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MP3 John Minton - The Hills Are in Bloom
13 MP3 Songs in this album (47:14) !
Related styles: Folk: Folk Blues, Country: Country Folk, Featuring Guitar
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JOHN MINTON • THE HILLS ARE IN BLOOM
Southern Can CDs SCCD 22211 • release date February 22 • 2011
JOHN MINTON''s new album THE HILLS ARE IN BLOOM is the culmination of nearly forty years of performing and pursuing American folk music. Minton began playing in the 1970s in his hometown of Houston, Texas, inspired by roots rock, the folksong revival, and local folk heroes like Lightnin'' Hopkins and Townes Van Zandt. In the 1980s he gigged around Austin while earning his PhD in folklore at the University of Texas. More recently, he has released five critically aclaimed albums by himself and his band, THE POSSUM TROT ORCHESTRA ( John Minton, Life & Times {2003} • John Minton, Going Back to Vicksburg {2004} • The Possum Trot Orchestra {2005} • The Possum Trot Orchestra, Harbor Road {2006} & The Possum Trot Orchestra, Night Crow {2008} ). Featuring thirteen new originals, THE HILLS ARE IN BLOOM expands the electic approach of these earlier albums, sampling a range of roots styles—folk, blues, bluegrass, country, rock, skiffle and ragtime. Besides performing, Minton has also made a career of studying American music. Since 1990 he has been professor of folklore at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, teaching classes on American folk and popular music. His most recent book is 78 Blues: Folksongs and Phonographs in the American South (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008).
JOHN MINTON • vocals • guitars • upright & electric bass • banjo • accordion • piano & organ • harmonica • dobro • jaw harp • limberjack & assorted percussion
JON HARTMAN • drums { tracks 2 • 4 • 5 • 8 • 9 & 13 }
DAVE KARTHOLL • mandolin { tracks 1 & 4 } & whistling { track 7 }
LARRY KUZNAR • trumpet { tracks 5 & 9 }
ERIK STILLABOWER • fiddle { tracks 4 & 10 }
All songs • words & music by John Minton • Monkey Knuckles Music • ASCAP
1 } The Rose of Teneha
I used to always lace my boots up in Arkansas
Till I took a sawmill job down at Teneha
I took a room by the week ’cross from the Silver Moon
Where they nightly pour the whiskey for the flathead crew
Abel had a brother • Adam took a fall
My only one regret’s the Rose of Teneha
When it shines it fries your mind • when it rains you drown
Toiling up them red clay hills • tearing tall pine down
She waited tables at the Moon just biding her time
Waiting for a fool like me to be the next in line
Abel had a brother ———
I thought he was my partner • I thought he was my friend
He took my billfold and my woman • ain’t seen them again
Now I’m on a DUI in the Lufkin tank
Nothing but an IOU that she stuck in the bank
Abel had a brother ———
It’s a thorny question • What would Abel do
If that low back • stabber Cain had took his woman too?
They positively done my heart like a cross • cut saw
I never knew what misery was till I left old Arkansas and come to Teneha
Abel had a brother ———
2 } The Devil Gold of 1862
Old Granville Wise married three wives and buried two
And he never left his children nothing but the price of dead men’s shoes
For that young widow got the land and the Devil Gold of 1862
They said the money came from a bank up in Atlanta that got stranded at Savannah by the federal blockade
So they left it on a sidetrack hidden underneath a stack of cotton bales {right by the rails}
And they say that Granville’s granddad somehow grabbed that money by the tail
But the widow’s brother dug the whole place up and never found nothing but holes
Yet treasure is the pleasure and the measure of many a weak and wicked soul
And Old Gran’s ghost is walking still and walk he will until they find that gold {or so I’m told}
Seeds are buried ’fore they''re born • folks are mostly buried once they’re dead
And most the buried treasure in the world is just a hole in someone’s head
And • man • if you go digging there • you’re liable to find something else instead {that’s what I said}
In the woods along the river of a night you’ll see two lanterns shine
That young widow and her brother are still digging in the Devil’s Diamond Mine
But the toll to Hell is the only gold those fools will ever find
3 } Your Brain Has Got a Mind All Its Own
Wondering • waiting • it’s wondrous aggravating
Worried like a mutt without a bone
Instead of swinging on the gate • gal • why must I hesitate?
Your brain has got a mind all its own
Waiting • wondering • sleeping and slumbering
Dreaming that my passway’s filled with stones
What are you dreaming when you nap • through that hole in your nightcap?
