Everybody loves a good story…and this week on Deeper Roots we’ll be spinning a few of them. Tall tales, fables, murder ballads, historical yarns, talking blues and outright stretchers are all part of the American musical tradition, and we’ll be digging into that tradition this Friday morning. Our stories come mostly from the years between 1925 and 1960, when an old tale might travel from a front porch to a 78, from a newspaper headline to a country ballad, or get passed from singer to singer until fact and folklore became pretty hard to separate. We’ll hear tales of outlaws and drifters, sinners and saints, disasters and deeds of questionable truth from the likes of Mississippi John Hurt, Woody Guthrie, the Golden Gate Quartet, Tex Ritter, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins and more. There’ll even be a few whoppers along the way.
| No. | Artist | Title | Album | Year | Start At |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ma Rainey | Stack O'Lee Blues | The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records Volume 1 (1917-1927) | 1925 | 00:00 |
| 2 | Furry Lewis | Billy Lyons And Stack O'Lee | The Return Of The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of | 2012 | 06:21 |
| 3 | Mississippi John Hurt | Stack O' Lee | Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 OKeh Recordings | 1928 | 08:58 |
| 4 | Lloyd Price | Stagger Lee | Billboard Top Rock & Roll Hits: 1959 | 1959 | 11:52 |
| 5 | Mississippi John Hurt | Frankie | Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 OKeh Recordings | 1928 | 14:09 |
| 6 | Jimmie Rodgers | Frankie And Johnny | The Essential Jimmie Rodgers | 1929 | 17:30 |
| 7 | Lead Belly | John Hardy | Classic African-American Ballads (Smithsonian Folkways) | 1945 | 26:06 |
| 8 | Bill Frisell & Petra Haden | John Hardy Was A Desperate Little Man | Petra Haden And Bill Frisell | 2003 | 28:47 |
| 9 | The Carter Family | John Hardy Was A Desperate Little Man | American Roots- A History Of American Folk Music: [Disc 2] | 0 | 31:19 |
| 10 | The Weavers | The Frozen Logger | The History Of American Folk | 1951 | 34:10 |
| 11 | Cisco Houston | The Frozen Logger | The Folkways Years: 1944-1961 | 1954 | 36:40 |
| 12 | Merle Travis | Dark As A Dungeon | Hot Pickin' [Disc 1] | 1946 | 44:52 |
| 13 | Mr. Connie Dycus | Dark As A Dungeon | Birth / Work / Death – Work Money And Status In Country Music (1950-1974) | 1970 | 47:53 |
| 14 | Grandpa Jones | Dark As A Dungeon | An American Original | 1998 | 50:38 |
| 15 | Vernon Dalhart | The Wreck Of The Old '97 | American Roots- A History Of American Folk Music: [Disc 1] | 1924 | 53:22 |
| 16 | Roy Acuff | The Great Titanic | compliments of grimriper2u@yahoo.com | 0 | 56:28 |
| 17 | Rory Block | Titanic (When That Great Ship Went Down) | Confessions of A Blues Singer | 1998 | 59:35 |
| 18 | Tony Rice | Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald | Church Street Blues | 1989 | 1:01:38 |
| 19 | The Plainsmen Quartet | Jack O'Diamonds | Cowboy Crooners Sing Songs Of The West Cd 2 | 0 | 1:12:28 |
| 20 | Michael Martin Murphey | Jack Of Diamonds | Cowboy Songs | 1990 | 1:15:07 |
| 21 | Tex Ritter | Rye Whiskey | Cattle Call-Early Cowboy Music And It's Roots | 1945 | 1:16:10 |
| 22 | Johnny Horton | The Battle Of New Orleans | American Originals | 1959 | 1:19:18 |
| 23 | Jimmie Driftwood | The Battle of New Orleans | Six Classic Albums Plus Bonus Singles | 1959 | 1:21:45 |
| 24 | Chubby Parker & His Old Time Banjo | King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O | Anthology Of American Folk Music Vol. 1A: Ballads | 1928 | 1:25:07 |
| 25 | Woody Guthrie | Pretty Boy Floyd | Woody At 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection | 1944 | 1:31:06 |
| 26 | The Byrds | Pretty Boy Floyd | Sweetheart of the Rodeo | 1968 | 1:34:01 |
| 27 | Merle Haggard And The Strangers | The Legend Of Bonnie And Clyde (2006 Digital Remaster) | Hag: The Best of Merle Haggard | 2006 | 1:36:30 |
| 28 | Marty Robbins | El Paso | A Lifetime of Song (1951-1982) | 1983 | 1:38:30 |
| 29 | Lefty Frizzell | Long Black Veil | Columbia Country Classics Vol. 3: Americana | 1990 | 1:43:08 |
| 30 | The Kingston Trio | Tom Dooley | Absolutely the Best | 1958 | 1:46:07 |
| 31 | Johnny Horton | Johnny Reb | Classic Country: More Great Story Songs | 1959 | 1:52:18 |
| 32 | Johnny Cash | Rock Island Line | Get Rhythm [Sun] | 1969 | 1:54:38 |
| 33 | Hart Valley Drifters | Handsome Molly | Folk Time | 2016 | 1:56:45 |
