It’s all about a little holly bush…
Note: This is Part 2 of a 4 part series â see also Part 1, Part 3, and Part 4 We saw in the introductory post for the week that in the murder ballad âEdwardâ, or Child 13, at least … Continue reading →
Patrick Blackman
daddy, teacher, blogger, amateur picker, singer, poet; co-founder of Murder Ballad Monday with roots in the upper south, happily transplanted to Vermont.
Edward / What Put the Blood? / The Blood on His Shirt Sleeve
 Cain Leadeth Abel to Death â Chromolithograph book plate, James Tissot, 1904 Note: This is Part 1 of a 4 part series â see also Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 This week weâre back in to the Child Ballads.  Itâs been … Continue reading →
Murder at the Dead Show – Encore
Big Brother and the Holding Company and the Grateful Dead â by Irving Penn, 1967 Janis Joplin â James Gurley â Ron McKernan â Jerry Garcia (This weekâs first set.)   (This weekâs second set.) When I look at portraits from the … Continue reading →
Murder at the Dead Show – Second Set
Concert Poster, Oakland Coliseum â Peter Barsotti, 12/31/91 I recently wrote about âJack Strawâ as the Grateful Deadâs only true murder ballad. That effort spurred me to begin this week with a broader look at the act of murder in the Deadâs … Continue reading →
Murder at the Dead Show – First Set
âListening for the secret, searching for the soundâŚâ I am one of those people who early in life, somewhere around age four, started grappling with the existential âproblemâ of death.  I donât know why. Maybe it was because my grandmother … Continue reading →
Cut down a man in cold blood…
âNone recover, they are just replaced.â  â Robert Hunter, 1995 Note: This is Part 3 of a three part series.  See also Part 1 and Part 2. Introduction At the free concert at Altamont Speedway on December 6, 1969, an eighteen … Continue reading →
There ain’t a winner in this game…
The last 10 minutes of the 1939 version of Of Mice and Men Note: this is Part 2 of a three part series. Â See also Part 1 and Part 3. Introduction Bob Weirâs revelation that John Steinbeckâs Of Mice and … Continue reading →
Jack Straw
Note: this is Part 1 of a three part series. Â See also Part 2, and Part 3. Introduction âWe can share the women, we can share the wine. We can share what we got of yours, âcos we done shared … Continue reading →
God Make You Safe and Free
Romeo and Juliet â Sir Frank Dicksee, 1884 Note: This is Part 3 of a three part series.  See also Part 1 and Part 2. Introduction What is it about this weekâs song, âMatty Grovesâ, that attracts us so?  (If youâre … Continue reading →
A Bower in Bucklesfordbury
Barnard Castle â William Turner, 1825 Note: This is Part 2 of a three part series.  See also Part 1 and Part 3. Introduction It is clear that psychological themes in this weekâs subject, âMatty Grovesâ, strike the most resonant chords for … Continue reading →