We’re thrilled to have the prolific singer, songwriter, and poet Tucker Zimmerman take an autobiographical journey through the Smithsonian Folkways collection for the latest iteration of our People’s Picks playlist series.
Tucker’s selections and in-depth accompanying track notes reveal moments, creative works, and figures that have shaped him, from absorbing Jesse Fuller’s performances on San Francisco’s Fillmore Street to being inspired by Kenneth Patchen to write his first book. Notably, in his track note for Woody Guthrie’s “Talking Fishing Blues,” Tucker included the lyrics of a never-recorded, seldom-performed talking blues original titled “Talking North Beach.”
“Lead Belly was the most influential musician in my life,” he writes. “I first heard him at age ten on a ten-inch Folkways album—dark blue pebble cover with only a tag slapped on that said ‘Take this Hammer.’ I took his hammer. I was transported out of this world by his voice and the sound of his guitar mesmerized me. I learned later that his guitar was a twelve-string and I promised myself that if I ever grew up to play guitar, it would be a twelve. At the age of twenty-five I kept that promise—and keep it to this day.”
Smithsonian Folkways
We’re thrilled to have the prolific singer, songwriter, and poet Tucker Zimmerman take an autobiographical journey through the Smithsonian Folkways collection for the latest iteration of our People’s Picks playlist series.
Tucker’s selections and in-depth accompanying track notes reveal moments, creative works, and figures that have shaped him, from absorbing Jesse Fuller’s performances on San Francisco’s Fillmore Street to being inspired by Kenneth Patchen to write his first book. Notably, in his track note for Woody Guthrie’s “Talking Fishing Blues,” Tucker included the lyrics of a never-recorded, seldom-performed talking blues original titled “Talking North Beach.”
“Lead Belly was the most influential musician in my life,” he writes. “I first heard him at age ten on a ten-inch Folkways album—dark blue pebble cover with only a tag slapped on that said ‘Take this Hammer.’ I took his hammer. I was transported out of this world by his voice and the sound of his guitar mesmerized me. I learned later that his guitar was a twelve-string and I promised myself that if I ever grew up to play guitar, it would be a twelve. At the age of twenty-five I kept that promise—and keep it to this day.”
Read more from Tucker and listen on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, or Pandora here → folkways.si.edu/playlist/peoples-picks-tucker-zimm…
🍃 Photo by Dirk Leunis / Graphic by Darryl Norsen
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 23