Handsome Family, Rayna Gellert, and Catherine Irwin, among others.[5]
References1.^ Clayton, Robert; Adams, Greg C. (August 26, 2005). "A List of Banjo Recordings". The American Folklife Center. Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/folklife/guides/Banjo.html. Retrieved May 28, 2009.
2.^ Weston, Frank (March 14, 1997). "E.C. and Orna Ball". Musical Traditions Internet Magazine. http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/ball.htm. Retrieved May 28, 2009.
3.^ Keefer, Jane (November 11, 2008). "Folk Music Performer Index - Balf to Bari". Folk Music - An Index to Recorded Resources. ibiblio. http://www.ibiblio.org/folkindex/pf_frset.htm. Retrieved May 28, 2009.
4.^ Weaver, Jeffrey (2007). "Corinth Baptist Church Cemetery". New River Notes. http://www.newrivernotes.com/graysoncems/corinthcem.htm. Retrieved May 17, 2009.
5.^ Salsburg, Nathan (October 31, 2009). "Face a Frowning World". Root Hog or Die. http://roothogordie.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/face-a-frowning-world-an-e-c-ball-memorial-album/. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
6.^ Freeman, Dave. "E. C. Ball & Orna: Through The Years 1937-1975". Bluegrass and Old-Time CDs. County Sales. http://www.countysales.com/php-bin/ecomm4/products.php?product_id=1971. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
The Farmer's Curst Wife- Ball (VA) 1959 REC Lomax
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