It kinda gets put on the back burner, but I play guitar. Sometimes, I even sing. Mostly blues (King, Clapton, Shepherd, Vaughan, Waters, Hooker, Reed (Jimmy)), sometimes classic rock (Eagles, Kansas, Foreigner), sometimes poppier stuff (Mayer, Gray (David, not Macy)).
You get the idea.
I don’t play often these days. Rarer still when I play for people.
Lately, I’ve been obsessed with all things Justified. Based on a short story by Elmore Leonard called ‘Fire in the Hole‘, Justified follows Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens, a man born in Harlan County, Kentucky. Raylan worked in the coal mines until he got out of Harlan and eventually became a Marshall. In the show, he shoots man in Miami and is transferred back to Kentucky where pot and other drugs and crime are rampant and old memories lurk around every corner.
The show airs on FX late on Tuesday nights.
I recently rewatched the first season (they’re currently airing season three). In the last scene of the last episode, there is a snippet of a song. A haunting male voice sings the lines:
In the deep dark hills of Eastern Kentucky
That’s the place where I trace my bloodline
And its there I read on a hillside gravestone
You will never leave Harlan alive.
Those words, the way the guy sang them – it really stuck with me. I had to look it up. Turns out, the singer is a man named Darrell Scott. The song is bluegrass, but a lot of country folks have sang it, which is probably why I’ve never heard it, given that I don’t listen to country on principal (there was a lot of country in our house when I was growing up).
Title: You’ll never leave Harlan alive.
My obsession lead to my buying the song. I was listening to it a lot Saturday and Sunday. Next thing I knew, I had my guitar out and was trying to work out the lyrics and chords.
Then this happened:
Click here to download. You’ll be taken to Box.net.
Anyway, I hope you liked it. I’ve never tried to sing like that before. 🙂
~P
9 Comments
I’ve already told you this, but I must say it again: SO. FREAKING. GOOD.
And now to play the song on repeat about half a dozen more times before my brain will let me move on.
Thank you 🙂
~P
Patrick, that was awesome!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
So blue men can sing the whites! Excellent.
Dude, you are *so* singing filk at the next con. Anealio better watch his back. 😉
thank you, John.
~P
My RSS feeder has failed me…I never saw this
(my secret is out to why I find posts quickly).
I only discovered this thanks to the podcast…
…I notice you do not mention like or dislike, Paul >_>
What did you think?
~P
Now that I’ve heard it (I explained on the podcast recording the other night why I didn’t at the time)
You know, while in the back of my mind, I know that you have some musical skills, it took me back a bit because I put you in the Podcasteer box and John in the Musician box. That’s inaccurate!
That said, not bad, Mr. Hester, not bad at all!
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