I learned this song from a recording by the late north Georgia singer Jim Padgett and his then-wife Mary, back in the early 1980s. It wasn’t until quite recently that I learned it was written and originally recorded by Jimmie Skinner.
Archive for February, 2011
More Jimmie Skinner: Dark Hollow
Posted in Music, Traditional & Bluegrass on February 25, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Bedtime Music: Barbara Allen
Posted in Music, Traditional & Bluegrass on February 24, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I’m told that this song–Child Ballad 84–was one of my paternal grandfather’s two favorite songs (the other being the old eerie camp meeting tune “Wayfarin’ Stranger”). “Barbara Allen” first appeared on a broadside c. 1750, but its roots go back at least a century before that. Samuel Pepys, that indefatigable diarist, mentions it as “the [...]
Doin’ My Time
Posted in Country Music, Music, Traditional & Bluegrass on February 24, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I was fortunate enough to see the late great Jimmie Skinner in concert when he appeared up on the old baseball field at Tellico, in late summer when I was about to begin my senior year of high school. He was old–nearly seventy–and his strong and distinctive voice was softened by age–but damn, he put [...]
For Anna Molly: A “Blue” Song that’s Not So Blue
Posted in Country Music, Music on February 18, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Over at Much Ado About Nothing my buddy Anna Molly posts a question (check out the comments sections) in which she asks “when’s the last time you heard a song about blue that wasn’t. . .well, blue?” And I remembered this one, which my beloved Teddy and Doyle Wilburn released as a B side way [...]
Sunset in February
Posted in Poetry on February 17, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Hyacinths have exploded at the western rim of the world bells withered to the winking purple of the sea lie thin as glass in a straight strand beneath a sanding of dusty amethyst a blush of mauve along reefs of rose pink crowned with snow cream stars falling in silver sprinkles on the last swirl [...]
Two Love Songs from the Man in Black
Posted in Country Music, Music on February 14, 2011 | 2 Comments »
It’s a tossup today: I could write about how Al Capone was haunted to his own death by a gangster killed in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, or I could post love songs. Well, I’ve posted bloody Valentines before– so this year, I’m going with music. The late Johnny Cash was–and remains, to me and [...]
