Burl Ives

New Zealand Listener, Volume 23, Issue 583, 25 August 1950, Page 12

Burl Ives

| [LISTENING recently to two short programmes by Burl Ives from 1YD, I was struck, for the first time, by the exceptional artistry of this ‘singer. I have heard him, over-frequently perhaps, singing hackneyed pops with aggressive *

"name-artists,’ and as one lending distinction to otherwise mediocre movies. But to meet him in these programmes singing the kind of music. so few exploit naked today-authentic American folk-songs-was to realise the qualities of freshness, simplicity and gentle sincerity he possesses. His voice, as such, is nothing remarkable, but his sensitivity is. He responds so completely to the varying moods of these naive ballads that it is often difficult to believe that one has been listening to the same man. And the plain delivery adds a lingering pathos to the cowboy, mountain and jailhouse songs. I have heard the Andrews Sisters wailing Down in the Valley, and imagined it was about a vale haunted by exploded factory-

whistles, I had heard Kurt Weill’s _ interesting variations on the song. Yet it was only when [ heard Bur] Ives sing it that I was aware of its poignancy and the beauty of its melodic line. A man who can present such a piece bare of trimmings, and go on to give new depth and dignity to weary Lord Randal, is an artist of no mean stature.