Cyrus Jones 1810 to 1913 Made his great granchildren believe You could live to a hundred and three A hundred and three is forever when you're just a little kid So Cyrus Jones lived forever
Gravedigger When you dig my grave Could you make it shallow So that I can feel the rain Gravedigger
Muriel Stonewall 1903 to 1954 She lost both of her babies in the second great war Now you should never have to watch Your only children lowered in the ground I mean you should never have to bury your own babies
Gravedigger When you dig my grave Could you make it shallow So that I can feel the rain Gravedigger
Ring around the rosey Pocket full of posey Ashes to ashes We all fall down
Gravedigger When you dig my grave Could you make it shallow So that I can feel the rain Gravedigger
Little Mikey Carson 67 to 75 He rode his Bike like the devil until the day he died When he grows up he wants to be Mr. Vertigo on the flying trapeze Ohhh, 1940 to 1992
Gravedigger When you dig my grave Could you make it shallow So that I can feel the rain
Gravedigger When you dig my grave Could you make it shallow So that I can feel the rain Feel the rain I can feel the rain Gravedigger
The three principal songwriters - Colin Brooks, Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist shared the bill at Momo's, an Austin club. Originally, each singer/songwriter performed his own set, however they eventually started sharing the stage, and collaborating together with bassist Seth Whitney. The Wednesday night series was billed as "The Good Time Supper Club". A misprint in a local paper billed the act as "The Heathens." In 2007, drummer John Chipman joined the band. Also notable is a version of "Aint No More Cane",a traditional prison work song of the American south. The Austin, Texas-based Band of Heathens included their distinctive arrangement of the old song on their "Live at Momo's" album.
Sam "Lightnin’" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 — January 30, 1982 was a country blues guitarist, from Houston, Texas, United States. Born in Centerville, Texas, Hopkins' childhood was immersed in the sounds of the blues and he developed a deeper appreciation at the age of 8 when he met Blind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic in Buffalo, Texas. That day, Hopkins felt the blues was "in him" and went on to learn from his older (somewhat distant) cousin, country blues singer Alger "Texas" Alexander. Hopkins began accompanying Blind Lemon Jefferson on guitar in informal church gatherings. Jefferson supposedly never let anyone play with him except for young Hopkins, who learned much from and was influenced greatly by Blind Lemon Jefferson thanks to these gatherings. In the mid 1930s, Hopkins was sent to Houston County Prison Farm for an unknown offense. In the late 1930s Hopkins moved to Houston with Alexander in an unsuccessful attempt to break into the music scene there. By the early 1940s he was back in Centerville working as a farm hand.
Hopkins took a second shot at Houston in 1946. While singing on Dowling St. in Houston's Third Ward (which would become his home base) he was discovered by Lola Anne Cullum from the Los Angeles based record label, Aladdin Records. She convinced Hopkins to travel to L.A. where he accompanied pianist Wilson Smith. The duo recorded twelve tracks in their first sessions in 1946. An Aladdin Records executive decided the pair needed more dynamism in their names and dubbed Hopkins "Lightnin'" and Wilson "Thunder".
Hopkins recorded more sides for Aladdin in 1947 but soon grew homesick. He returned to Houston and began recording for the Gold Star Records label. During the late 40s and 1950s Hopkins rarely performed outside Texas. However, he recorded prolifically. Occasionally traveling to the Mid-West and Eastern United States for recording sessions and concert appearances. It has been estimated that he recorded between 800 and 1000 songs during his career. He performed regularly at clubs in and around Houston, particularly in Dowling St. where he had first been discovered. He recorded his hits "T-Model Blues" and "Tim Moore's Farm" at SugarHill Recording Studios in Houston. By the mid to late 1950s his prodigious output of quality recordings had gained him a following among African Americans and blues music aficionados.
In 1959 Hopkins was contacted by folklorist Mack McCormick who hoped to bring him to the attention of the broader musical audience which was caught up in the folk revival. McCormack presented Hopkins to integrated audiences first in Houston and then in California. Hopkins debuted at Carnegie Hall on October 14, 1960 appearing alongside Joan Baez and Pete Seeger performing the spiritual Oh, Mary Don’t You Weep. In 1960, he signed to Tradition Records. Solid recordings followed including his masterpiece song "Mojo Hand" in 1960.
By the early 1960s Lightnin' Hopkins reputation as one of the most compelling blues performers was cemented. He had finally earned the success and recognition which were overdue. In 1968, Hopkins recorded the album Free Form Patterns backed by the rhythm section of psychedelic rock band the 13th Floor Elevators. Through the 1960s and into the 1970s Hopkins released one or sometimes two albums a year and toured, playing at major folk festivals and at folk clubs and on college campuses in the U.S. and internationally. He traveled widely in the United States, and overcame his fear of flying to join the 1964 American Folk Blues Festival; visit Germany and the Netherlands 13 years later; and play a six-city tour of Japan in 1978.
Filmmaker Les Blank captured the Texas troubadour's informal lifestyle most vividly in his acclaimed 1967 documentary, The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins.
Houston's poet-in-residence for 35 years, Hopkins recorded more albums than any other bluesman.
The son of novelist Larry McMurtry, James was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1962, and grew up in Virginia. James McMurtry’s seventh studio album, Childish Things, was released on Compadre Records in the fall of 2005. As writer L.E.Brady notes, “The album includes McMurtry’s statement on American decline - We Can’t Make It Here - his most unabashedly political number yet.”
This video is from a 1993 performance in San Antonio. Poet , musician, and madman Townes Van Zandt sings of the hopeless and the homeless. Walk the streets of Austin or any American city, and live Van Zandt's harrowing vision.
"I stood in line and left my name
took about six hours or so
Well, the man just grinned like it was all a game
said they'd let me know
I put in my time till the Pocono line
shut down two years ago
I was staying at the mission till I met Marie
now I can't stay there no more
Fella 'cross town said he's lookin' for a man
to move some old cars around
maybe me and Marie could find a burned-out
van and do a little settlin' down
Aw, but I'm just dreamin', I ain't got no ride
and the junkyard's a pretty good ways
that job's about a half week old besides
it'd be gone now anyway
Unemployment said I got no more checks
and they showed me to the hall
my brother died in Georgia some time ago
I got no one left to call
Summer wasn't bad below the bridge
a little short on food that's all
Now I gotta get Marie some kind of coat
we're headed down into fall
I used to play the mouth harp pretty good
hustled up a little dough
but I got drunk and I woke up rolled
a couple of months ago
they got my harp and they got my dollar
them low life so and so's
harps cost money and I ain't got it
it's my own fault I suppose
The Pocono's down but the Chesapeak's runnin'
two freights everyday
if it was just me I'd be headed south
but Marie can't catch no train
She's got some pain and she thinks it's a baby,
says we gotta wait and see
in my heart I know it's a little boy
hope he don't end up like me
Well, the man's still grinnin' says he lost my file
I gotta stand in line again
I want to kill him but I just say no
I had enough of that line my friend
I head back to the bridge, its getting kinda cold
I'm feelin' too low down to lie
I guess I'll just tell Marie the truth
hope she don't break down and cry
Marie she didn't wake up this morning
she didn't even try
she just rolled over and went to heaven
my little boy safe inside
I laid them in the sun where somebody'd find them
caught a Chesapeak on the fly
Marie will know I'm headed south
so's to meet me by and by
Marie will know I'm headed south
so to meet me by and by."
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