This blog is very much a work in progress, in the sense that I am not a musicologist in any sense of the word, merely an interested listener of Bluegrass, Early Country, Folk, and Old-time music. When I was a student at the University of Washington in the early 1960s, the "American Folk Music Revival" was reaching its heyday with performers such as the Kingston Trio, The Brothers Four (who got their start as fraternity brothers at the University of Washington in 1957), The Limelighters, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and others. These types of American folk musicians, as well many of the Country music and early Rock and Roll performers popular at the time formed the basis of my music listening. By the time I was teaching college in Huntsville, Alabama, in the 1970s, my musical tastes also included Bluegrass and Old-time music. A move to the Washington, D.C. suburb of Takoma Park in 1982, where I taught college until 2004, brought me to what is arguably the center of Bluegrass and traditional Appalachian music of the Mid-Atlantic region. I soon found WAMU-FM and two of that station's hosts to Bluegrass and Traditional/Folk Music programs. Ray Davis hosted his Bluegrass Country program on WAMU-FM from 1985 to 2013 (Ray died Dec. 3, 2014 from leukemia at the age of 81). Ray would often include a "plumb pitiful tune" in his broadcast; more often than not it was a song of some tragic event such a murder ballad. The other broadcaster I enjoyed listening to was Dick Spotswood. His Dick Spotswood show is still available as a streaming broadcast. I especially like his show because he posts a playlist (often with record label information) for each show. Dick concentrates on traditional music from the 1920s through the 1950s, but often reaching back to the beginnings of recorded music. His knowledge of the music, the performers, and his comments make his show especially informative.
A sub-type of bluegrass/traditional music genre is the murder ballad. This type generally tells the details of a mythic or a true crime, detailing who the victim is, details of the murder, the escape or capture of the murderer, his fate, and often ending in a plea for the listener not to copy the actions committed by the protagonist as recounted by the singer. These are the types of songs which Ray Davis would often label as "plumb pitiful." I will follow his lead, and let the reader know if the song being discussed is an especially "plumb pitiful" song.
A sub-type of bluegrass/traditional music genre is the murder ballad. This type generally tells the details of a mythic or a true crime, detailing who the victim is, details of the murder, the escape or capture of the murderer, his fate, and often ending in a plea for the listener not to copy the actions committed by the protagonist as recounted by the singer. These are the types of songs which Ray Davis would often label as "plumb pitiful." I will follow his lead, and let the reader know if the song being discussed is an especially "plumb pitiful" song.