Martin Žák & Stará almara aneb Old-Time Country Music

started writing my own Czech lyrics for American folk music for my own good feeling, for my personal needs and pleasure. In first couple of years, only my closest ones could hear them when I sang them at home with my guitar, banjo, autoharp or just chanted them during work without any musical instrument. My wife Denda sang some of them when she was cooking, hanging clothes on a line, mending the clothes or doing dishes. And later some of them found a good use as lullabies for our son Kubík. When I took these ancient melodies and home-made lyrics out from my house among people I was surprised how quickly they found their way in other people’s hearts. And there was more: they have become a part of people’s lives and settled in their houses. If my songs manage to draw your attention to traditional country songs or if you start to mutter some of my verses when chopping wood or doing dishes I will be as happy as when I have time to sit on the sunlit doorstep of my house with my old banjo…

Yours truly, Martin Žák

The following list includes songs with Czech lyrics of Martin Žák in alphabetical order (you can see the original names and authors in brackets).
The list will be gradually updated with complete lyrics and guitar chords.

Arkansaský cestovatel	(Arkansas Traveler / traditional)
Až má milá najde cestu	(She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain / traditional)
Běta z hor	(Rell & Rock / David Holt)
Bouda v kopcích Jižních hor	(The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane / William S. Hays)
Břeh zdá se blíž, Michaeli	(Michael, Row the Boat Ashore / traditional)
Cumberland Gap	(Cumberland Gap / traditional)
Dáma se zelenými rukávy	(Greensleeves / anglická lidová)
Dál tou vlídnou ženou zůstáváš	(Gentle On My Mind / John Hartford)
Devítilibrový kladivo	(Nine Pound Hammer / traditional)
Dědečkovy hodiny	(Grandfather’s Clock / Henry C. Work)
Dnešní noc nesmím bejt sám	(Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms / traditional)
Dopisy ze staré skříňky	(A Package of Old Love Letters / L. Goullard, P. White)
Drž mě víc	(Let Me Fall / traditional)
Dům v Modrejch horách	(My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains / traditional)
Erijský kanál	(The Erie Canal / traditional)
Expres půlnoční	(Midnight Special / traditional)
Holky z Buffalo	(Buffalo Gals / John Hodges)
Hříbě	(Pony Boy / traditional)
Irská pradlena	(The Irish Washerwoman / traditional)
Já milou mám za širým mořem	(My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean / traditional)
Kánoe z gumovníku	(The Gum Tree Canoe / A. F. Winnemore, S. S. Steele)
Kapitán Kidd	(Captain Kidd / traditional)
Králík v hrachovym záhonku	(Rabbit in the Pea Patch / traditional)
Krocan na slámě	(Turkey in the Straw / traditional)
Kruh	(Will the Circle Be Unbroken / C. H. Gabriel, A. R. Habershon)
Křehká Sadie a mizera Lee Brown	(Little Sadie / traditional)
Letní jablíčko	(June Apple / traditional)
Lízo, vrať se zas k nám!	(Skip to My Lou / traditional)
Mé dny	(Early / Greg Brown)
Metu, metu, metu	(Sweepy, Sweepy, Sweepy / Pete & Mika Seeger)
Milospán spí	(Jim Along Josey / traditional)
Myší král	(Aiken Drum / traditional)
Nákladní vlak	(Freight Train / Elizabeth Cotten)
Nechoď, lásko, spát!	(Come On Out Tonight / traditional)
Nechte mi mou starou víru	(Old Time Religion / traditional)
Nejstarší slepička	(Cluck Old Hen / traditional)
Není s kým	(Sail Away Ladies / traditional)
Nevydařená svatba	(When We Gonna Get Married / traditional)
Oči drahé Zuzany	(Oh! Susanna / Stephen C. Foster)
Oleana	(Oleana / Ditmar Meidell)
Pár slok pro zimní noc	(Song For Winter’s Night / Gordon Lightfoot)
Potulnej kazatel	(Methodist Pie / traditional)
Poutník	(Wayfaring Stranger / traditional)
Prosté dárky	(Simple Gifts / Elder J. Brackett, Jr.)
Reubenův vlak	(Reuben's Train / traditional)
Roztomilá Betsy	(Charming Betsy / traditional)
Sem s tou šťávou!	(Hot Corn, Cold Corn / traditional)
Shenandoah	(Shenandoah / traditional)
Sladká Zuzi	(Black-Eyed Susie / traditional)
Sličná Polly	(Pretty Polly / traditional)
Spásná láska	(Anchored in Love / A. P. Carter)
Stará Chisholm Trail	(The Old Chisholm Trail / traditional)
Stará Cikánka	(The Gypsy / Gordon Lightfoot)
Starej Dan	(Old Dan Tucker / Dan Emmett)
Starej Joe Clark	(Old Joe Clark / traditional)
Strejček Joe	(Uncle Joe / traditional)
Sviští píseň	(Ground Hog / traditional)
Svobodná, provdaná	(Single Girl, Married Girl / A. P. Carter)
Swannanoaský tunel	(Swannanoa Tunnel / traditional)
Škvarková placka	(Shornt'nin' Bread / traditional)
Tom Dula	(Tom Dula / traditional)
Třetí zimní noc	(Hard Times Come Again No More / Stephen C. Foster)
Tvé nožky bílé obouval bych rád	(Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet? / traditional)
Úžasná milost	(Amazing Grace / traditional)
V balzámový stráni	(The Good Old Rebel / traditional)
V pustých horách	(Sourwood Mountain / traditional)
V třicátém patře	(In Tall Buildings / John Hartford)
Ve vrbovém háji	(Down in the Willow Garden / traditional)
Velká voda	(Waterbound / traditional)
Věčně zarmoucený muž	(I’m a Man of Constant Sorrow / traditional)
Ví Bůh sám	(Kum Ba Yah / traditional)
Wabash Cannonball	(The Wabash Cannonball / traditional)
Zlá zpráva	(In the Pines / traditional)
Zlatej vrch	(Sugar Hill / traditional)
Zpátky domů	(Home From the Forest / Gordon Lightfoot)
Žena jménem Sally Goodin	(Sally Goodin / traditional)

We offer you original programs with traditional country music and period instruments targeted at clubs, schools, summer camps etc., as well as concerts, festival shows, music for museums and open-air living history museums, musical lessons and seminars. See more information with video click here.

Dear traveller, you have just come to www.martinzak.cz pages
devoted to old-time country music of Martin Žák and his band Stará Almara.

Martin Žák would like to thank everybody who showed him the way, first of all
Wayne Erbsen, David Holt, Mike Seeger, Pete Seeger, John Hartford, Janette and Joe Carter,
Laura Boosinger, Will Keys, Michael J. Miles and other old-time heroes,
including the ones whose names are now gone with the wind.
And also Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Gordon Lightfoot, Merle Haggard, John Denver…