This week at Murder Ballad Monday, two posts on the murder ballad "Rain and Snow" or "Cold Rain and Snow", made popular by Obray Ramsey and the Grateful Dead in the mid-60's.

"Cold Rain and Snow" - Introduction - This week, Pat invites us to break out our shovels and dig deeply with him into the history of "Cold Rain and Snow." In today's post we find quite a few old friends; some false witnesses, some true to the source of this ballad that grew into a Grateful Dead standard.

"I ain't gonna be treated this way" - In a fascinating second installment on "Cold Rain and Snow" Pat gives us reason to believe that the resonances of this song, particularly along the lines of gender and violence, may not play out as we expect. Women's voices performing this song help Pat uncover something distinctive about the song's own "voice."

Del McCoury, Peter Rowan, Sam Amidon, The Be Good Tanyas, Rose Laughlin, and The Lonesome Sisters, plus Pat's Spotify playlist, give us more than a few haunting and powerful performance to inform the conversation.