Barking Dog: May 30, 2024
This Week’s Theme: Murder Ballads
Last month, we ran a poll in our link roundup to decide the theme of our next themed show, and readers chose “murder ballads” over love songs, so today on the show, every song you hear will be a murder ballad. My next link roundup will be out in just a few days, so make sure to subscribe so you can vote in the next poll.
Lamont Tilden - The Murder of FC Benwell
From the 1958 album Folk Songs of Ontario
Tilden was a radio announcer from Toronto
This is a ballad about a famous Ontario murder case that happened in 1890
The tune comes from the American ballad “Charles Guiteau,” which is about President Garfield’s assassin
The Kossoy Sisters - The Banks of the Ohio
Identical twin sisters from New York City who began singing together at age 6 after hearing their mother and aunt sing harmonies in their home
As of 2022, the sisters are both divorced and living together in Guatemala
This is a 19th century murder ballad that’s likely American in origin
It differs from other murder ballads because the murderer spends much of the song expressing his regret and sadness over his actions
They recorded this version for their 1956 album Bowling Green and Other Folk Songs from the Southern Mountains
Preston Fulp - Banks of the Ohio
He was a North Carolina artist who worked in sawmills for much of his life, playing music on weekends and at special events in the community
Blind Willie McTell - Delia
He was a piedmont blues and ragtime artist who made many recordings with different companies under different names but never had a major hit
Despite his lack of commercial success, he actively played and recorded during the 40s and 50s, unlike many of his peers
He did not live to see the folk revival of the 1960s through which many other bluesmen were rediscovered, but he influenced many artists including Taj Mahal and The White Stripes
This is his version of an American ballad based on the murder of Delia Green, a 14-year-old African American girl, on December 25, 1900
George Symonette - Delia Gone
He was a Bahamian pianist, singer, and composer
This is off his 1957 album Goombay: The Folksongs of the Bahamas
It likely came from the longer American ballad, though it has changed enough that it can be considered a distinct song at this point
Eric Bibb - Delia’s Gone
He’s an American musician who grew up around well-known musicians like Pete Seeger, Paul Robeson, and Bob Dylan, because his father was part of the 1960s New York folk scene
This is another version of the Bahamian song, and it contains little detail about the murder
Lee Sexton - Pretty Polly
He was a banjo player from Kentucky, and he earned the $1 he needed to buy his first banjo by working as a field hand when he was 8 years old
This is a field recording from the 1960 album Mountain Music of Kentucky, recorded by John Cohen
“Pretty Polly is a mid-eighteenth-century American murder ballad that’s also popular as a banjo tune
It comes from several older British ballads including “The Gosport Tragedy” and “The Cruel Ship’s Carpenter”
Bob Dylan - Pretty Polly
Recorded live at the Gaslight Cafe in New York City in September of 1961
Uncle Sinner - Pretty Polly
From Winnipeg
Off his 2008 album Ballads and Mental Breakdowns
Uncle John Patterson - Stagolee Was a Bully
A Georgia banjo picker who started playing at age 3, won his first banjo contest at age 14, and defended his title of champion at every convention after that
“Stagolee” is a well-known American ballad about the murder of Billy Lyons by "Stag" Lee Shelton in St. Louis, Missouri at Christmas, 1895, when Shelton shot Lyons after Lyons took his Stetson hat during an argument
It was first published in 1911 after circulating in the oral tradition since at least 1897, and was widely recorded in the 1920s
Patterson’s version is off a 1984 album of traditional music from northern Georgia, recorded by Art Rosenbaum in 1978
He learned the song from his mother Bessie, who was also a champion banjo player
Mississippi John Hurt - Stagolee
American country blues singer and guitarist from Avalon, Mississippi
His recordings for OkEh Records were included on the incredibly influential 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music, and in 1963 a copy of his song “Avalon Blues” was discovered, which led the musicologist Dick Spottswood to find Hurt in Avalon
Hurt performed at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival, which brought further attention to his music, and he toured extensively throughout the US and recorded 3 albums
Recorded in July of 1964 in New York City for the album The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt
Joan O’Bryant - The Lily of the West
Kansas folksinger and folklorist who taught folklore and English at the University of Wichita
This is off her 1958 album American Ballads and Folksongs
It’s a traditional Irish folk song that is now considered a traditional American folk song
The melody is related to the song “Buffalo Skinners,” also known as “The Hills of Mexico”
Frank Proffitt - Tom Dooley
Proffitt was an Appalachian musician who inspired musicians during the 60s folk revival to play the traditional five-string banjo
He was known as a skilled carpenter and luthier who made and played his own banjos and dulcimers
He’s also known for preserving this song
It’s a North Carolina folk song about the 1866 murder of Laura Foster by the confederate soldier Tom Dula
A local poet named Thomas Land wrote a poem about the events soon after, which was put to music
Dula’s name was spelled D-U-L-A but pronounced “Dooley” in the Appalachian tradition of pronouncing the final “a” as a “y”, as in the Grand Ole Opry
The Smothers Brothers - Tom Dooley
The Smothers Brothers were an American comedy duo consisting of brothers Tom and Dick Smothers, who began performing together professionally in the late 1950s
In 1967, they began hosting their own variety show on CBS called The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which was as controversial as it was influential
The show was cancelled in 1969, but the brothers continued to work together
When they first began, they considered themselves folk singers rather than comedians, and they often incorporated folk music into their act
This is one of their humorous takes on a folk standard, recorded live at the Purple Onion in San Francisco in 1961
