Droll Yankees (1960's?)

Really the nicest hand drawn label art I've ever seen. My lettering style is totally influenced by this. I suppose I'm partial to this material. I was born in Quincy, and raised in Plymouth, Mass. 100% Yankee. - South Shore!

Most of the labels I am posting are from records I've owned for many years, but have never bothered to look up online. The history and catalog of Droll Yankees records is incredible! I want them all!

from http://www.blackbirdsf.org/dy/

"while very obviously a droll yankees lp, this one is a bit of a mystery, as no reference to it is made on any of the other records or inserts, and it duplicates the catalogue # from "swearing in the bushes".

droll yankees was a record label founded around 1960 to document "the sounds of old new england", and released records covering material ranging from sounds of the natural world and old trains or boats, to off-color new england humor and farm life. founded by peter kilham and alan bemis, it eventually took a sidelight to droll yankees' burgeoning bird feeder business, and now only a few of these records are available from them as cassettes (albeit with completely different cover art).

the original purpose of the record label is well-explained in the liner notes from dy-1, "the casket sinkers/caused by rum":

"now that the true yankee dialect is disappearing it suddenly becomes of value as does any rare book or scarce commodity. bemis and kilham and a few of their friends, who are real old-time yankees, feel that what little remains of the old-time humor and quaint language should be recorded before it disappears forever. with this in mind the company droll yankees inc. was formed by bemis and kilham, and a series of records is planned, all authentic, and on many different themes."

the later recordings, starting with dy-14, "birds on a may morning", switch to a different type of documentary recording, with the goal of creating a "picture in sound" of old new england, whether it be of the sounds of a particular wild habitat, or those of the disappearing steamboats and steam trains."