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Providence, the second EP, is a work of (about) madness. We hear the mania implicit in traditional murder ballad protagonists spelled out more clearly. “Sweet Rosalie,” “Unwed Henry,” and “Pretty Lavinia” form the core of this set, with a slightly out-of-tune dancehall piano lending a raucous character to the songs. “Hail Columbia!” finishes this set, invoking the American context of this work, which emerges as an important theme in both the show and the recordings.

Finally, The Reckoning, returns to themes of God and Country. The opening song “The Year Without a Summer,” refers to the production’s 1816 setting, a year when severe climate abnormalities lowered global temperatures and reduced crop yields. “June,” the second piece of this set, presents an epistolary, spoken-word piece. In it, a loyalist American wonders whether this turn in the weather reflects God’s judgment on the Revolution. The theme of divine judgment comes home in the final piece, “Pray.”

Bless this table, bless this bread
Bless the boards above our head
Keep our sins beneath the shed
We do not eat alone.

Murder (ballads) and America

American Murder Song is in many ways as much about America as it is about murder. Despite its “alternate universe,” it holds up a lens to our current cultural conditions. It tells lies in service to the truth. Just how America and murder connect will differ for each listener. For me, it involves cultural instability regarding traditional sources of meaning with the simultaneous, enduring sense of pervasive human failing. I found myself trying to make sense of the connection between these two elements at the conclusion of the show. I continue to meditate on it as I return to the EPs, again and again.

My evidence is anecdotal, and skewed by my work on this blog, but my sense is that interest in murder ballads has risen in the States. We come across more and more new works and performances mining this thematic territory. Their popularity may have some correlation to the rise in the popularity of zombie films and TV shows. Those are not of interest to me, but they seem to capture something similar to ballads that relates to our cultural moment.

Promotional image from American Murder Song (source: Facebook)

American Murder Song brings into focus both the Jeffersonian promise of early America, and the sense that that promise has fallen away. Not only that, but it is our fault. Pat mentioned to me in previewing this piece that “Edward” reminded him of Spoon River Anthology. The analogy holds here, in that Edgar Lee Masters’s work also explored the way universal human failings and corruption vitiated the bright prospects of the Republic. The oppressive sense of divine judgment within American Murder Song‘s “Year Without a Summer” seems a natural outgrowth of the childhood and carnal sins of the earlier songs. Two hundred years after the putative setting of these songs, we still have reason to consider this dilemma.

The burlesque performance of murder ballads makes me think this dark and darkly humorous material ties closely to the anxieties of the age, doing its work through both tragedy and farce. Murder and meaning interact within the American context in complex ways. Crying, laughter, horror, and a dash of romance all provide a way to resolve these tensions. American Murder Song, in its two current iterations, is a worthy creative partner for this kind of work. I look forward to seeing how it develops.

Thanks for reading and listening, and special thanks to Scully Rybarczyk and the cast and crew of American Murder Song for access to the show. The show’s tour continues through the fall, with new, small-venue dates recently added in the western United States.