Old Times and Hard Times

Hedy West was the daughter of Don West, a poet and labor organizer throughout the south. In the 1930's, he learned songs from coal miners during his work as a relief worker - these make up the most recent songs to appear on Old Times and Hard Times, while other songs were passed down from the longstanding musical tradition of her family in the mountains of northern Georgia. Initially a student of classical music at the Mannes School, West participated in the Greenwich Village scene during the Folk Revival, performing alongside Pete Seeger in the early 1960's. In the liner notes, West explains that she makes music "neither for diversion nor escape. Not for irrelevant play. But because music is one part of the creative activity of man that gives vital evidence that he has value and is worth continuing".

Track Listing

101	The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin	Hedy West	02:33
102	Fair Rosamund	Hedy West	01:33
103	Barbara Allen	Hedy West	05:20
104	Old Joe Clark	Hedy West	02:57
105	The Coal Miner's Child	Hedy West	01:40
106	Gambling Man	Hedy West	02:54
107	Brother Ephus	Hedy West	02:13
108	Polly	Hedy West	01:33
109	The Davison-Wilder Blues	Hedy West	03:50
110	Lament for Barney Graham	Hedy West	01:14
111	The Rich Irish Lady	Hedy West	03:01
112	Shut up in the Mines at Coal Creek	Hedy West	01:24
113	The Wife of Usher's Well	Hedy West	03:46