I have a home I built for you, right here in monkey land.

August 2, 2015 4:20 AM

"Old Weird America", you say? I got some right here for ya: Oh, My Pretty Monkey, by Kelly Harrell.

More Kelly Harrell:

Rovin' Gambler
New River Train
The Wreck On The Southern Old 97
I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago
Butcher's Boy
I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again
The Dying Hobo

posted by flapjax at midnite (10 comments total)

Oh, and Harrell's curious version of The Cuckoo She's a Fine BirdMUST be heard. Never heard anything quite like it. Very different from the much better-known version by Clarence Ashley.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:32 AM on August 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

And another, My Horses Ain't Hungry, which I first heard as a kid on my older sister's Joan Baez record.

And here's Bright Sherman Valley, a thinly disguised reworking of Red River Valley.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:33 AM on August 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

And years before Elmore James sang "look on yonder wall and hand me down my walking cane", Kelly recorded a tune by that name, with a refreshing free-rhythm treatment: Hand Me Down My Walking Cane

And on that subject, Jerry Lee Lewis's Hand Me Down My Walking Cane is pretty sweet.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:39 AM on August 2, 2015

Kelly Harrell's the creaky, squeaky old America. But that Jerry Lee is mighty fine.
posted by Modest House at 5:52 AM on August 2, 2015

Kelly Harrell's the creaky, squeaky old America. But that Jerry Lee is mighty fine.

Well, as for me, I like both kinds of music: creaky/squeaky AND Jerry Lee!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:22 AM on August 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Creaky squeaky old and weird, I love 'em all.
posted by moonmilk at 8:09 AM on August 2, 2015

Thanks for this version of Butcher's Boy. Love it.

First came across that tune in a newer version via Aubrey Haynie - it's on A Man Must Carry On, as "Butcher Boy" with Tim O'Brien handling vocals.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:14 AM on August 2, 2015

Love this thank you - from Roanoke, VA.
posted by PHINC at 10:19 AM on August 2, 2015

Don't forget about Wild Bill Jones!
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:30 AM on August 2, 2015

And of course My name is John Johanna
posted by destro at 11:09 AM on August 2, 2015