When I was growing up, there were two Hanks that you needed to know about: Williams and Snow. I was kind of confused when I realized all the kids at school didn’t know this. I liked both Hanks, but as compelling as Mr. Williams was,… Read More
Some days you just need what my pal Stagg calls a little sumpin’. Tonight’s Daily Dose is Black Slacks by Joe Bennett and the Sparkletones
I used to have a recording, on an old cassette tape, of Mac Beattie singing his Log Driver’s Song (not to be confused with the Wade Hemsworth tune Log Driver’s Waltz). While I was busy concentrating on something apparently more important, the melody popped into… Read More
In the last couple days I’ve been reading many articles about Levon Helm, who is gravely ill with cancer. I love Levon’s music. When I heard first heard Dirt Farmer, I played the CD in my car over and over and over. It was perfect.… Read More
Last year I posted a heaping helping of train songs on this blog. The other day when I posted the Butch Hancock tune, She Never Spoke Spanish to Me, I recalled that Mr. Hancock wrote a great train song, called Boxcars. Sorry I failed to… Read More
For tonight’s Daily Dose, I’d like to feature a great Butch Hancock tune called She Never Spoke Spanish to Me. Here’s the writer of the song with Joe Ely I first heard this tune on a Texas Tornadoes record. Mr. Sahm and the boys did… Read More
Today’s Daily Dose is all about The Sailor’s Hornpipe, a tune I’ve been playing on my triple row button accordion. It’s also called the College Hornpipe or Jack’s the Lad. This is one old tune, documented as far back as the 1790s. Here’s a few… Read More
I wonder how it feels to live in a city that has been immortalized by a song? It turns out there is a song about Toronto, called The Toronto Song by Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie, but let’s just agree that The Toronto Song… Read More
While not as big a sub-genre in Americana as train songs, murder ballads are big just the same. Since I took an interest in folk music in my teens, I’ve been listening to songs about Stack-O-Lee and Franky and Johnny, Pretty Polly and Tom Dooley. … Read More
27th Street 