Middle of The Map Fest has announced their first crop of bands slated to perform at the 3rd annual music portion of the festival, April 4-6 in Kansas City, USA.  Tickets are a STEAL at $45…

And you thought the olden days were quaint and passe…

The Murder Ballad was a common motif in early blues/jazz/hillbilly hybrid music. It served as a warning. It served as a confession. It was instructive. It was threatening.

Jelly Roll Morton would play this particular song in the brothels of New Orleans.

Sex. Violence. Jealous Rage. Murder. Vulgarity.

Sung from the perspective of a jilted lover, it’s full of lines like “bitch, I’ll cut your fucking throat and drink your blood like wine” and “She pulled out a pistol and shot her right in her eyes/She said, ‘open your legs, you dirty bitch, I’m gonna shoot you between your thighs.”

Would’ve been hard to be a working gal ( or a cheating man, for that matter) with an ominous tune like this chipping away in the background.

Recorded by the legendary Alan Lomax in 1938.

 

In the darkness, Elvis shares a womb with his stillborn twin, Jesse. He vacates- only to be born into poverty.

He overcomes poverty, to be a star. A hillbilly with money and fame.

He prevails over the pressures and burdens of celebrity by dropping out/off.

He triumphs over falling off/out (and himself), by staging a comeback.

He transcends his comeback with an ultimate success: Death. It was the last move to make. A death/life so compelling, a mystique so finely woven into the fabric of western culture, that even in finality, it echoes down the mirrored halls into perpetuity…

 

As adapted from Greil Marcus by Brad Krohe

 

Bobbie Gentry and some sweet sweet southern soul.

Greek  music blog Soundeyet has put together a phenomenal compilation of Rebetika covers, featuring the likes of Amen Dunes and Astral Social Club. Rebetika was/is a style of Greek working class music that came about in the ’20′s and 30′s, focused mainly on drugs, women, drink, and poverty.  The bulk of this music is found on 78′s. Sensing a renewed interest and appreciation for the Rebetika scene, Soundeyet presents this compilation in hopes “that you will download and enjoy this compilation as much as we did…our wildest dream is that this could set fire to new generations of fearless Rebetika explorers both in our land and abroad.” Read more about it here. Dig at will.

Download here: MediaFire or Sendspace

Sometimes They Come Back.