First a little background on Sangamon Songs, the newest CD from Illinois' Tom Irwin. A farm near Springfield has been in Tom's family since 1894. A few years ago, he found a diary, written in 1893 by the teenaged Harry Glen Ludlam, who lived on the farm back then with his family. Now, when my family moved into our house in Chicago in 1952, all we ever found was old man Laudert's old, gray, softball bat in the garage. L:udlam's diary had sat, virtually undetected, in a cabinet for over 110 years. I guess no one cleans out cabinets in downstate Illinois. But, I digress.
The 2-volume diary (Harry spelled it "Dairy") told of farm life for a teenager in the 1890's, barn dances, a trip to the World's Fair in Chicago, gypsies, funerals, etc. Tom Irwin decided to put some of these diary entries to music.
Fittingly, the cuts on Sangamon Songs have the feel of stories being told on the front porch. Instrumantation is basically limited to guitar, mandolin, fiddle, autoharp, and a few others.
The booklet insert to the CD includes photos of some of the pages from which the songs were drawn - Harry wrote in pencil and included his artistic rendering of the newfangled Ferris Wheel. On the front is a photo of the farmhouse in question.
On a personal note, I think it's great that we have creative people like Tom Irwin who would share his historical discovery with us in songs, rather than just reading it and putting it back in the pie tin cabinet, for someone else to find in 2120.
Sangamon Songs was produced by Gary Gordon, and recorded, mixed, and mastered in southern Illinois. It is available through CD baby.
Now I'm going to see if I can write a memorable song about old man Laudert's graying softball bat. It's in my garage now. Tom Irwin's family isn't the only one with pack rats.
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