Tom Leonardi's blog

Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter points to the old English ballad “Nottamum Town” as the inspiration for his own approach to songwriting: The emotional power and vitality of the lyrics don’t require clarity of meaning and precise understanding.

The newly elected President of Guatemala, Otto Perez Molina and the 158 members of the Guatemalan Congress took office in February of this year. Since then, conflicts between the major political parties have paralyzed the Congress. Six pieces of legislation, backed by a broad coalition of Indigenous and small farmer’s organizations, remain pending from the previous congress.

 When the ship left England heading for a far shore
The rich declared that wouldn’t ride with the poor
They sent the poor below, they were the first to go
Wasn’t it sad when that great ship went down.

American Pastimes features a special one hour radio program about Leonard Cohen (b. 1934), the Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist whose work explores religion, isolation, and interpersonal relationships.

In parts of the American south, there is an old saying that at the end of man’s life, when it comes time to cross over to the other side, he comes to a bridge. On that bridge he’ll find all the dogs that he’s known, and they’ll determine whether the man makes it to the other side or not.

“Omie Wise” is one of north America’s oldest known murder ballads. Like many American murder songs, it is based upon an actual event with a known victim. (British ballads, on the other hand, seem more likely to be about anonymous people, perhaps because their events took place so far in the distant past that memory of detail is obscured).

Ellenton, South Carolina was incorporated in 1880. A quintessential southern rural community, it was established along a railroad line. Local lore says that it was named Ellen’s Town by the railroad superintendent who was smitten by the beauty of a young local girl.

CULTURAL SURVIVAL is a non-profit organization that has been partnering with indigenous people to defend their lands, languages and cultures. Since 1972, this Boston-based organization has worked in every corner of the globe to empower native peoples to maintain their traditional cultures while under the onslaught of western economic, social and political forces.

Wars have been fought for stupid reasons, and World War I epitomizes war at its most stupid. The conflict was preceded by four decades of diplomatic disagreements and minor clashes between individual European nations over colonialism and territorial disputes.

According to his biographer Joe Klein, “one of the last things that Woody Guthrie did before he died was to listen to a recording of his son Arlo singing a long, convoluted talking blues about how he’d been arrested for littering in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and how he’d parlayed that ‘criminal record’ into a means of dodging the draft and avoiding the war in

Hank Williams had developed a habit of constantly jotting down lyric ideas on napkins, receipts, hotel stationery, and any other scrap of paper that came in handy. While his personal life may have been in a drug and alcohol induced shambles he managed write down these song fragments and meticulously store them in a set of notebooks he carried around in an old leather satchel.

We were homeward bound one night on the deep
Swinging in my hammock I fell asleep
I dreamed a dream and I thought it true
Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew

This week American Pastimes features a one hour radio special commemorating the 10th anniversary of the release of O Brother, Where Art Thou? The program features interviews with the actors and musicians who contributed to the film and soundtrack.

Gordy Ohliger, musical historian, banjo & guitar artiste extraordinaire, all-round good guy, and an irregular guest on American Pastimes stops by to play and talk up "Honky-Tonkin' On The River", a multi-band extravaganza at Scotty's Boat Landing on Saturday August 20th. 

In late 1938, Woody was back in Los Angeles with a new program on radio station KFVD. Within a short time his road partner, the actor Will Geer, convinced him to move to New York. In New York his fame escalated as he recorded albums and hosted a new radio show for CBS.

After his traveling partner Roy Crissman returned to southern California to move his family north, Woody Guthrie continued his trek throughout the central valley of California, staying and singing with farm workers in labor camps, living under bridges, hanging out in skid rows, writing in his notebooks, and sending his reports off to “The Light”, a Los Angeles-based progressive

Due to the combined hardships of the Great Depression and ongoing drought, many people from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri packed up their belongings and traveled west in search of work. An estimated four hundred thousand made their way to California in the 1930’s.

This week American Pastimes features the true but fabled tale of “Duncan & Brady”. In October 1880, Patrolman James Brady was shot and killed while responding to a barroom brawl at the Charles Starkes Saloon in the red-light district of St. Louis, Missouri. Harry Duncan, a boot-black, porter and actor/singer, was arrested and convicted of the crime.

Alan Lomax is the one. It was Lomax who brought “House of the Rising Sun” back with him from one of his many field excursions in search of American folk tunes and folklore. In his 1937 expedition through the Cumberland Gap into Appalachia Lomax recorded three separate renditions of this song on his Presto disc making machine.

This local trio of sisters weave a folky Americana with guitar, banjo, mandolin and a bit of the eggshaker. The Railflowers blend three part harmonies to create a musical tapestry of memories and experiences that have inspired their lives.

Cities burned. Especially the rapidly growing American cities of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The close proximity of their buildings, the use of easily combustible material, non-existent or un-enforced building codes, and the lack of quality fire fighting equipment contributed to a litany of tragic fires across the country during this time.

Most people assume that the “House of the Rising Sun” is about a brothel in New Orleans. It may be. There were definately hotels there named "Rising Sun"  and perhaps they were bordellos.

As Democrats and Republicans take off their gloves and pummel each other and the President into submission, American Pastimes features the 60’s anthem “Let’s Get Together.”

Greg Keeler is a manly man of letters. He holds degrees from Oklahoma State University and Idaho State University. He has taught English and Literature at Montana State University since 1975. As a writer he has produced numerous books of poetry, many articles in popular and academic journals and magazines, six plays and several books.

This past week the world watched the rescue of 33 gold and copper miners who were trapped 2,300 feet below the surface of the Chilean desert for over two months. It was 52 years ago, almost to the day, that the first ever world-wide broadcast of a mining disaster rescue mission captured the attention of people all across the globe: October 23, 1958.