SAME OLD MAN (1971) by Karen Dalton

'Same Old Man' appears to be a variation of one of my favourite songs, 'Old Man At The Mill', done by various people such as Ian Matthews, the Dillards and Doc Watson. This is the slowest version, but I like it too, particularly Karen Dalton's unusual voice (some raise similarities with Billie Holiday's).

A cult singer, 12-string guitarist, and banjo player of the New York 1960s folk revival, Karen Dalton is not widely known, despite counting the likes of Bob Dylan and Fred Neil among her acquaintances (see photo of them in the slideshow). She only recorded a few albums and her voice was not what you would call mainstream. The Band's "Katie's Been Gone," included on The Basement Tapes, is rumoured to be about Dalton.

Her albums are available at places such as Amazon. I have put together a slideshow video for this song.

Comments and ratings are welcome.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Karen
• Dalton
• Same
• Old
• Man
• Bob
• Dylan
• michaelbackhouse

[redcrowdemon]

Who the f*** is Karen Dalton? And why haven't heard of her? This is magnificient...

[demolitionwoman75]

I just found out about Karen Dalton via a review of Alela Diane. And I can't believe I hadn't heard of her before! The "freak-folk" artists of today definitely owe her a debt. ♥

[Dedalde0ro]

Maravilloso

[PHJimY]

Thirty some odd years ago I found Karen's In My Own Time in a bargain bin at Zellers with a hole punched through the corner. The liner notes said she played banjo and had a Fred Neil quote about her "singing the shit out of the blues", so I decided to give it a shot. I immediately became a fan, but could not convince anyone else to listen past the first cut. I never heard any more about her till about 5 years ago I was in the Only restaurant in Peterborough, Ontario and heard her voice.

[superarmysoldier12]

@demolitionwoman75 You hippy mother. I bet you drink your own urine too. You hippy son of a... joking.

[kezradio]

Karen Dalton was a protege of Fred Neil. Her version of Can't Find My Way Home is great. She also played great guitar

[superfuzzymomma]

Yes, great job you did to bring this great unknown artist to Youtube!

[msgambate88]

best singer you've never heard of...

[MrRossogood]

Beautiful Karen, beautiful photo montage. Thank you!

[Esqpainting]

@clevblue

Thanks! E-Tuning is so sad on the banjo, and that's me now.

Poor Karen too. I wish I could reach across time and space and try to cheer her up a bit.

But I'm a ridiculous and pathetic clown, born too late I guess. Born in the wrong decade and/or century.

[clevblue]

@Esqpainting It's a long neck 5string banjo, 3 extra frets means it can be tuned low, (open E is usual)

Pete Seeger invented it, I play one now. Check out also Hedy West on here, she played a long neck banjo, a contemporary of Karen Dalton, she recorded "Old Country" tunes and also had a distinctive voice