Some Like It Extra Hot

By David Ramsey

The Perfect Man

By David Ramsey

I Will Forever Remain Faithful

By David Ramsey

Ode to Miss Pussycat's Puppets

By David Ramsey

Prayers for Richard

By David Ramsey

Still Around Here

You ought to hear CeDell Davis play it.

By David Ramsey

Honky-Tonk Man

The songs live on as family legend, but I never heard them myself; for all of his acidic bravado, Mr. Chuck could be shy around new people. I think the only time I ever heard him sing was when I...

By David Ramsey

Tuned Up in the Spirit

On a hot June Sunday morning in a little country church by the North Fork of the Kentucky River, I sat among one hundred fifty or so Old Regular Baptists joined in song.

By David Ramsey

Like a Shovel and a Rope

It becomes one voice, Shovels & Rope, the distinctive sound of the two of them singing together.

By David Ramsey

Lingering Could Be Your Doom

By David Ramsey

Can't You See That I'm Lonely?

I’m not going to tell you a story about the first time I heard “Rescue Me” because I don’t remember ever not knowing the song.

By David Ramsey

I Ain't Got Nothing But Time

The lilt and longing in Hank’s voice. The freakish adrenaline in his delivery. His rubbery tenor, the way the tune yo-yos up and down like something about to snap.

By David Ramsey

Blood Harmony

From the very beginning, her silence was hiding somewhere in the song.

By David Ramsey

A (speculative, partial, oversimplified) Murder Ballad Family Tree

By David Ramsey