Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest - Johnny Cash and Roscoe Holcombe

Description

Rainbow Quest was a TV series hosted by Pete Seeger and filmed in the mid 1960s when folk music had enormous popularity. One show on this volume features Johnny Cash with his wife June Carter Cash reminiscing about his early influences and singing many early country ballads. The other show features Roscoe Holcombe, a banjo/guitar player from Hazard, Kentucky. The intensity he brings to traditional performance led Eric Clapton to call him "his favorite country musician."

Customer Reviews:

Low Quality B/W TV, but High Quality Visit with Johnny & June!.......2006-08-27

PETE SEEGER'S RAINBOW QUEST series on DVD seems to be an interesting find. This one featuring JOHNNY CASH and JUNE CARTER (before they got married), is very interesting for very serious Johnny Cash and June Carter fans. The TV picture often looks distorted, though acceptable given the obscurity of the original source. The quality of the performance more than makes up for the weaknesses of the picture and sound quality.

There is only about 40 minutes of screen time with Johnny & June, but it is all good. Johnny looks like he is in the final stages of his druggy era. He is emaciated, very skinny, like a concentration camp prisoner, and he acts pretty fidgety and nervous. He takes off his Beatles boots and sits through most of the show in his socks, chain smoking cigarettes. But luckily, as readers of his biography books know, despite his drug problems, the drugs usually never destroyed his ability to sing and play! He sings a few songs on the acoustic guitar, and June, Johnny and Pete talk and take turns singing telling stories.

This DVD is actually better as a talk show than as a music show. Johnny and June talk a lot about the Carter Family, their music tour of the Korean US troops, Peter LaFarge (their recently deceased mutual friend who was an American Indian activist and singer/songwriter), and introduce each song's origin before playing it.

This informal "jam" session is very laid back and oozes with the Folk Music attitude of the early 1960s. All the music is unplugged acoustic playing and singing on guitars and banjo.

I don't know what to make about Pete Seeger. He totally botches his introduction of June Carter by screwing up his explanation of the Carter Family's relations and key family tree. June actually corrects him, later, and they laugh it off, but it is weird that he screws up the facts with such a friendly, sincere look on his face (like he is schooling us on these obscure facts, but true fans immediately catch the boners and realize he is a bit clueless). It makes me wonder if the other stuff he says is accurate, and he says a ton of stuff during this entire DVD.

This is my first real look at Pete Seeger. He has a calm quality about him, like a less wimpy Mr. Roger's Neighborhood type guy. He loves to spontaneously burst into song, which is equally relaxing and pretentious. I will give him the benefit of the doubt, for now, since his TV show seemed to be a magnet for showcasing rootsy musicians, back then, 40 years ago. Pete redeems himself with his capable singing and playing, and his performance of the Peter LaFarge song, "Ki-Yo-Ti," (coyote), is very memorable and enjoyable.

There are two episodes on this DVD, which is part of a line of DVDs, if you feel like more, afterwards. Roscoe Holcomb and Jean Redpath are the guests in the second episode. Roscoe is an old codger, guitar and banjo player who sings with a high pitched whine. It appears that he was featured in an indie documentary film, back then, which they show a few clips from while he sings. Jean Redpath is a thirtysomething folk singer for Scotland, who usually sings accapella, between chatting about folks songs and music. Pete Seeger makes three, and it is an odd combination when the three of them sit around the table.

I bought this DVD just for Johnny and June's episode, and I find it very entertaining and informative, but this is from Johnny's folk music era, so his biggest hits are virtually ignored, and the theme is how cool can you get playing folk music and talking about the folk scene. That's cool, but it is not what Johnny is best known for these days, 40 years later.

If this still sounds interesting to you, then you will probably enjoy this DVD like I do!

No Johnny Cash on the DVD video........2006-06-12

The DVD I received had Johnny Cash's name and photo on the box.

"Johnny Cash" was written on the DVD.

But the DVD video has NO Johnny Cash. Instead, it has The Stanley Brothers and Doc Watson.

Where's the Cash?.......2006-04-09

Product was not Johnny Cash but Stanley/ Watson dvd...packaged correctly but not recorded with the right program. Thought it might have been corrected since 2005 so I took the chance, but evidentally not.......trying to get the right one at this point.

DOUBLE CHARGE DESPITE RETURNED WRONG ONE.......2006-01-22

received this dvd right cover-right label but still wrong
dvd!!Returned it with the right address information ordered a
new one which I got but was charge again!!Still waiting on my
credit note for the first returned wrong one!!
Jürgen Kramar
Kanzlerstrasse 218
75181 Pforzheim
Germany
Please take care of that as soon as possible,thank you!!

The Man in Black AND Roscoe Holcomb!.......2005-11-19

Wow. It's sweet to see Pete Seeger's well-meaning homespun folksy show, but his guests always steal the show. Here we have Johnny Cash and June Carter in the 60's. Johnny is skinny and jittery as a June Bug--might be the speed and booze. The minute Johnny tears into a song however, he's calm and collected with driving energy. Absolutely amazing performance. Even June sings a song here. That's not all, Roscoe Holcomb sings with a high-lonesome voice that was stolen from the ghosts of Appalachia. He plays guitar and banjo with such power and force, singing with a voice that'd raise the hairs on the back of your neck all the while chewing gum. A nice slice of the best. Thanks to Pete Seeger.

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