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Friday 25 November 2022

Rest Easy Mary

It was very sad to hear the news of Wilko Johnson's passing. Some of the folks on the right hand side of the page have already paid tribute to him and I can't improve on what they have said. Instead I am going to honour the memory of someone whose death I was unaware of until I saw her name on the obituary page in the current edition of Uncut. 

Mary McCaslin was an American folksinger whose recording career was mostly in the 1970s and early 1980s but was still active until relatively recently. If you are a fan of Nanci Griffith or Iris Dement you might appreciate her work, and some of you may dimly recall we featured her bluegrass version of "Blackbird" on a Single Song Sunday once. 

Mary died last month of progressive supranuclear palsy. We lost my dear old Dad to that just over two years ago and it is a truly horrible disease. If her experience was anything like his then the last few years of her life will have been pretty awful, so I'm glad she is now at peace.

"The Bramble And The Rose", the album she made with her then husband Jim Ringer, has long been a favourite of mine so we have one track from that as well as a couple of solo numbers.

"Back To Salinas" - Mary McCaslin

"San Bernardino Waltz" - Mary McCaslin

"Copperfields" - Mary McCaslin & Jim Ringer

4 comments:

  1. A new name to me.I can see the Nanci and Iris comparisons. Sorry to hear of her passing.

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  2. Three top tracks today, thanks Ernie.

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  3. I thought I recognised Mary McCaslin's name but a quick look and the only McCaslin in my collection is Donny (no relation, I think), the saxophonist on David Bowie’s last album, Blackstar.

    Sad to read of how Mary passed and your own connection to that via your Dad, Ernie. As you say, I'm glad she is now at peace and thanks for your words and music selections.

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  4. Not a name I'm familiar with, but those are some nice tunes.

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