Folk Songs by Conor Nickerson

(Some tracks are not on Bandcamp. For the full album, see the link below.)

I began recording these songs in early 2022 as I was listening to a lot of American folk music and teaching myself recording and mixing. At the time, I was in my sixth month of listening to construction in the apartment below mine, so learning, playing, and eventually recording these songs was a way for me to take my mind off the noise.

Originally, the album was meant to be just one-take recordings of voice and guitar. But as the months went on and the project snowballed into a larger one with additional parts and arrangements, I realized I needed to stop myself or I would never finish. The music was becoming a compulsive escape rather than the fun project that it started out as. So in order to tie up the loose ends, I made drastic decisions, leading to some tracks featuring weird mixes, synths, and auto-tune.

In late 2022, I finished the album but felt that it was too demo-y and incoherent to share. In early 2023, I returned to it, attempting to recapture the original voice-and-guitar sound that had inspired me to record the songs, which lead to some alternate versions. I shelved the project again, but ultimately came back to it in November 2023, deciding to finish it once and for all.

Folk music has long been a means of expression by the people, for the people — the word "folk" comes from the old English "folc", meaning "common people" — and as such, the history of American folk music represents the history of America itself.

For instance, some traditional songs which are still well known today (Camptown Races, Jimmy Crack Corn, Oh Susanna, Jingle Bells, Buffalo Gals, Shoo Fly Don't Bother Me, I've Been Working On The Railroad to name a few) trace their roots back to minstrel shows — a kind of theater that emerged in the early 1800s which consisted of largely white actors performing in blackface, stereotyping people of African descent for entertainment. Minstrel shows became extremely popular throughout the 19th century and continued to be performed up until the 1970s.

Of the song Worried Man Blues, the website Ballads of America notes that the reason for the narrator's incarceration could be the crime of "vagrancy", one which predominantly targeted African Americans in the post-abolition South. "Under the convict leasing system, prisoners were leased to the owners of factories, farms, mines, and railroads to meet the South's demand for cheap labor after the abolition of slavery. These prisoner laborers, primarily African American men, sometimes lived out their lives without trial or connection to their families." While the practice officially "ended" in 20th century, similar forms of prisoner labor continued after and continue today. (Link in the description for Worried Man Blues.)

In the end, this album was a lesson in embracing imperfection, a practical lesson in recording and mixing, and a lesson in American history. These songs are ones which are near to my heart or which have grown on me in the last two years. I hope you may find a song or two that you like, and I recommend listening to the original recordings as well. I made a Spotify playlist of the recordings I listened to of these songs which you can listen to here:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/10xurz9GCd6gq8yIC9rqzc?si=c100d710a4de4326

The music is free, but if you feel so inclined, I would recommend donating to a charity that supports social justice causes such as the NAACP, ACLU, EJI, or your preferred charity.

Thank you for reading and listening.

Full album:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1d2zXh_HIYZxeBut3bd_-Bb-3xNvoQoM&feature=shared

Conor Nickerson is an American-born songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, filmmaker, and photographer based in Montreal, Quebec.

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