Lead Belly. Mickey Rooney's spuds. Monkey Funk.

 Welcome, y'all. The Yolo County Hermit is open for business. 

I have always loved the blues. When I was a young boy in the 1960s my teenage stepbrother, Bill, had some 60s blues records. Yardbirds, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, that sort of thing. Really turned my 10 year old head around. In my teens and 20s, a lot of the blues greats from the 1950s were still around. Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James. 

Around the time I was 40 Nirvana did their MTV Unplugged show and played the song 'In The Pines.' Kurt Cobain told a story about trying to get his record lapel to buy him Lead Belly's guitar, which was for sale. They didn't. He used the story as the lead-in to the song; Lead Belly's recording of it is a classic. But it isn't really his song. 'In The Pines' dates back at least to the 1870s in Appalachia. Bill Monroe recorded a bluegrass version, also outstanding. So here you go.

Lead Belly - In The Pines 

"If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first."

Mark Twain

LINK:

Large amount of Mystery Apples wash up on a North Carolina beach.

MONKEY FUNK, by Blake Chamberlain

Note:

Funk art is an American art movement that is a reaction against the nonobjectivity of abstract expressionism. You get that, right? Anyway, I like it, and I especially like Blake Chamberlain.

Until next time.
James (& friend)