Folksinger, folklorist, and cultural historian Ellen Stekert has released her latest single, “Shugo”—a playful, rarely-heard piece of Americana with roots in vaudeville, circus songsters, and the lumbercamps of upstate New York.
“This is a nonsense song first sung to me by an old lumberjack in the 1950s named Ezra ‘Fuzzy’ Barhight,” writes Stekert. “It probably has vaudeville or music hall origins. He learned it from a song pamphlet sold at a traveling circus. Since he was a bit of a trickster, he liked the song a lot.”
Ellen worked very closely with Fuzzy during her days as a folksong collector—he was one of the two singers she wrote about for her Ph.D. thesis, and her 1958 Smithsonian Folkways album Songs of a New York Lumberjack was made up entirely of songs she learned from him. Fuzzy first played “Shugo” for Ellen when they first met in March 1956, but Ellen’s version of the song, heard above, wasn’t done for the Smithsonian sessions but was recorded about 10 years later.
The song itself describes “a man a bit strange,” delivered with humor and good-natured absurdity. Like many printed folk songs of its time, the words were set to the tune of another well-known melody, borrowing a chorus of nearly impossible-to-sing nonsense syllables. The result is a joyful chaos reminiscent of “Shule Aroo” and other playful traditions in folk music.
Stekert recalls how the song’s spirited nonsense always became a highlight of her concerts:
“In the spirit of the song as humorous nonsense, I often encouraged a concert audience to sing along on it—a request that usually brought on a good deal of laughter.”
With “Shugo,” Stekert once again bridges the gap between history and performance, reviving a song that traveled from circus pamphlets to lumbercamps, and now into the hands of a new generation of listeners.
“Shugo” is available now on all major streaming platforms and Bandcamp.
Credits
Released August 22, 2025
Guitar, Vocals: Ellen Stekert
Informant: Ezra “Fuzzy” Barhight
Producer: Ross Wylde
Production Assistant: Bates Detwiler
Editorial & Publicity Manager: Christopher Bahn
