Artist / writer / musician / teacher. Son of a violinist and choir director. Born in Louisville but live in Chicago with my wife Catherine and our beloved pooches, Maybelle (named for her Carter Family namesake) and Mojo.
The girl I love / Is on that train and gone — “Worried Man Blues” It’s hard to know Before he died in 2003, Johnny Cash recorded tracks for what became the first posthumous collection of his American series – … Continue reading →
I think perhaps all of us go a little crazy at times. — Robert Bloch, Psycho (1959) Just out of sight In the summer of 1968, a peculiar country and western song came and went to little fanfare on a … Continue reading →
Real things in the darkness seem no realer than dreams. — Murasaki Shikibu Nacht und Wind The first sound is a rhythm, a staccato burst of piano triplets beneath a brief, rising and falling melody evoking hoof-beats. A horse races … Continue reading →
Blood on the mountain And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? — Genesis 4:9 Truly old Watauga is making for herself a dark and bloody … Continue reading →
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey’d monster, which doth mock The meat it feeds on. — Shakespeare, Othello Cheatin’ and lyin’ On December 15, 1963, Minneapolis police apprehended an intoxicated 33-year-old man involved in a domestic … Continue reading →
But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven. — Matthew 19:14 This post looks at a pair of songs inspired by memories of one of postwar … Continue reading →
The cool room “The purpose of rhythm, it has always seemed to me … is to prolong the moment of contemplation … by hushing it with an alluring monotony.” — William Butler Yeats, The Symbolism of Poetry “Oh Lord” — … Continue reading →
To good and true love fear is forever fixed. — Rabelais This is the second of a two-part look at songs (“Wreck on the Highway” and “Percy’s Song”) about road crashes and their aftermath … Bad News In one of … Continue reading →
This is the first of a two-part look at songs (“Wreck on the Highway” and “Percy’s Song”) about road crashes and their aftermath … The meaning of life is that it stops. — Kafka Impact Shards of shattered windshield, mangled … Continue reading →
This month marks the 46th anniversary of the Tate/LaBianca murders committed by Charles Manson and his cult-like Family. A nightmarish event with lasting cultural impact, music is central to its story. This and last week’s posts explore the connection. At … Continue reading →
