Loman D. Cansler Folksongs of the Midwest Folkways 1973

Loman D. Cansler Folksongs of the Midwest Folkways 1973 CAT# FH 5330

Loman D. Cansler was an archivist, historian and collector. He recorded a number of collections of Midwest folk songs that were focused on Missouri. He collected and found these tunes, recording them for the Folkways label as a way to archive them. His day to day, at least per the booklet supplied with this LP indicates Cansler was in the education field. At the time of this LP's release he was a counselor at North Kansas City High School. Prior to that, he was performing, archiving, and writing articles on Missouri folk music around the St. Louis area.

As a performer, he's pretty simple. The album is just Cansler and mostly just his guitar, some tunes due have minimal accompaniment, an organ or piano show up here and there. His vocals are plain, simple and pleasant. He doesn't embellish the tunes with guitar, he just uses it to establish the melody. The songs selected on the LP deal with religion, hardships, and religion. Typical Midwest stuff. Cansler provides a brief history of each song in the albums booklets as well as the lyrics. Like any old Folkways record, it's educational and presented as archival material. Worth picking it up if you see it.