Song of the Day: Tom Dooley

Tom Dooley by the Grateful Dead. It might not be the best audio but it’s really cool to see the Dead cover an old NC folk song that hits close to home for the Sports Chief crew. Like a lot of folk songs from the 1800’s, it’s not known who the actual author is of this song. But it first came to popularity when The Kingston Trio recorded a version of the song in 1958 that hit #1 on the US billboard. It also hit #1 in Australia, Canada, Norway and Italy. The song has also been covered by plenty of artists since, such as Doc Watson, Billy Strings, Neil Young, Bing Crosby and Steve Earle. I’m a much bigger fan of the fast paced bluegrass versions, like Grateful Dead’s, Doc Watson and Billy Strings’ covers, compared to the Kingston Trio version which is much slower. Wild that a folk song about a murder that took place in Statesville, NC in the 1800s, made it to #1,not only in the US, but all over the world and has been covered by numerous musicians.

Thanny