Comments on: Diversions :: The Handsome Family/Murder Ballads

By: waj

waj — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:00:12 +0000

H is spot on w/Hallowed Ground (side one holds up w/anything they ever did in my book).
Also: obvious but worth shouting out is Nick Cave’s ‘Murder Ballads’!

By: Marty

Marty — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:36:22 +0000

Sir Drunkard, fine job with Ram On LA. There may be a comfortable spot for you in Hades after all.

By: Toby

Toby — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:01:18 +0000

The earlier version of Banks of the Ohio by the Blue Sky Boys is way creepier (read: waaaaay better)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Blue-Sky-Boys/dp/B000QKP3HY

By: Satisfied '75

Satisfied '75 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:55:22 +0000

c greeen, note #2, I inadvertantly left it off when I was copying Rennie’s list from email

By: cody

cody — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:58:29 +0000

Johnny Cash – Murder is a great collection of these tunes too.
also I bet down the line I would not be surprised if Blitzen Trapper’s Black River Killer starts to make some lists like this.

By: h-

h- — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:44:44 +0000

Violent Femmes, “Country Death Song” the lead-off track from their vastly underrated second album, “Hallowed Ground” released 25 years ago in 1984. Though based on a true story, the tale plays out like a haunting early ballad with the frantic confusion, panic & resolve of any contemporary acoustic & punk song.

“You know your papa loves you/good children go to heaven”

By: JFK

JFK — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:31:03 +0000

Knoxville Girl is #2 on the list. The Lemonheads do a great version of Knoxville Girl (although nothing beats Charlie and Ira). This is a great post. I’ve always been a fan of the murder/death ballads. Something in these traditional songs speaks to something deeper in me, despite their bygone times, and certainly more than the sex and violence lyrics of ‘contemporary music’, if you will. The condemned man ballads would also be a great source of songs to cover, i.e. Green, Green Grass of Home, Life in Prison, etc.

By: Maddy Mud

Maddy Mud — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:01:31 +0000

Click on my name Maddy Mud to hear one of my favorite killin’ songs: In a Scent Man. It’s the true story of a smalltown murder where the evil-doer gets away, and his son knows he did it and it eats at him. 90s band called “hee hee hee” …

By: o

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:00:34 +0000

Great bumper sticker I saw the other day:
If you are in a folk song DONT GO TO THE RIVER!

By: C. Greene

C. Greene — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:43:57 +0000

Aw c’mon… where’s “Knoxville Girl” by The Louvin Brothers?