The musical duo Castlebay, Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee, have undertaken a new endeavor: collecting and preserving Midcoast Maine’s musical heritage.
According to Lane, Maine’s traditional culture is under stress from migration patterns that see native Mainers leaving and people from out of state moving to Maine and bringing their own cultures with them.
“There’s a lot of change in the community,” Lane said.
Round Pond residents Lane and Gosbee said they hoped to reconnect Maine’s past with its present.
“Our goal for us is to focus on songs and bring them back into the light,” Lane said.
Lane and Gosbee take songs they’ve collected and make copies of them on more stable and modern medium through scans or CDs. The originals are returned to the owner once a copy is made. Some songs, such as those found on rapidly decaying acetate tapes, are in danger of being lost.
Lane and Gosbee have traveled up and down the Eastern Seaboard, including stops at the Library of Congress, looking for Maine music that has been sold or brought out of the state.
In New Jersey, Lane said she recovered a collection of songs by Carrie Grover, an early 20th century fiddler whose works can be found in the Library of Congress’ American Folk Life Archives. A collector from New Jersey had taken the music out of Maine.
“Why should I have to go to the Library of Congress? This is part of my heritage. There should be a copy in Maine,” Lane said.
Lane said a lot of their discoveries come from examining books of collected Maine songs and tracing the location of where the book’s compiler found each piece of music. On other occasions, a person will donate a copy of a cassette or an original document.
On one occasion, Gosbee said, he and Lane were performing a song when an audience member approached them and said she used to sing a different song with the same melody as a child. The audience member eagerly wrote down the lyrics and gave a copy to Lane and Gosbee.
During their research, Maine songs, Lane and Gosbee discovered, have traveled outside their cultural homeland. One, named “The Thomaston Prisoner,” about a Thomaston train robber, was reported to have been sung in an Irish town in Quebec, albeit with a different melody.
Certain melodies, Lane said, were widely used but had different lyrics from singer to singer.
Some of the songs the Castlebay duo has uncovered have been in Lincoln County. One, from 1813 and titled “The Brave Boys of Bristol” praises the bravery and ardor of Bristol sailors during the War of 1812.
“It’s always exciting to find something close to home,” Lane said, “Though it isn’t ‘great art’, it’s rousing and interesting.”
Another titled “The Fisherman’s Song,” dates to 1851 and tells the tragic tale of over a dozen fishermen who died during a terrible storm off the coast of Boothbay.
Lane and Gosbee look for any songs written before 1950, though determining the exact age of a piece can be difficult. A song could have been written down in the modern era, but have its origins in a much earlier period of history, Lane said.
They particularly seek out songs that are part of the oral tradition and have yet to be written down. Of particular interest, Lane said, is how these songs were passed down orally and eventually recorded.
“Memories are the best,” Lane said, “This is a living tradition they’ve incorporated into their mind.”
The pair is currently working with Dr. Pauleena MacDougall, Director of the University of Maine’s Folk Life Center, to archive and index songs and stories. MacDougall is assisting Lane and Gosbee in applying for funding that would help the pair pay for copying and cataloguing the songs they find.
MacDougall, who has worked with Lane and Gosbee for several years, praised their work, saying that they uncover and perform Maine folk “songs that people no longer hear.”
Lane and Gosbee perform some of the songs they find, polishing them and presenting them in a manner that’s appealing to modern audiences.
“One of our hopes is to reconnect people with their local heritage through songs,” Lane said.
Those who believe they have songs to contribute can send digital copies to castlebay@castlebay.net, or by mail to PO Box 168, Upper Round Pound Rd, Round Pound, 04564.
Lane and Gosbee can also be reached at 529-5438.
