A true story based in Wilkes County, North Carolina. A man named Tom Dula took his pregnant lover, Ms. Laurie Foster, to a mountain under the guise of taking her away to marry. Her body was discovered the following day, stabbed several times with a large knife. Dula was apprehended by Colonel Grayson before he could escape to Tennessee, then returned to face his crimes. He was tried and found guilty in Statesville, NC, and sentenced to hang. This version of the song popularized the rich story that still resonates in the area today, where descendants of the players in the song still live.
"John Hardy" by Lead Belly
The real John Hardy killed a man in a craps game and hung on January of 1894. While there exist some Lomax collection versions which detail the craps game, many of the more accessible ballads reference the murder only with Hardy shooting "down a man on the West Virginia line" and then making tracks. He's caught on a bridge and brought to jail. Nearly every version, from Doc Watson to the Carter Family, to the thunderous bass of Lead Belly detail Hardy's troubles in the cell, the people he leaves behind, and their reactions. The murder ballad often tends to act as a "morality play" for many Appalachian communities, and Hardy's tale is a good example. In each version, much is made of his people that he leaves to deal with his actions, and how everyone -- his parents, his wife, his children (where applicable) and his lover, dressed in red -- deals with the shock and sorrow of what he has done and what will inevitably happen to him. It is no doubt that "John Hardy" was sung to steer children away from making the same mistakes.
"Stackolee" by Mississippi John Hurt
Often the murder ballad can serve as a history lesson, and the story of Stackolee is a great case in point. In St. Louis in 1895, two men -- Sheldon "Stack" Lee and Billy DeLyons -- talk in a bar and, when the discussion turns to politics, things get out of hand. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Stack shooting Billy in the chest, taking his Stetson hat, then leaving the bar. Many facets of the story have changed with each re-telling -- the names, the actions, the motives, the emotions elicited -- but three things remain constant in each version: Stack, Billy, and the Stetson hat. In Mississippi John Hurt's definitive version, society is telling the tale and bemoans how the policemen "can arrest everybody but cruel Stackolee."
Jackson's first-person telling portrays a crazy, bad motherfucker for the film Black Snake Moan. Stack is unabashed and unflinching, and not only kills Billy Lyons, but also the bartender, for giving him "a dirty look and a dirty glass." The unrepentant killer is a recurring archetype in the murder ballad, and most all versions of Stack-O-Lee embody this characterization.
A new variation offers a drug-crazed Stack who "loved his gun and his sweet cocaine," but seeks redemption by song's end, which is unusual in the tale of Sheldon "Stack" Lee.
"Little Sadie" is most likely a fictitious account of a murder and pursuit of a North Carolina killer. The two towns in song reference the Carolinas: Thomasville from NC and Jericho from SC. This song is believed to be the precursor to both Johnny Cash's "Cocaine Blues" and Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe."
By the time the first stanza is sung, the murder has been committed by a cocaine-fueled Willy Lee. The remainder of the song details the apprehension, trial, and sentencing of Willy. There is no trace of regret for killing "that bad bitch" until the final lines, where Willy, facing "99 years in the Folsom pen" sees the error of his ways and pleads with the audience to"lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be."
One common interpretation of the murder ballad is a twisted extension of the love song, and "Frankie and Johnny" exemplifies this very well, as the song tells of a woman killing her lover for stepping out on her with another woman named Nellie Bly. Whether there lies historical truth to this song is the subject of many arguments, with some believing the real crime happened in St.Louis and others placing it in North Carolina. However many versions, including Broonzy's, place the blame on Johnny, the murder victim, because "he done her wrong."
Bessie Smith's haunting tale of a woman who kills "a triflin' Jane" offers a different perspective on the murder ballad. Rather than seek redemption or mercy from the judge, she begs for the death penalty. She doesn't want bail, she doesn't want 99 years, she wants to be burned in the chair and sent to Hell for what she's done, and details it all to a catchy beat.
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