The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #3817 Message #1273513
Posted By: Joe Offer
16-Sep-04 - 06:06 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Pearl Bryan (murder ballad)
Subject: ADD Version: Pearl Bryan (murder ballad)
Good Old Dale sent me a copy of the Phipps Family version, and it is indeed very similar to the Crooked Jades. The Jades CD is very, very good.
Here's one more from Brewster. It's only one verse, but it actually has a tune. Can't say that I like the tune all that much - the one from the Crooked Jades is the best I've found, but I can't transcribe by ear so I can't post it.
-Joe Offer-
Pearl Bryan (Brewster #61F)
Young ladies if you'll listen, a sad story I'll relate
It happened in Fort Thomas in the old Kentucky state.
Twas January the thirty-first that dreadful deed was done
By Jackson and by Walling; how cold Pearl's blood did run!
sung by Miss Edith Del Hopking of Boonville, Indiana, June 23, 1935. Learned from her grandmother.