Your brain’s got a mind all its own
Have pity! • wicked child • I ain’t done no wrong
Your brain’s got a mind all its own
Wondering • waiting • thundering and hailing
The cold is cracking rocks and stones
In the creeks and in the lakes • the fishes feel your pains and aches
Your brain’s got a mind all its own
Have pity! • little doney ———
Last night as I lay sleeping • the strangest dream came creeping
I was falling from the treetops to the ground
Through the branches you kept shooting silver bullets at the moon
Your brain’s got a mind all its own
Have pity! • Josey gal ———
Have pity! • wicked child ———
4 } The Hills Are in Bloom
Back in Kentucky the hills are in bloom
Here in this city I’m stuck in a room
Thinking about a better time
Before you broke this poor heart of mine
I couldn’t see farming or working the mine
So I came to the city and got on a line
Got me a job and got me a girl
Said • Boy • you’ve hit the top of the world
But love’s a rustler • love’s a thief
Too much pain and too much grief
The job ended last summer • the girl moved back home
Just left the old number from her telephone
I hope Kentucky suits you fine
Now that you''ve broke this poor heart of mine
{ repeat bridge & first verse }
5 } Coal Creek Blues
O honey babe • o baby mine
You ain’t my rider but you might like this rail sometime
Pack your grip to travel • babe • I’ll grab my bag and go
Payday is coming way too slow
Down in Kentucky • the dark and bloody ground
Is butchered like a hog and weighed out by the pound
The coal runs through these mountains like an open vein
Dragging dead men like an iron chain
O baby mine • I do believe I’m bound away
I’m bound for Caroline
Once I leave you’ll surely rue the day
On the banks of Italy the waves are clear and clean
Here the creeks are black as tar and taste like kerosene
The blood runs through these mountains like a vein of coal
Bleeding from a thousand bloody holes
{ repeat bridge & first verse }
6 } There Ain’t Nothing Old { But What It’s Getting New Again }
Two six four • I got a V8 Ford
With a dozen little monkeys on the running board
We’re going in circles around the bend
You’re bound to hit something but you never know when
Ain’t nothing old but what it’s getting new again
Once we all had lots of cash
Till we had ourselves another little Wall Street Crash
The big bad wolf only made it big
By stealing pork belly futures off of little pigs
Ain’t nothing old but what it’s getting new again
Hey now • doctor • run here quick
This consumption’s made me sick
O • big city life is killing me
Everything that’s old is new
They even brought back that old Spanish Flu
I went to the doctor to get my pills
He asked me up front • Who’s gonna pay this bill?
Ain’t nothing old but what it’s getting new again
Two six nine • That old goose drank wine
Trying to get to heaven on a credit line
The poor old farmer’s getting in his crop
Just a • hoping he can find a little debt to swap
Ain’t nothing old but what it’s getting new again
Come here • doctor • run here fast
This congestion just can’t last
O • big city life is killing me
7 } Pick Poor Robin Clean
Blue Jay • now • Blue Jay • what makes you fly so high?
Trying to find the hard rock bottom of the deep blue sky
Red Bird • now • Red Bird • what’s your bloody crime?
Shooting Poor Cock Robin dead off that telephone line with this long distance gun of mine
Blytheville Gal • O Blytheville Gal • what makes your heart so cold?
Laying ’round old Blytheville just waiting to get old
Pine Bluff Gal • now • Pine Bluff Gal • what makes your head so hard?
Trying to count the children multiplying in the yard when the dough don’t add that far
You got to pick Poor Robin clean • Pick Poor Robin clean
Pick his head • pick his feet • pick a little every bit fit to eat
Pick Poor Robin clean • Pick Poor Robin clean
Lord now didn’t that Jay Bird laugh till he like to broke his yass • yass when I picked Poor Robin clean
Blue Jay • now • Blue Jay • won’t you tell me where you flew?
You didn’t leave a ripple or a foot track on the blue
Buddy • if I told you that then you’d know what I knew
And if you was a Blue Jay too then • man • you’d have a clue why I don’t give a damn for you
Why don’t you pick Poor Robin clean • Pick Poor Robin clean
Pick his head • pick his feet • pick a little every bit fit to eat
Pick Poor Robin clean • Pick Poor Robin clean
Lord now didn’t that Jay Bird laugh till he split his naked yass • yass when I picked Poor Robin clean
Pick Poor Robin clean • Pick Poor Robin clean
Pluck them feathers • fry ’em up in Good Gulf Gasoline
Pick Poor Robin clean • Pick Poor Robin clean
Lord now didn’t that Jay Bird laugh till he fell right on his yass • yass when I picked Poor Robin clean
8 } Desdemona
Desdemona • which way does that blood red river run?
