Pinery Boys: Songs and Songcatching in the Lumberjack Era is essentially three different books. Its largest section is a reprinting of Franz Rickaby’s classic 1926 collection of folk songs and ballads from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. But it is also a well-researched scholarly introduction to Rickaby, his folksong collecting efforts, and the historical and social context of his life and times. And it is also a fascinating personal memoir by Rickaby’s granddaughter, Gretchen Dykstra, who retraced his journeys through the Midwest to learn about the grandfather she never knew. The stories of his journeys, along with a number of period photos, allow readers to get to know both Dykstra and Rickaby, making the assembled works in the rest of the book more interesting. Part memoir, part academic text, Pinery Boys, a reference to the men on a lumberjack crew, blends these two distinct styles into a unique volume that paints a rich cultural picture of the lumberjack era in the Midwest and the state of an important occupational folksong genre in a time before mass media.
Part One, “Songcatching in the Lumberjack Era,” begins with James Leary’s introduction, which provides necessary background information about folk music fieldwork, “songcatching,” and introduces readers to one of the best American songcatchers, Franz “Frenzy” Rickaby, whose work, both published and unpublished, forms the basis for the next two sections of the text. But it is Dykstra’s memoir that makes up a bulk of this section. In following Dykstra’s journey, we learn a lot about Franz Rickaby, affectionally nicknamed Frenzy by his wife, Lillian. His death in 1926 at thirty-five left Lillian a widow to raise their four-year-old son. It also left her with a posthumously released academic work and a number of unfinished manuscripts. The personal story of Dykstra’s journey to learn about her grandfather is, to me, the best part of the book. Her prose is pleasant and personal, humanizing Rickaby. He becomes a fascinating field scholar whom we grow to admire.
Part Two is a republication of Rickaby’s text, Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy, and makes up the largest portion of Pinery Boys. Containing more than fifty different songs, including numerous variations and thorough annotation, this section comprises more than 200 pages. Originally published in 1926, shortly after his death, this work contains many fascinating songs and colorful characters, including the gentleman lumberjack Jack Haggerty, a Michigan man not too keen on fighting, apparently, who is immortalized in several versions of the ballad “Jack Haggerty’s Flat River Girl.” As a lifelong resident of Michigan, I was naturally attracted to the songs that could be traced back to my home state, including “The Shanty-man’s Alphabet,” “Michigan-I-O,” and “The Hanging Limb,” just to name a few. This section is a fascinating collection that could only be improved upon by musical accompaniment.
Part Three, “Forgotten Songs from the Rickaby Manuscripts,” is very brief, containing just fourteen songs. Not surprisingly, since it is unfinished work, it lacks the depth and detail of the previous section, but Leary provides additional details, as needed. “The Indian’s Lament” is perhaps the strongest piece here, but all of them are worthy of examination. While this small sampling does not include the totality of Rickaby’s unfinished work, it at least extends his scholarship in a meaningful fashion and pays tribute to a man whose work was cut short by his untimely death.
The text includes a number of supplemental materials, including a glossary which, humorously enough, does not include a definition of a pinery boy. Despite this omission, the section is quite helpful, since words like boom, crib, and corks are not used in the familiar sense, and others, like go-devil, wanigan, and cant-hook were completely new to me. The text also includes an inventory of Rickaby’s notebooks, as well as three different indexes, making it easier to locate songs either by title, first lines, or song sources. Though these were not consulted extensively for the purposes of this review, it is apparent how each one would be helpful for ethnomusicologists and other researchers.
Pinery Boys is the classic case of the whole being worth more than the sum of its parts. Without Leary’s annotations and establishment of context, Rickaby’s work, though interesting and thoroughly researched, is a nearly century-old work consisting primarily of songs and lyrics. Dykstra’s journey, which the reader gets to share, briefly allows readers into Rickaby’s world of the early 1900s, making the reader much more invested in lumberjacks and their songs. The book paints a truly beautiful picture of Americana, a likable central figure in Franz Rickaby, and a compelling journey of family, folklore, and music.
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[Review length: 776 words • Review posted on January 30, 2019]