Anyone who listened to folk music during the “Folk Music Scare” of the 1950s and ‘60s probably heard the Kingston Trio version of this song, a bouncy little murder ballad about killing a woman and ending up “hanging from a white oak tree.”
Sharyn McCrumb, longtime mystery writer, has turned her gaze on this murder ballad, taking it back to its historical roots. While many historians and folklorists have examined this case in the past, her perspective as a mystery writer has given her different insights, much like those of the mystery writer in the Castle television show. Thus, a three-minute song becomes a 300-page historical novel. It’s hard to call it a mystery when everyone knows who was executed for the killing, but a mystery it is.
For those of you who only know it from the Kingston Trio version, sanitized and oddly altered in places, the “real” story was that of a young ex-Confederate soldier [Tom Dula, which is pronounced “Dooley,” for the same reason that Pauline is pronounced “Pearlene” in that region]. Tom was accused of murdering a young woman named Laura who was supposedly eloping with him. He and one of his other lovers [a married woman named Ann Melton] were eventually arrested and tried for the murder. He denied the murder, but once he was convicted and sentenced, he wrote a statement to clear the name of Ann Melton. His defense attorney was a famous politician and former soldier as well, a man named Zebulon Vance. After a long trial and longer appeals, Tom was hanged from a fresh built gallows, not a tree. Most of the other details in the song were added for rhyming purposes more than for historical accuracy.
Is there a reason for a folk music fan from the United States to read Don Morrison’s book about the nitty gritty of the Australian music scene? Yes. Because it’s a good read, although few of us outside of Texans ever had to drive so far to a gig.
Don Morrison has over thirty years of experience in the music business. Although his “day job” is constructing world class resophonic guitars, he’s always been a performer, and as such he’s driven the crappy vans that break down on a regular basis. He’s been lied to and cheated by promoters and club owners. He’s seen talented band members give up and float away. He’s seen success, and he’s seen failure. And through all of this, he’s been able to balance his odd profession with a keen sense of humor, and the ability to turn a good phrase.
In the 1980s, Don ran towards the stardom light in a band called the Bodgies. After conquering their hometown of Adelaide, the boys took to the road, which is Australia can be a long road. Anecdotes about their ancient PA system or dodgy guitars will sound familiar to anyone who had tread on the band road. The burning van may not have happened to all of us, though. After Adelaide, the boys move to the big city of Melbourne. More stories, more touring, more grabbing for the brass ring. The Bodgies worked tremendously hard, played tons of gigs and yet kept having that elusive stardom just out of grasp. They rubbed elbows with the stars, and formulated a “people’s band” devoid of the trappings that most bands demanded. Rather than an exclusive dressing room, they posted a sign allowing full access to anyone.
Told in the form of a long poem, this is the life of Odetta, and especially her childhood, which greatly shaped her music. It is aimed at children, although adults can easily appreciate the beauty of the work and the life it describes. Artist Stephen Alcorn, who had previously worked on books about Langston Hughes and other African American poetry and poets, has included pieces portraying Odetta in various ways, ranging from the mischievous to the angelic.
So, who was Odetta, and why should kids care? Odetta Holmes learned about some of the “facts” of American life while a child in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1930s. Jim Crow laws controlled who could drink from what water fountain, or what train car you could ride. By the time her family moved to California, her family had faced the shame and degradation that was an everyday part of being “colored” in the South. In California, she noticed a remarkable thing. Discrimination still existed, but it was not the same, and not part of the law.
Title: HOT BURRITOS
(THE TRUE STORY OF THE
FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS)
Author: JOHN EINARSON WITH CHRIS HILLMAN
Publisher:
AWBONE PRESS
Release Date: NOVEMBER 2008
By Dennis Reoger Reed
A few years back, author John
Einarson gave us Mr. Tambourine Man,
a full length book about singer-songwriter and fallen Byrd Gene Clark. That was
a well written book that went below the surface, with copious amounts of
interviews with friends, peers and family. It was also a good read.
This time out
Einarson takes a long look at the Flying
Burrito Brothers and works on debunking the "Gram Parsons created
country-rock" myth. Einarson shares his writing credit with Chris Hillman, and Hillman provides the
vast majority of quotes in the book. And again, the book provides a good read,
though a working knowledge of the FFB and that area of pop music is probably a
prerequisite.
In a nutshell: the
folk rock band the Byrds found
themselves down to three members after completing their Notorious Byrd Brothers
record. Gram Parsons introduced himself to the Byrds' Chris Hillman in a bank,
and ended up winning an audition to be a keyboard player with the band.
There are Bob
Dylan fans, and there are Bob Dylan fans. Most fans know that Bob had some sort
of motorcycle accident in 1967 in Woodstock,
New York, and "dropped" out of
the touring and recording scene for a time. Most fans know about the Basement
Tapes that Bob recorded with what became The
Band at a house called "Big Pink." Want to know more? Want to know lots
more? This is the book for you.
Author Griffin is known primarily as a musician, with the LA
based Long Ryders, and more recently
the Coal Porters, a London based group. Griffin has written about
Gram Parsons in an earlier tome and this time out he homes in on Bob and Bob's
world, with a good sized portion of info on The Band.
This won't entice
everyone. Several pages are devoted to a discussion of just what street Bob may
have tumbled on his bike. Theories about whether the wreck was caused by
the sun in his eyes... info about the
private physician's home where Bob recuperated... and bits about his weekday
routine of walking his daughter to the bus station may be more paparazzi like
that some will enjoy.
The NY Times Book Review
two weeks ago wrote about a new book called Faking
It-The Quest For Authenticity in
Popular Music (Hugh Barker and Yuval Taylor).
I am about halfway
through, and want to suggest it as a must read because it has a fascinating
focus on the roots of folk music in the South (using John Hurt as an example)
and the difficulty in defining folk music, etc. It is a fairly easy read and I
think you will be very happy that you purchased or borrowed this book.
Bruce.
Newman, DeCoster & Co.
Bruce S. Newman, Attorney at Law, CPA;
Peter J. DeCoster, FCA
Anyone who listened to folk music during the “Folk Music Scare” of the 1950s and ‘60s probably heard the Kingston Trio version of this song, a bouncy little murder ballad about killing a woman and ending up “hanging from a white oak tree.”
Is there a reason for a folk music fan from the United States to read Don Morrison’s book about the nitty gritty of the Australian music scene? Yes. Because it’s a good read, although few of us outside of Texans ever had to drive so far to a gig.
Told in the form of a long poem, this is the life of Odetta, and especially her childhood, which greatly shaped her music. It is aimed at children, although adults can easily appreciate the beauty of the work and the life it describes. Artist Stephen Alcorn, who had previously worked on books about Langston Hughes and other African American poetry and poets, has included pieces portraying Odetta in various ways, ranging from the mischievous to the angelic.
