Robert Burns Robert Burns was born in 1759, 13 years after the last battle fought on the United Kingdom mainland at Culloden Moor near Inverness. In celebration of Robert Burns’ 254th birthday this week’s Murder Ballad Monday takes a tangential … Continue reading →
“Cain and Abel,” by Titian When I wrote last year about Jesus and the murder ballad, I thought I would finish that week by looking back to other Biblical stories that also provided symbols for music in this genre. I … Continue reading →
Elvis Presley, 1970 In considering Chris Smither’s song “Every Mother’s Son” in preparation for this week’s first post, I kept being drawn to the contrast between it and Elvis Presley’s blockbuster “In the Ghetto.” The two songs appeared within three … Continue reading →
Chris Smither I envisioned our December break as a chance for me to dip into some other interests and, perhaps, generate some new ideas for the blog through unrelated reading. It hasn’t exactly worked out that way. I pay attention … Continue reading →
This is the third part of a three part series. See also Part 1 and Part 2. Introduction – “re-ragged in red…” In our first post this week, we looked at the historical event, the murder of Patrolman James Brady … Continue reading →
This is the second part of a three part series. See also Part 1 and Part 3. Introduction In my first post this week, I introduced the bad man ballad “Duncan and Brady” and explored the historical origin of the song. We saw, … Continue reading →
This is the first part of a three part series. See also Part 2 and Part 3. Introduction When I first moved to the Berkshires in 1992, I was in my early 20’s and my knowledge of American folk music extended only a … Continue reading →
When Ken asked me if I’d be interested in participating in this conversation I was thrilled – there are so many songs, so many questions, and so many half-baked theories, that this blog provokes. A big one is “why do … Continue reading →
