Kim C. just dropped me a line at PlanetSlade, which I thought I'd pass on.

"My husband (who is also named Paul) and I are historical re-enactor musicians," she says. "We put on funny clothes and do musical presentations at 18th & 19th century historic sites, mostly in the Southeast US. […] Over the years I've become quite fond of murder ballads, and I even made a Master's thesis out of the subject. It was just a tiny chip of ice off the berg, though. There's still so much more to learn and I'm always looking for new ballads to study."

You and me both, Kim, and as you say neither of us is likely to exhaust the subject anytime soon.

I've also heard from George Gierer of South County, who's been enjoying The Jetsonics track linked above. "I dig it. It's catchy," he says.

"I finished our song, and now need to bring it to the band," George adds of South County's Nathaniel Mobbs. "I'll send you a solo version soon. It's a mix of the Decemberists, Led Zeppelin and Louis Armstrong - I think. That's who I stole from anyway."