Top tracks
Listeners also bought
Other Traditional Folk albums
Other Polka albums
Put your hands on the remote! browse music »Texas Lowlands by Brian Marshall and his Tex-Slavic Playboys
view larger image
fave it Traditional Folk | Polka
12 tracks | 32 minutes
Released Mar 2006
on Marzalek Recordings
Click
for a 30-second preview. All tracks are 192kbps high fidelity sound quality. Protected WMA $0.77 or unprotected MP3 $0.88.
listen album 30sec. shuffle buy CD review album promote album
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:52 Grasshopper Polka lyrics BUY MP3 02:52 Grasshopper Polka lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:52 Grasshopper Polka
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:52 Flat Lake Special lyrics BUY MP3 02:52 Flat Lake Special lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:52 Flat Lake Special
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:14 Where is My Grey Horse? (Gdzie ty moja Siwi Konie) lyrics BUY MP3 02:14 Where is My Grey Horse? (Gdzie ty moja Siwi Konie) lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:14 Where is My Grey Horse? (Gdzie ty moja Siwi Konie)
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:23 Ike's Polka (Co wy tutej Robita) lyrics BUY MP3 02:23 Ike's Polka (Co wy tutej Robita) lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:23 Ike's Polka (Co wy tutej Robita)
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:01 Wiesniak (Village) Oberek lyrics BUY MP3 02:01 Wiesniak (Village) Oberek lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:01 Wiesniak (Village) Oberek
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:37 Blue Skirt Waltz lyrics BUY MP3 02:37 Blue Skirt Waltz lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:37 Blue Skirt Waltz
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:00 Cendalski Special lyrics BUY MP3 03:00 Cendalski Special lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:00 Cendalski Special
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:34 Texas Polish Wedding March Medley lyrics BUY MP3 03:34 Texas Polish Wedding March Medley lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:34 Texas Polish Wedding March Medley
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:32 White Chimney (Bialy Komin) lyrics BUY MP3 02:32 White Chimney (Bialy Komin) lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:32 White Chimney (Bialy Komin)
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:24 No Reason to Go Home (Do domu nie mam poco isc) lyrics BUY MP3 03:24 No Reason to Go Home (Do domu nie mam poco isc) lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:24 No Reason to Go Home (Do domu nie mam poco isc)
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:13 Hyman Special lyrics BUY MP3 02:13 Hyman Special lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:13 Hyman Special
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:58 Pije Kuba (Drunk Jake) Polka lyrics BUY MP3 02:58 Pije Kuba (Drunk Jake) Polka lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:58 Pije Kuba (Drunk Jake) Polka
Traditional Polkas, songs and obereks as played by a modern Texas-Polish dance band.
Bio / Background
Check out this great new CD of Texas Polish Polka music by Houston based fiddler Brian Marshall.
Several small towns in Texas -- New Waverly, Chappel Hill and Bremond, to name a few -- were settled by Poles that immigrated to the Lone Star State in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. As a result, these communities have fostered a style of music that connects them over time and space to the villages of Poland. This down-home style utilizes the instruments that were readily available on the rural American landscape at the time -- violin, bass, guitar and accordion – but has largely avoided the brass sound that became popular among American Poles in more northern urban areas. To this day, the western swing-tinged polkas and obereks performed by Texas Poles still can be heard at weddings, family reunions and other community events.
↓ more ↓A fourth generation musician of Polish ancestry, Brian Marshall (nee Marszalek) started playing music at the age of 7 and he likely learned his first Polish tune at 8. Brian’s grandfather was a fiddler, from Bremond, Texas – the single largest Polish settlement in the state until the Second World War—and from him Brian learned a true affection for the old music. As a teenager, Brian played in a country band that would flip to its Polish set list for the right community events. By his late 20s Brian realized an entire generation of Texas Polish musicians were disappearing and their repertoires with them. In response, he started recording himself and many of the older players to ensure that the music was not lost. His passion for this effort has resulted in two acclaimed and currently available recording projects, the self-produced "Polish Roots" and "Texas Kapela", on Arhoolie Records.
Song List:
1.Grasshopper Polka
A polka with German origins but very popular amongst Texas Poles
2. Flat Lake Special
A popular waltz from Bremond, from the repertoire of fiddler Steve Okonski.
3. Hyman Special
An oberek learned from fiddler William Hyman (Hajman) of New Wavery, TX. Collected on a road trip with my friend Frank Motley. With the complete absence of minor key tunes in Texas, we were astonished to hear William play this tune with a minor section. Or at the age of 83 was he just playing flat? Your guess is as good as ours.
4.Cendalski Special
The great Daniel Cendalski played this one for me on his front porch in Brenham, TX.
5.Drunk Jake
A Polish drinking song sung by both Chappel Hill and Bremond Poles.
6. White Chimney
This is Bremond’s “Bride Dance” song performed at weddings.
7. Blue Skirt Waltz
A beautiful and well loved Czech waltz. Probably still the most requested waltz at dances in Texas.
8. Where is my Gray Horse
These lyrics were sung to me by Ike Modzrejewski a couple of months prior to his death. A favorite “foot stomper” in Chappel Hill and Brenham TX.
9. No Reason to Go Home
A very popular Bremond Waltz taught to me by Joe Bartula. He actually had the words written down as sung by his mother Aniela Bartula.
10. Wedding Marches
As DJ’s become increasingly popular I thought it time to put the Marches on CD so that Texas Poles would have appropriate music for the “Grand March” as opposed to some hokey northern Polka version of “Roll out the Barrel” that the DJ picked up at Wal Mart.
11. Ike’s polka
Ike Modzrejewski loved to sing this one!
12. Village Oberek
Fiddler Joe Kujawa recorded this tune some years ago as he remembered it being played by Steve Okonski. I recently dug up some old recordings of Steve from the late 40’s that had the complete version and I like it. A LOT!
↑ less ↑