Right from my back window clear to the rising sun
Some fish swim • some fish swum • down to Mississippi where the work’s no fun
Desdemona • won’t you tell your daddy what you done?
Desdemona • who you calling in your sleep?
I do believe my rider expect to make a ’fore day creep
Nickel on your nickel • dime on your dime • don’t expect no quarter • you ain’t got the time
Desdemona • mama • what’s upon your mind?
Here come Betty Lou a • bopping in them new red shoes
She look like she wanna stop but they won’t quit stomping till she drop
For you’re dancing with the devil shaking your bad ass to the fall of dying heartbeats and sound of breaking glass
You can patch a broken bone if you can stand the stones and sticks but that oven only cooks at ninety • eight • point • six
Desdemona—
Here come Betty Lou a • bopping in them new red shoes
She look like she wanna stop but they won’t quit stomping till she drop
For you’re dancing with the devil shaking your bad ass to the fall of dying heartbeats and sound of breaking glass
You can patch a broken bone if you can put it back in joint but that jug don’t hold but nine or ten pints
Desdemona • don’t you try to do me this way
Aww • Desdemona • don’t you try to do me this way
Some ships rock • some ships roll • down to Mississippi where they sure got soul
Desdemona • don’t you hear that church bell toll?
9 } Albert & Betty
Albert’s mama run a • screaming through the streets • she’s gonna do a little drama with the Chief of Police
Say • Your boy done murder but he surely aimed to please
For he only got the blood on the black piano keys
Ragtime music is a true abomination • gonna be the ruination of our nation’s young
You got these gangsters on the corner ruminating with their Gattling Guns
Run here • mama • let me tell you what your Albert done
Albert’s mama weeps • Albert’s mama moans
Her loving son ain’t coming home
Albert’s Betty was an out • of • work beautician who took up with a musician with a taste in whores
Albert spied that poor boy right through the parlor door
Well he didn’t miss a beat but he surely stopped that forty • four
Poor old Benny and for just one penny you can read all about it in the Picayune
All about the doings of Piano Ben and the cheap saloon where he met his end
When bad old Albert plugged his baby brother and best friend
Albert’s mama weeps • Albert’s mama moans
Her loving sons ain’t coming home
Now when they heard the news
Them gals all dressed in blue
All the cake • walking babies from New Orleans clear up to Mobile Bay couldn’t raise the green to go poor Albert’s bail
When they heard Big Ben was dead
Them gals all dressed red
All the cake • walking babies from New Orleans clear up to Mobile Bay shook the tambourine and made a mournful wail
Albert’s mama weeps • Albert’s mama moans
Her loving sons ain’t coming home
10 } The Hollow Mountain Mail
He kissed her goodbye with a tear in her eye
And he pulled out the station on the Tuesday Twelve • 0 • Two
He shot down the rail on that Hollow Mountain Mail
He was bound to make up time he’s overdue
The Longbotham Store isn’t there anymore
But it used to sit across from the trestle on Fall Creek
It was there on the bend that the gear bit the end
And the valve in the cab sprung a leak • now she’s left to moan and weep
Many’s a wife sad and lonely all her life
Widowed by the Hollow Mountain Mail
Longbotham’s niece heard the airbrakes release
And a breath or two later the train hit the ridge
A smile on his face like he’s saying his grace
When he felt the wheels lift off of the bridge
The talk in the news was just all union dues
And a politician speeching at some whistle stop
But his own dying words • they have never been heard
When he shot the Fall Creek trestle from the top • as he was headed for that drop
He said • Many’s a wife sad and lonely all her life
Widowed by the Hollow Mountain Mail
Many’s a man who won’t come back again
Ridden to his maker on a rail
Ten miles of curves on a two mile grade
Was it any wonder what a jump he made?
