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BUELL KAZEE 
The Appalachian Mountains have nurtured many fine traditional musicians, and the late Reverend Buell Kazee was one of the finest. He was born at the head of Burton Fork in Magoffin County in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, and was an extraordinary ballad singer, with a versatile voice and a profound sense of the place of the ballad in musical literature. As a Baptist minister he had a deep sense of tradition in both theology and music. Because most of his life was taken up with preaching and his duties to his congregation, he had a limited time for music. Yet when he performed, he did so with integrity and arresting style. He had an extensive repertoire of traditional music including rare ballads and songs. With his knowledge of both music and folklore, he preserved with discerning ear and voice the modes and styles of the past. Bess Lomax Hawes introduced him at the Newport Folk Festival as the man from whom so many modern folk singers, such as Joan Baez, had learned some of their songs. His banjo style was a unique variation on the traditional frailing style, and he played in as many as eleven different tunings.
Although Brunswick Records released 52 numbers by Buell Kazee on 78 rpm recordings in the late 1920s, and Harry Smith included him in his influential Anthology of American Folk Music in 1952 (re-released by Smithsonian Folkways on CDs in 1997), his music was relatively unknown to the American public until Buell Kazee Sings and Plays was released by Folkways in 1958. However, Buell was not happy with this LP because the recording was done under informal conditions in his home over two days, and he felt he had not performed well.
THE ORIGINAL ALBUM – BUELL KAZEE
(June Appal Recordings 009, 1978)
The original June Appal LP Buell Kazee was an effort with the consent and help of the Kazee family and an understanding of Buell’s tastes and preferences, to make up for what should have been done in his lifetime to bring his music to the wider audience it deserves.
Released in 1978 by June Appal Recordings, Buell Kazee was produced by Appalachian Studies scholar Loyal Jones, publisher and poet Jonathan Greene, and musician John McCutcheon. Tracks for the album were culled from recordings made by Buell Kazee, Mark Wilson, KET, and Karen Collins, including: (Side One) “Roll On, John,” “Jay Gould’s Daughter,” “The Lady Gay,” “Steel-A-Going Down,” “The Roving Cowboy,” “Banjo Medley: Blue-Eyed Gal, Rock Little Julie, What’ll I Do with the Baby-O,” (Side Two) “Look Up, Look Down That Lonesome Road,” “Sporting Bachelors,” “The Orphan Girl,” “Black Jack Davy,” “The Blind Man,” “O, Thou in Whose Presence,” and “Amazing Grace.”
THE NEW CD RE-RELEASE
The original ¼-inch recording of Buell Kazee were recently preserved by the Appalshop Archive. Through a collaboration between Appalshop, the Berea College Appalachian Sound Archives, John Cohen, Mark Wilson, Karen Collins, and original album producers Loyal Jones and Jonathan Greene, Buell Kazee was re-released on CD in June of 2007. In addition to the original LP release tracks, CD bonus tracks of "Wexford Girl," "Butcher's Boy," "Wagoner's Lad," "Short Life of Trouble," "Shady Grove," "East Virginia" and "Hook and Line" are included. To order your copy today, please go to the Appalshop Store.
*Additions for Rounder, Shanachie, and Folkways coming soon
Discography by Norm Cohen
(Courtesy of JEMF)
The following discography includes all of Buell Kazee's recordings made for the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company in the period 1927-29. Kazee made no more recordings until almost three decades later, when an album of his music was issued on the Folkways label. The discography is based on an earlier one compiled by John Edwards and published in CARAVAN No. 17 (June-July 1959). It has been updated with information from Brunswick ledgers. The editor is also pleased to acknowledge the helpful cooperation of Rev. Kazee, David Crisp and David Freeman in supplying additional information.
- Click Here to download Discography PDF.