Morning Sun by Edward Hopper (1952) When I meet new people, itâs just a matter of timeâsometimes more, sometimes lessâbefore I mention this murder ballad hobby of mine. I recently started a new job. (You may have inferred as much from … Continue reading →
Bob Dylan, 1978 âYou can do anything with your voice if you put your mind to it. I mean, you can become a ventriloquist or you can become an imitator of other peopleâs voices. Iâm usually just stuck with my own … Continue reading →
This is Chapter 1 of Stagolee: A Digital Compendium.  See also Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, and Chapter 5 Introduction He was a bad man â Stagolee. Folks have been singing, talking, writing, laughing, cussing, and crying about him since 1895, … Continue reading →
(photo by K. Bigger) This is our second post on the ballad âBold William Taylor.â Â To read the first post, click here.When is a murder ballad not a murder ballad?The performance that brought âWilliam Taylorâ back to my attention (acknowledging … Continue reading →
[This is the third post on Child ballad 243, âThe Demon Loverâ or âHouse Carpenter.â Â Read the first one here, and the second one here.] âJames Harris,â the demon figure in Child 243, does not represent just any potential lover … Continue reading →
 In the last post on Led Zeppelinâs âGallows Pole,â we looked at how a centuries-old English tale about a fair maiden who loses a golden ball evolved into two different stories â one with a fairy tale ending in which … Continue reading →
The Veteran in a New Field â Winslow Homer, 1865 I mentioned in my last week of posts that Iâm preparing to take my 8th grade students to Gettysburg, and that all things Civil War occupy my mind this time … Continue reading →
As I mentioned in my first post, âBallad of Hollis Brownâ was presented and received as a sad story about something that happened to a man, not about what that man did to six other people. The song brings us … Continue reading →
The Times They Are aâChanginâ included numerous songs that addressed current events and real crimes. âOnly a Pawn in their Gameâ deals with the assassination of civil rights worker Medgar Evers by Byron De La Beckwith; âThe Lonesome Death of … Continue reading →
At the end of this week, Iâll return to the key issues that Dylan addresses in âThe Ballad of Hollis Brown.â As part of that, Iâll look at one of if not the worst versions of the song ever sung … Continue reading →
