In The Pines, by The Louvin Brothers.
You probably know the Leadbelly version of this, or at least the Nirvana (Unplugged) cover of that one, which you should hear, if somehow you haven’t. I don’t even know which I heard first or how the heck I got into the Louvin Brothers, but I had this one album and played the heck out of this one song.
“The longest train I ever saw
was 19 coaches long
The only girl I ever loved
is on that train and gone.”
That’s goddamn poetry right there.
Once in New Mexico, at a small town bar with a live two-step band, I hollered something like “Y’ALL KNOW ANY LOUVIN BROTHERS?” Mind you, I’m pretty sure it was dinnertime, and I couldn’t have been that drunk. Yet. No one in the room had any idea what I was talking about, which is right and good and correct.
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I tried a harmony on the 4th this time, and it’s present in the background somewhere, but mostly you’ll hear my whine an octave up, but that’s kinda fun, too. I looked up “bluegrass harmony” and accidentally downloaded an html file of what I guess isn’t much of a website anymore, and learned that bluegrass vocal harmonies should stay pretty close to the lead, but idk if that means I should sing just like a full step up or down, which seems weird, but we’ve established I don’t know what I’m doing with the harmony.
Plinky second guitar to give the vaguest impression that I’ve ever heard a mandolin before.
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