Prelude On the road for work a few months ago, I was driving between Cheyenne and Denver. I had a chance to meet up with an old friend for coffee on the way. Early in our conversation, I noticed she had … Continue reading →
âLocal draft board No. 4 in a district surrounding State and 35th streets, containing 30,000 persons, of whom 90 per cent are colored, registered upward of 9,000 and sent 1,850 colored men to cantonments. Of these 1,850 there were only … Continue reading →
Introduction Fragments of time and history filter down to us in the Child ballads. We get whispers and incomplete stories that make us ponder what ‘really’ lies beneath. This is deeply true in the case of “Lamkin.” Like so many … Continue reading →
Introduction Over the summer, I attended a wedding of two friends at my alma mater in Sewanee, Tennessee. For those of you who havenât heard of it, Sewanee is a small liberal arts college with some of the most devoted alumni … Continue reading →
Murder ballads in sepia We heard from the folks at American Murder Song last month. Their touring production of original murder ballads, set in an mostly imagined early 19th century America, intrigued me enough to want to explore it here. … Continue reading →
“There was an old woman from Wexford…” Almost two years ago, Ken initiated an occasional series for our strange little blog wherein we explored the intersection of murder and comedy in ballads. Between his posts, mine, and Becky’s, we explored … Continue reading →
âI feel the shadows now upon meâŚâ I remember driving to Mt. Greylock with Pat one time, telling him about a singer I had just discovered. I said she had the kind of voice Iâd like to hear on my … Continue reading →
“Seven Spanish Angels” When I pick up the guitar to sing, I like to launch into the long ballads. The melody sinks in to me through repetition. The lyrics, many refined over time by unknown self-appointed editors, flow out. If … Continue reading →
Country Gothic In her oft-cited 1998 essay, âBloody Daggers and Lonesome Graveyards: The Gothic and Country Music,â Teresa Goddu contrasts âbluegrassâ and country. I put âbluegrassâ in quotes because the term in the essay mostly means songs that carry the legacy … Continue reading →
Legends Among a few adults who spooked me when I was a girl (my school bus driver, who kept a bottle in a brown bag beneath his seat; a guy at the car wash who sometimes shut the system down … Continue reading →
