Rexford resident George Ward, folklorist, singer and “Canal Balladeer”, will present a program of canal songs and stories at Brookside Museum in Ballston Spa on Friday, October 25 at 7pm.
Ward performs both historical songs and his own compositions, reflecting two hundred years of New York State’s canals and their people.
His performance will include songs he has performed at folk festivals, in concert halls and coffeehouses, canalside, and on tour boats for fifty years. “Every song has a story and tells a story. I’ll tell some of those too” says George, “Having purposefully tried to honor the legacy of where I have lived for fifty years – in particular the Mohawk Valley and its part in the two-century epic of the Erie Canal – I still find it worth telling that story in song.”
His first canal album released in 1982 is entirely historical songs, from songs that may have come from the original diggers themselves to Thomas Allen’s nostalgia piece “Fifteen Years on the Erie Canal” (yes, “years” not “miles” is what he wrote). The second album in 1992 was mostly songs from the era preceding the Erie Canal itself, when westward travel meant batteaux poled stubbornly westward against prevailing winds and the river current. But that tale required a few new songs to flesh out the story, and so he became a canal bard. “Song-by-song I came to tell some of the story in my own voice, or perhaps in the faint voices of canal spirits” relates Ward, “I can tell you this: canallers are not a dull lot. Old or new, they’re entertaining rascals. I always try to do ‘em justice.”
This event is sponsored by the Saratoga County History Center at Brookside Museum. and is presented on the eve of the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. Look for additional regional celebrations coming up throughout the capital district next year. Registration is available HERE. Donations received during registration will be used for SCHC program development.
