ROD PICOTT Hang Your Hopes On A Crooked Nail Welding Rod Records www.rodpicott.com Some songwriters adopt a blue-collar persona. For Picott, a former sheetrock worker, it’s an honest voice. After growing up in Maine … Continue reading →
Introduction We here at Murder Ballad Monday would love every week to bring you a fully researched ‘deep dive’ into a particular ballad, but time doesn’t always allow for that, given that we don’t make a penny from this work. … Continue reading →
Adrian Roye This is the second installment of two on the song “Josephine” by Adrian Roye, of Adrian Roye and the Exiles. You can read the first post here. Roye was kind enough to do a Skype interview with me … Continue reading →
Adrian Roye In our travels through the murder ballad genre, we go into a few kinds of terrain with some regularity. Sometimes, it’s a deep dive into an “old country” of traditional, if not ancient, murder ballads. These … Continue reading →
In the fall of 2008, Matt Watroba (then the host) interviewed Pete for a special feature for The Sing Out! Radio Magazine. The interview, interwoven with lots of recordings of Pete’s songs, both by Pete himself and a wide range … Continue reading →
Last night, at around 9:30 pm, Pete Seeger passed on. He was 94, so it shouldn’t have been a huge shock or surprise … but Pete was always so engaged, inspiring, and such a curious amalgamation of sage wisdom with … Continue reading →
We’ve just received confirmation that Pete Seeger, our friend, mentor, founder and hero, passed a few hours ago of natural causes at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. We are working to gather details, and our thoughts, and will post a more comprehensive piece … Continue reading →
Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs. I remember when Kris Kristofferson first brought him on the scene. All that stuff about “Sam Stone” the soldier junky daddy and “Donald … Continue reading →
JOHN COHEN The High & Lonesome Sound: The Legacy of Roscoe Holcomb Steidl One day in 1959 in Daisy, KY, John Cohen got lucky. Cohen – musician, documentary photographer, fledgling filmmaker, and charter … Continue reading →
ARTO and ANTTI JÄRVELÄ Os Fera Liluli OArt 8 Members of the Järvelä clan – arguably the first family of Finnish folk fiddling – cousins Arto (fiddle and cross-tuned fiddle) and Antti (acoustic … Continue reading →
