Karen Dalton did not write her own songs. Instead, she collected, arranged, and performed the songs of others that she felt a personal connection to. Many of her songs came from her contemporaries who performed in Greenwich Village with her. On her debut, she covered two songs by Fred Neil, one by Tim Hardin, and one by Major Wiley.
The information about Major Wiley, his recordings, and his career are sparse. He was an active singer/songwriter on the folk circuit for much of the sixties and early seventies. This led to one single recorded in 1969 ('Rockin' Chair') and one album in 1972 (Seventh Child). Major Wiley ceased touring some time in the early to mid-seventies and moved to London, England where he took up acting and was fairly active during the eighties. Since 1989, he has disappeared from the public eye, but it appears that he is still living in London as of 2008 where he performed in a BBC Radioplay about Marvin Gaye.
As soon as I can, I'm going to upload some of his music to share (as none of it can be found online) and edit in a few comments about his style. In the meantime, I don't want the tour to come to a halt, so I'm going to forge ahead with the next artist.
Here is the complete discography for Major Wiley:
Rockin' Chair (1969 single)
Seventh Child
If you have any ideas for where the tour should go next, please give a shout. I'm open to whatever as long as the artists are historically related in some way and go in an artist's chronological order.
Pass the Headphones!!
Please upload the music of Major Wiley I new him in New York in the 1960s.
ReplyDeleteAre you Ted Teschner? I'm Cerves McNeill who use to play bass and guitar with Major from late '68 - June '70. I remember you use to have a barber's chair in your van, and I recall hearing "Spinning Wheel" for the first time when while visiting you and Elaine. Major and I met as actor in "Putney Swope." Being nine years my senior, Major was the older brother I never had. Check out this link about Major playing a benefit concert for ShelterBox this Saturday, February 25th in Helston, West Cornwall, UK.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Singing-blues-aid-ShelterBox/story-15296466-detail/story.html
I listened to Major Wiley playing alongside Dave Sugarbeat and, among others, my good friend Michael Samora, the Texas Blues singer. This was last night at the Blue Anchor in Helston Cornwall. Where they played a fundraiser for the Shelterbox charity.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing night and Major Wiley was just exceptional.
My sister and I knew Major Wiley in the seventies,he also performed in a folk club we ran. He was such fun and a great performer.
ReplyDeleteYes, it would be great to hear some of his music again...we always wondered what had happened to him. I can imagine he would be a great actor.
ReplyDelete