Omar Blondahl Listings at GEST Songs Of NFLD

Omar Blondahl Listings at GEST Songs Of NFLD
[1923-1993]
(V)=video

All Around Green Island Shore ~ Traditional

Concerning Charlie Horse

Feller From Fortune ~ Traditional

The Half Door ~ Traditional (V)

The H'Emmer Jane ~ Traditional

The Huntingdon Shore ~ Traditional (V)

If I Were A Blackbird ~ Traditional

Jack Was Every Inch A Sailor ~ Traditional (V)

Kitchie-Coo Bill Wiseman

The Master-Watch Dan Carrol

The Moonshine Can ~ Pat Troy

My Father's Old Sou'Wester ~ William (Bill) Hollett (V)

My Little Blue Hen ~ Johnny Burke

The Norfeld And The Raleigh ~ George Williams

The Petty Harbour Bait Skiff ~ John Grace

Prison Of Newfoundland ~ Johnny Doyle

The Roving Newfoundlander ~ Traditional

The Sealer's Song ~ Traditional

Sig-i-nal Hill (Citadel Hill) ~ Traditional

The Ship That Never Returned ~ Henry Clay Work (V)

The Southern Cross ~ Traditional

The Southern Shore Queen ~ Gertrude Carew Cahill (V)

Tickle Cove Pond ~ Mark Walker

Trinity Cake ~ Johnny Burke

Twin Lakes ~ Traditional

We'll Rant And We'll Roar ~ Henry Le Messurier

When Paddy McGinty Plays The Harp ~ Cavanaugh, Redmond, Weldon (V)

Biographical Notes

Omar (Sagebrush Sam) Blondahl [1923-1993] was born in Wynard, east of Saskatoon, in the province of Saskatchewan of Icelandic parents. Folk singer and guitarist, he studied piano and violin in his youth, and voice later in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Taking the name Sagebrush Sam around 1944, he sang country music on radio throughout western Canada until 1951, then worked as a folk singer until 1953 in Hollywood, California. He lived from 1955 to 1964 in St John's, NL, where he developed a repertoire of island folk songs, some of which he collected himself. Adopting a Newfoundland accent and employing a simple vocal and guitar style, Blondahl performed locally and, in broadcasts on national radio and television from Halifax, Nova Scotia and Toronto, ON, popularized Newfoundland songs throughout Canada. Under his own name and as Sagebrush Sam he made several 33-1/3 rpm LPs of Newfoundland material for Rodeo, Arc, and Melbourne records. He also edited Newfoundlanders Sing!: A Collection of Favorite Newfoundland Folk Songs (St John's, 1964). Blondahl subsequently lived in the Arctic, and in 1979 settled in Vancouver.

~ From Omar Blondahl's Contribution To The Newfoundland Folksong Canon, by Neil Rosenberg, Canadian Folk Music Journal, Vol 18, 1991.

~ Watch Omar Blondahl's playlist below ~

~ Above videos are also viewable on lyrics pages ~

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