About these songs:

“My Name is Morgan, but it Ain’t J.P.”(Voice and guitar by Allen J.M. Smith.) This 100-year-old song, by lyricist Will A. Mahoney andcomposer Halsey K. Mohr, was published in 1906by P.J. Howley, New York. It has been recorded invarious versions, many of them failing to creditthe songwriters. Among the best versions are anold-time country string band cover by the NewLost City Ramblers (based on an early recordingby Buster Carter and Preston Young) and a clever“ragtime guitar” version by Erik Darling.

“Nelly Bly,” (Voice, guitar and banjo by AllenJ.M. Smith.) was written in 1850 by one ofAmerica’s most beloved composers, Stephen C.Foster. All three Foster songs in this collectionwere published by Firth, Pond & Co., New York.Despite waxing Southern in his lyrics, Foster wasin fact a Yankee abolitionist from Pennsylvania,born and buried in Pittsburgh. This ensures that Ising his songs in his native accent, for I, too, amfrom that area.

“The Old Folks At Home,” 1851, (voice andguitar by Allen J.M. Smith, synthesizer by JohnnyBullock) is another Stephen Foster favorite.

Our title track, “Gotta Quit Kickin’ My DogAround,” (voice, guitar and banjo by Allen J.M.Smith, lead guitar by John Barton) was written bythe popular late 19th-century African Americancomposer James Bland, famous for, among others,“Carry Me Back to Old Virginny.” “Gotta QuitKickin’ My Dog Around,” or “The Hound DogSong,” as it was sometimes called, was a great hit,

and, like many of Stephen Foster's songs, acquiredthe status of a folksong, with the composer's nameoften being forgotten. Folklorist Alan Lomax, inThe Folk Songs of North America, Garden City,1960, p. 303, notes that some of his sources saythat “The Hound Dawg Song” is a recently com-posed piece, while others swear that Daniel Boonebrought the song to Missouri. It became universal-ly popular at the time when Arkansas' favouriteson, Champ Clark, who was candidate for thepresidency of the United States, used it as hiscampaign song. The tune is the old fiddler'sfavourite, "Sandy Land" or "Sally Anne."

“A Week Before Easter” or “The FalseBride” (voices by Allen J.M. Smith), according toRichard Kopp on his popular and comprehensivefolk song Web site, Robokopp, is “claimed byEngland and Scotland.” Kopp writes, “I put inScotland because that's where the tune originat-ed.” It seems to be a true folksong, in that thecomposer is unknown, and the song is widelyknown and sung. Many beautiful covers of thissong have been recorded by folksingers, Celticand otherwise.

“Stand by Me, Lord” (voices by Allen J.M.Smith, piano, organ and bass by Johnny Bullock)is a traditional Gospel tune. The melody is thesame as the folksongs, “Do, Lord, Oh, Do, Lord!”and “Worried Man Blues.” “Stand by Me, Lord”appears in a much more refined arrangement inthe Episcopal supplemental hymnal, Wonder, Loveand Praise. That's where I obtained these lyricsand chord progressions. However, keyboard artistJohnny Bullock's exuberant New Orleans stylepiano and Hammond B3 accompaniment bears lit-

tle resemblance to the Episcopal version. “The Leaving of Liverpool” (voice and guitar

by Allen J.M. Smith, synthesizer by JohnnyBullock) is a widely known folksong. Its lyrics,mentioning the Yankee clipper ships, suggest thatthe story of the song is set in the 1840s or early1850s. The melody, tempo and harmony also sug-gest 19th-century romantic style.

“Ain't Gonna Study War No More” (voiceand guitar by Allen J.M. Smith) is a very popularAfrican-American song, with versions in blues,Gospel and jazz. Poet and folksinger CarlSandburg, in The American Songbag, Harcourt,Brace, Jovanovich, New York, London and SanDiego, 1955/1928, p480, describes it as a Gospelsong that was also used as a work song. Sandburgcollected the song in the 1920s from students atthe University of Alabama, who said they heard itsung by work crews.

“A North Country Maid” (voice by AllenJ.M. Smith, synthesizer by Johnny Bullock),according to Leslie Nelson Burns’ folk music site,www.contemplator.com/folk, is at least 400 yearsold. Burns cites Folk Songs of England, Ireland,Scotland and Wales, Edited by William Cole,Doubleday and Company, Inc. Garden City, NewYork, 1961, which tells us “this English tune datesfrom about 1608 and may be even older. Itappears in Sir John Hawkins's Transcripts ofMusic for the Virginals and Fitzwilliam VirginalBook (circa 1608-1616) as “Quodling's Delight.”A very similar air is in The Dancing Master(1650-1701) under the title “Goddess.”

“Dixie” (voice, rhythm guitar and banjo byAllen J.M. Smith, lead guitar by John Barton), the

unofficial anthem of the Confederate States ofAmerica, was written by Daniel Emmett, accord-ing to C. A. Browne in The Story of Our NationalBallads, New York 1960/1919, pp. 124-131, citedon an interesting and informative Web site,History in Music, authored by Manfred Helfert.

“Marching Through Georgia” (voices, guitarand banjo by Allen J.M. Smith, guitar by JohnBarton) is a marching song written by Henry ClayWork in 1865, referring to U.S. Maj. Gen. WilliamTecumseh Sherman's March to the Sea during theprevious year. It was very popular with UnionArmy veterans after the war. Outside of theSouthern United States, it had a universal appeal:Japanese troops sang it as they entered PortArthur, the British sang it in India, and it was pop-ular with the Allies in World War II.

“Weigh, Haul Away” (voices by Allen J.M.Smith) is a well-known traditional sea chanty. Theverse about the French revolution suggests that itwas in use in the late 18th century.

“Kickin' Mule” (voice and banjo by AllenJ.M. Smith, guitar by John Barton, bass by JohnnyBullock) is a traditional old-time country stringband tune.

I hope these songs bring as much enjoy-ment to you as they have to me and to gener-ations of singers and listeners. Please singalong.

Allen J.M. SmithFeb. 2007