Sam Amidon - Wild Bill Jones
Contemporary folk artist from Vermont
From his 2008 album All Is Well
The origins of this song are unclear, though it was first recorded in 1924 by Eva Davis, and is a favourite among banjo players in the southern States
Dave Van Ronk - Silver Dagger
From his 1964 album Inside Dave Van Ronk
“Silver Dagger” is an American ballad widespread in North Carolina and Virginia
Variants of the song include “Katie Dear,” “Molly Dear,” and “Awake, Awake, Ye Drowsy Sleepers”
The lyrics in this version are all commonly found in other traditional versions except for the last verse, which transforms it into a comical reinterpretation
Fleet Foxes - Silver Dagger
Contemporary band from Seattle, Washington
Their version of the song is off a 2018 compilation of recordings made between 2006 and 2009
Ian & Sylvia - Down by the Willow Garden
Traditional murder ballad
Originated in Ireland from a number of sources in the early 19th century but became popular in the Appalachian region of the US in the early 20th century
It’s played to the tune of the song “Rosin the Beau”
Ian & Sylvia’s version is from their 1962 self-titled album
Big Bill Broonzy - Frankie and Johnny
He was an American blues singer and guitarist, and one of the leading figures of the emerging folk revival of the 1950s
Traditional American song inspired by multiple murders that took place in the southern states in the late 1800s
Also known as “Frankie and Albert”
Broonzy recorded it in 1957 for Folkways Records
Hank Snow - Frankie and Johnny
He was a country musician from Nova Scotia whose career spanned over 50 years
This is off the compilation album Blues for My Blue Eyes, from 2000
Alice Stuart - Frankie and Johnny
She was a musician from Washington who got her start in folk music at the Berkeley Folk Festival in 1964, when she was 22
She also toured with musicians like Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, Van Morrison, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
Stuart was briefly a member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention as well, though she didn’t end up making any recordings with the band
This is off her 1964 debut album, All the Good Times
Rory McEwen - Binnorie
He was a Scottish aristocrat turned folk singer
He and his brother Alex were some of the first Scottish folk singers to visit the US, and they recorded several albums for Folkways Records there
This is from their first album for Folkways, Great Scottish Ballads, from 1956
It’s a traditional Northumbrian murder ballad also known as “Twa Sisters” and “Cruel Sister,” among other names
The first written version appeared in a 1656 broadside, and at least 21 versions of the ballad exist in English
Ellen Stekert - The Two Sisters
She’s a folklorist and musician from New York
This is from her 1958 album, Songs of a New York Lumberjack, and she learned each of the 18 tracks from one man named Ezra “Fuzzy” Barhight
In her liner notes, she writes that the song is possibly Scandinavian in origin
Crooked Still - Wind and Rain
Contemporary band from Boston, MA
Their version is from their 2006 album Shaken by a Low Sound, and it restores the supernatural element of the musical instrument—in this case, a violin—made of the sister’s bones, which plays itself and sings about the murder
This element was present in early versions of the ballads and later disappeared from the story
Stekert’s version does mention a harp made of bone, but omits the lyrics where the instrument tells the story of the murder
Horton Barker - There Was an Old Lady
He was an Appalachian traditional singer from Tennessee who learned the majority of his songs from the School for the Deaf and Blind in Staunton, Virginia
Sandy Paton, a founder of Folk Legacy Records, recorded him in 1961 for the album Traditional Singer, which is where this song is from
Barker learned this ballad in the early 1930s from the composer and folksong collector John Powell of Virginia
It’s also known as “The Rich Old Lady” and “Eggs and Marrowbone,” and it likely comes from Britain
Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson - Hiram Hubbard
Jean Ritchie learned traditional folk songs in the oral tradition from friends and family in her youth
Watson was a North Carolina musician known for his fingerstyle and flatpicking skill
This is from a live album of the duo playing at Gerde’s Folk City in New York City in 1963
It’s an American Civil War-era ballad about a man captured, brought to trial, and convicted by his captors despite being innocent
It’s reported to be a reflection of the guerilla warfare that occurred in the Kentucky or Tennessee highlands during the Civil War
Neil Young - Down by the River
A live recording from Massey Hall in Toronto in 1971
The song was first released on the 1969 album Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, and Young has stated that he wrote the song while in bed with a fever of 39 degrees
Gaither Carlton - Little Sadie
Was an American old-time fiddle and banjo player from North Carolina who often appeared with Doc Watson, who was his son-in-law
This is off musician, musicologist, photographer, and filmmaker John Cohen’s 1975 compilation album High Atmosphere, which is composed of recordings he made in 1965 of Appalachian folk music in North Carolina and Virginia
A 20th century American folk ballad also known as “Bad Lee Brown” and “Penitentiary Blues”
Liz Getz - Little Sadie
This is from the 1966 album How Can I Keep from Singing, which Getz recorded when she was 22
She got her version from the musician Clarence Ashley
Dyad - Omie Wise
From Vancouver, BC
Off their 2002 album Who’s Been Here Since I’ve Been Gone
This song is based on the true story of a murder that took place in Randolph County, North Carolina in 1808
The lyrics to the original version were written very shortly after the events took place, which was common with this style of ballad
Big Dave McLean - Michael Hendersen
A blues musician from Winnipeg who’s been playing for over 50 years
This off McLean’s 2008 album Acoustic Blues: Got ‘Em from the Bottom
It’s a ballad McLean wrote about a man he knew who was killed by Winnipeg police in 1981 after his life unravelled and he ended up injuring a cab driver with a shotgun and exchanging gunfire with the police outside the Garrick Theatre
Hobart Smith - Poor Ellen Smith