She still lives today up the line back a • ways
With a son that suits his father right down to the bone
But she knows in her mind as he looks down that line
That she’s looking at being alone • left to weep and moan
Many mothers and wives sad and lonely all their lives
Widowed by the Hollow Mountain Mail
They''ve been widowed by the Hollow Mountain Mail
11 } Soon Some Rainy Day
The stars are gonna rearrange • the days are gonna end
I’m saving me some spare change that I’m surely gonna spend
You’re gonna need my help soon some cold rainy day
The winds are gonna change • the ways are gonna mend
You’re gonna find a stranger where you sorely need a friend
You’re gonna need my help soon some cold rainy day
Oooooo • that old howling wind will blow
Prowling through your kitchen • mama • growling at your door
The waves are gonna trickle • the tide is gonna slack
You better save that nickel deep down in your nation sack
You’re gonna need my help soon some cold rainy day
{ repeat bridge & third verse }
12 } The Drunkard’s End
All around the town • boys • all around the town
Time’s are getting poorly and the rain’s a • pouring down
Listen at the door • don’t you hear that sound?
Coming rumbling from somewhere down in the ground
It’s that old Devil turning ’round and ’round
Down around the depot • out about the yard
Weather’s getting poorly and the times are getting hard
Like a coat of paint or a pack of cards
It wouldn’t wear so thin if it wasn’t stretched so far
Trying to catch a falling star
So tune ’em up again • boys • tune ’em up again
Hand me my old guitar and we’ll pick The Drunkard’s End
Dominicker Duck and that old Cackling Hen
Who can ’call the old ones like we used to way back when?
Who knows when we’ll get the chance again?
Peggy O • where’d the summer go?
Down to Costa Rica where there ain’t no ice and snow
Down there where these chilly winds don’t blow
Summer’s downward bound • my darling Peggy O
O Peggy dear • what’s ’come of the year?
Half a loaf of sorry and a cup of bitter cheer
Summer’s gone • winter’s dreadful near
Every day falls short • every night falls like a tear
All about the lane • boys • all about the lane
Can’t you see that blue • eyed gal go stepping through the rain
Like a dancer stepping out some old refrain
She’s headed to the station for to meet that evening train
Headed to the station for to meet that evening train
13 } The Gulfport Island Line
Down on that Gulfport Island Line where I met that gal of mine
Camping in the cane breaks out among the pine
Down on that Gulfport Island Line where I met that gal of mine—
I went down to the elephant fair • all the hippopotami were there
Just dancing ’round that maypole in their union underwear
A • singing • Shake shake shake it to the east shake it to the west
Shake it to the little girl that shakes the most for less
Down on that Gulfport Island Line where I met that gal of mine
Tearing through the underbrush out among the pine
Down on that Gulfport Island Line where I met that gal of mine—
Now don’t you touch Miss Lula • I’ll tell you the reason why
That gal’ll cut you with her razor and spit right in your eye
She’ll carve your spleen and liver • she’ll dare your heart to beat
She’ll make your backbone quiver with that rhythm in your feet
Now there’s an aching deep down in my back • a misery in my bones
Please • ma’am • please • I’m a long ways from my home
Down on that Gulfport Island Line where I met that gal of mine—
I’m working on the railroad • sleeping in a tent
By the time you get to payday your money’s all been spent
When you’re working on that project • sleeping in a shack
By the time you get to payday they’ve got your money back
Down on that Gulfport Island Line where I met that gal of mine—
Now there’s a breaking deep down in my heart • I’m feeling mighty poor
Please • ma’am • please • don’t drive me from your door
Down on that Gulfport Island Line where I met that gal of mine—
It takes a good old lady • it takes a good old man
It takes a pretty little thing to shake that southern can
A • singing • Shake shake shake it to the west shake it to the east
Shake it to the little girl that shakes the most for least
Down on that Gulfport Island Line where I met that gal of mine
Swinging from tree to tree out among the pine
Down on that Gulfport Island Line where I met that gal of mine—
Down on that Gulfport Island Line where I met that gal of mine
Living like a troglodyte out among the pine
Down on that Gulfport Island Line where I met that gal of mine—
**************************************************************************
JOHN MINTON • THE HILLS ARE IN BLOOM
Southern Can CDs SCCD 22211 • release date February 22 • 2011
All songs • words & music by John Minton • Monkey Knuckles Music • ASCAP
Recorded at Tempel Recording Studio • Fort Wayne IN • Summer 2010
Engineered by Tom Tempel
Produced by John Minton
Design by Matt Kelley (One Lucky Guitar)
Photos of John by Kim Waldschmidt
Thanks to • The Possum Trot Orchestra { Jon Hartman • Dave Kartholl • Rob Suraci & Susie Suraci } • Linda Minton { PTO Front Office } • Mike Dawson { Cedar Creek Luthiers • Grabill IN } • Tim Hogan & everyone at Wooden Nickel Records • Fort Wayne
Southern Can CDs SCCD 22211
© 2011 Southern Can CDs Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws
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