Listen Now

An introduction to DOG TALES.  Following the PREFACE there are 57 more episodes.  Each episode contains one tale. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: ALL IN ONE BREATH was collected from Bill Hartsock, a Berea College student who got it from his girlfriend’s grandmother, Margy Riddell of Flat Gap, Virginia in 1982. Mrs. Riddell, born Bolling, was about age ninety when this verbal test was presented to her granddaughter. THAT IS THE LAST TALE! You can listen to the tales told by the author himself on podcast platforms. Look for DOG TALES on your podcast platform. https://anchor.fm/john-martin-ramsay5  Or for a copy of the book from  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dog-tales/id1257929153?mt=11 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: TAILIPO was collected from my wife, Risse Faye Layne Ramsay who heard it from her mother, Rilda Chandler Layne. Rilda was raised in Broadhead, Kentucky back in the late 1930’s. The Chandlers had moved to Kentucky from Madison County, North Carolina. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: THE FEUDING DOGS was collected from Kris Slank, a Berea College student who got the tale from his grandfather, K. G. McDaniel. The story has come down in the family. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: RUNAWAY HORSES was collected from A. D. Harrell of Tipton Hill, North Carolina. A. D. told me this tale in 1956 when I was spending an evening after testing his cows’ butterfat percentage. He corroborated the tale in August 1986 and identified Edward Whitson as the lad who tried to rein in the horses. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: THE DEAD DOG was collected from Joan Randall, a Berea College student who got the tale from Don Sauders of North Carolina who remembered it from about 1930. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: THE DOG TAX —by permission. See Humor of a Country Lawyer, by Sam J. Erwin, Jr. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1983, p 132. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: THE DOG LICENSE was collected from Loyal Jones of Berea College in 1982. The event took place in 1960 or 1961 and was by telephone. (see also RIFLE TOTING MONKEY and WALKING ON WATER) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: BANJO DOG was collected from David Morris of West Virginia. David shared this tale during the “World’s Fair,” i.e. Expo-84 at the Stokely Van Camp Folklife Center in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1984 where he was performing during a week featuring Berea College’s interest in Appalachian folk arts. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: A BRITISH TRAIN RIDE was collected from Henry Besuden, Vinewood Farm, Winchester, Kentucky in June 1975. March 2019, Alan Branson sent me this, “It was sent to me by my good friend, Don in Pompano Beach, Florida.” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: AN UNWELCOME GUEST was collected from Beatrice McLain at Berea College Christmas Country Dance School, 1979. Mrs. McLain claimed that Readers Digest picked up the story and published it but I have not been able to find it. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: THE SPLIT DOG by permission from Richard Chase. See Chase, American Folk Tales and Songs, Signet Key, 1956, pp 97-98. Chase heard the tale somewhere in eastern Kentucky. It appeared in Fisher’s River (North Carolina) Scenes and Characters , by “Skitt” published in New York, Harper & Brothers, 1859. See also Botkin, A Treasury og American Folklore, Bonanza Books, New York, 1954, pp 593-594. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: DRUMMER JOINS THE BAND was collected from Linda Brewer of Jackson County, Kentucky in 1978 during a Berea College Extension Course in Folk Arts. See also Sourwood Tales by Billy C. Clark, Putnam, New York, 1968, pp 218-224. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: DOGGONE BOOTS was collected from Doc McConnel of Rogersville, Tennessee in 1984. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: DOGHIDE SHOESTRINGS was collected from Margorie Mallicoat of White Oak, Tennessee in 1979. Frank Profitt, North Carolina musician used to tell a tale about his uncle using the hide from his wife’s “bitchy” dog to cover his banjo. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: LARIPIN, RARIPIN,SKOONKIN HUNTING was collected orally from a tenth grade student in my class in Micaville, North Carolina in 1956. Printed sources are: Roberts, South From Hell-fer-Sartin,  tale number 78a; and Chase, Grandfather Tales, tale number 15, page 137. Roberts source was Charles Holcomb on Big Leatherwood who said he had heard this tale on a talking machine record when he was a boy. Chase cites an Alabama source in his compilation of Uncle Remus. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: RIDDLE was collected from Loyal Jones, a native of Clay County, North Carolina. He knew the riddle ‘all of his life.’ (see also WALKING ON WATER and RIFLE TOTING MONKEY) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: MYSTERIOUS TWINS was collected from Anna Hobbs, native of Madison County, Kentucky. Told by her grandmother, Maggie Odell of Possum Kingdom in the 1970’s. I checked the story out with Anna’s mother, Geneva Jennings. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: RIFLE TOTING MONKEY was collected from Loyal Jones and Michael Doane Moore in 1978. Jerry Clower’s humor and stories have had widespread audiences and much of his material, like this tale, has entered the folk process. Clower’s first recording, “Jerry Clower from Yazoo City, Mississippi Talkin,” a Decca recording, was number 11 on national country album charts (see article, Knock ‘im out Jay-ree! In Sports Illustrated 38:17.pp 75-84, April 30, 1973. Clower heard the rifle toting monkey tale while in high school, perhaps from his cousin Johnny. Used by permission. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message

Notes: WALKING ON WATER was collected from Loyal Jones, Director of Berea College Appalachian Center, 1975. This is one of the most widespread dog stories. (see also RIDDLE and RIFLE TOTING MONKEY) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-martin-ramsay5/message