Jesus met the woman at the well. For the life of me I don’t remember how this song came into my head. I feel like I read some of the lyrics as scraps from an old book of field hollers and slave chants. Jesus met the woman at the well. In the book of John,…
Blind Blake is my favorite guitarist. He makes the strings dance. The hokum rag. The blues jive. There’s almost nothing (of any significance) known (or remembered) about Blake. From where I’m sitting, he’s better than Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, and Tampa Red – combined. There’s only one photo of Blind Blake. His first records…
Once upon a time there was a good ol’ boy called Bascom Lamar Lunsford. He picked the banjo and wandered the back roads of the North Carolina hills. Learning tunes from the locals. In 1901 a high school kid named Fred sang a strange song called “I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground”….
Growing up in Minnesota there’s a few truths I learned over the past hundred years. If you’ve never been to the Land of 10,000 Lakes, I’d like to share with you these truths right now. They are as follows: This is one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs. Fun to sing. Here’s a video that…
Let’s keep today’s blog short and sweet. I’m making a concert film and I need a big ol’ audience to make things look amazing. After all, who wants to watch a concert film without an audience? Here’s details and info (as well as mildly-disturbing story about Al Capone): And if you don’t feel like watching,…
Close your eyes. You’ll have a hard time reading this blog post. But close your eyes anyways. Keep them closed. Picture the year of 1947. The war is over, life is getting back to as normal as normal can be. The big bands are starting to make way for the jump blues which will soon…
I grew up a weird kid. Obsessed with 1920s and 1930s culture, fashion, films, music. In high school I dressed like Charlie Chaplin. I carried one of Tiny Tim’s ukuleles in an old brown paper bag and wandered the hallways of my old high-school, turning it into my own freak show. For awhile I toyed…
Hey friends, Jack here. Kitty and I had a fun day yesterday. She recorded me singing a medley of classic country and honky-tonk tunes. We mashed up songs from Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, and Buck Owens. I love all of them ol’ boys, especially Buck Owens. Just can’t get enough of him on…
It was about a hundred years ago when I first met Charlie Parr, another good ol’ Minnesota boy from the fields of southern Minnie, just around the corner from where I’m from here in Mullet River. Charlie was a whiz on the guitar and we had fun playing shows together. Fast forward a few years,…
Hey, friends! Jack here. A few years back my wife Kitty and I made a fun little documentary film called Jug Band Hokum. It’s kinda hard to find now, but we’re in the midst of planning a re-release so y’all can watch it. During the making of that movie, we had the pleasure of meeting…
