Murder ballad
25
MENTIONS
10
EPISODES
10
PODCASTS
Search complete. 25 mentions across 10 episodes found for "Murder ballad".
Nov 4, 2026
Nick ForsterHOST
Please help me welcome back to the stage, along with Madison Cunningham, Rufus Wainwright.
Rufus WainwrightGUEST
Now we're going to cheer things up a bit with the Murder Ballad.
Rufus WainwrightGUEST
This is a song, an old folk song that I learned from that amazing album, Songs Our Daddy Taught Us, by the Everly Brothers.
Rufus WainwrightGUEST
When I first made this album and sang this song, my daughter was Viva, she was about 10 at the time, and just immediately gravitated towards the murder ballad, of course, and wanted to learn that.
Rufus WainwrightGUEST
It's amazing how kids just, I think kids really understand how horrible the world is, and kind of dig it in a weird, whatever, they're quite morbid children.
Rufus WainwrightGUEST
One positive thing.
D.A. BowenGUEST
Did you see my shirts? I have the Murder Ballad shirts.
D.A. BowenGUEST
Murder Ballad's Toss My Salad.
D.A. BowenGUEST
Yeah, I sell T-shirts that say Murder Ballads, Toss My Salad.
D.A. BowenGUEST
That is my favorite murder ballad.
TracerHOST
A
D.A. BowenGUEST
And I was like, why don't, you know, why don't you sell t-shirts that say drummers, butts drive me nuts.
D.A. BowenGUEST
And I said, you do that.
D.A. BowenGUEST
And I'll sell shirts that say murder ballads, toss my salad.
KaleoHOST
Listening to Willow Avalon's latest album feels a little dangerous.
KaleoHOST
There are murder ballads filled with tales of love, betrayal, and revenge.
KaleoHOST
Avalon heard similar songs growing up, sung by the women in her family, and it helped shape her new album, Pink Pocket Pistol.
KaleoHOST
It's a modern update on the Southern Gothic tradition, pairing dark and unsettling stories with cheerful melodies, a wink, a nod, and occasionally a body.
KaleoHOST
And Pink Pocket Pistol, the new album, hits all those notes and then some.
KaleoHOST
But I am curious, what draws you to these kinds of songs?
Willow AvalonGUEST
I think for me, it's just what I grew up on, you know? And I grew up on, you know, Southern country singing women singing murder ballads, you know? And, you know, I grew up watching my granny and everyone sing the same songs.
Willow AvalonGUEST
And there was always, at least my experience with the South, it's more of like Southern Gothic where there's a darker kind of eerie element to everything that seems bright and beautiful.
Tyler AlstonHOST
I mean, country's always had sort of like – its darkness was allowed to exist way more than pop or anything else.
Tyler AlstonHOST
Yeah, the murder ballads.
Tyler AlstonHOST
Exactly, and this is one of them.
Tyler AlstonHOST
But I'm going to go ahead and say it was retroactively applied based on this song.
Jet Poindexter-HattuHOST
Bluegrass music can get really dark, and I mean really dark.
Jet Poindexter-HattuHOST
We've got some murder ballads, some betrayal, some ghosts, some trains, some graves, some lost loves, people disappearing into the mountains, something about getting thrown into a river, somebody getting buried underneath a willow tree.
Jet Poindexter-HattuHOST
But somehow we're still tapping our feet while we listen to it.
Jet Poindexter-HattuHOST
So today we're taking a little walk.
Jet Poindexter-HattuHOST
through the darker side of bluegrass music.
Jet Poindexter-HattuHOST
Some of those murder ballads, some of those haunting stories, some of those old songs and spooky traditions that have been passed down through generations.
Jet Poindexter-HattuHOST
So turn the lights down, grab a cup of coffee or something stronger, and let's get into it.
Jet Poindexter-HattuHOST
So let's start with the obvious question.
Dave StroudHOST
By the time the song reached American country music, its older European settings and details had been replaced by a distinctly American landscape.
Dave StroudHOST
And we open with Arthur Tanner and his Corn Shuckers and their 1925 recording of Knoxville Girl, one of a family of murder ballads that traveled across the Atlantic, becoming a fixture in storied Appalachian lore.
Dave StroudHOST
Hey, we do this Deeper Roots thing each and every week at the same time here on this station.
Dave StroudHOST
And if this music interests you, you need to check out our Deeper Roots website where you can find past shows and keep track of what's coming up on our weekly shows on community radio.
Tony GillespieHOST
For this episode 8, I thought it would be appropriate to share some spooky tales of tragedy set to music.
Tony GillespieHOST
This is Murder Ballads.
speaker_1UNKNOWN
This folk machine has a lonesome wizarding.
speaker_1UNKNOWN
If you missed it in the 60s, you can still be in the folk scene.
Tony GillespieHOST
These broadside sheets of paper told the tales of gruesome deaths, covered up crimes and murders.
Tony GillespieHOST
Often these were ripped from local trials and real-life executions.
Tony GillespieHOST
These broadsides were turned into tunes that would be known as murder ballads for centuries to come.
Tony GillespieHOST
Just think of it as history's take on the modern true crime podcast.
ChristopherHOST
Now, if you know the Violent Femmes from Blister in the Sun or Add It Up, this is going to sound a little different.
ChristopherHOST
It's an old-fashioned murder ballad.
ChristopherHOST
And it tells the horrifying story of a father who murders his own daughter.
ChristopherHOST
And as disturbing as that story is, there's something else remarkable about this song.
ChristopherHOST
Gordon Gano wrote it while he was still in high school.
ChristopherHOST
He explained in an interview that he had given himself a songwriting assignment.
ChristopherHOST
Write a traditional murder ballad like the old folk songs from Britain and Ireland.
ChristopherHOST
So during each class period, he wrote another verse.
TwitchHOST
[laughs] He wrote the happiest song-
MJHOST
The happiest murder ballad
TwitchHOST
... about spousal murder.
MJHOST
Yeah.
Tom DruckenmillerHOST
That's on June Apple Recordings.
Tom DruckenmillerHOST
And before that, we heard from the Macabre Brothers, and they're recording traditional murder ballads and Otto Wood.
Tom DruckenmillerHOST
They're made up of Pete Koski on the guitar and David O'Dell on the banjo.
Tom DruckenmillerHOST
That's on Roan Records out of Glenville, West Virginia.