Strictly limited first edition of 50. CD in 6-panel Pantone Vermilion digipak, with original photography by Sarah Bryan and Cal Evan. Produced by MonotypePressing.
Includes unlimited streaming of The Devil Knows How
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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Cassette + Digital Album
"The Devil Knows How" limited cassette edition in Pantone Hunter Green, produced exclusively for Gourd Recordings in cooperation with DPSR. Includes download card.
Includes unlimited streaming of The Devil Knows How
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Lee Mills is what they call my name.
I was once without a murder stain,
But now you’ve heard the story told
Of how I came to be so bold.
It was on a bright and sunny day
When Will Hardin led me astray.
He caused me to commit a crime,
Of which I am compelled to die.
Oh, here I am, bound down in chains,
And on my name's a murder stain.
If I could call back my past days,
I would refer from all such ways.
Many a night I’ve laid awake
And prayed to God for pity’s sake
To pardon all my sins at last,
And then forgive me of the past.
My mother dear, she prayed for me.
Her smiling face I’ve wished to see,
But death, cold death, has come at last,
And took her troubles from her breast.
Out yonder the scaffold I do see--
It was prepared alone for me--
And I shall stand upon it soon,
And there to meet my parting doom.
You rowdy boys, here as I stand,
The sheriff with the rope and outstretched hand.
This is my last experienced words,
And do not let them pass unheard.
Don’t ever be led off astray,
Nor cause your days to end this way,
Nor cause your dear old mother grief,
For on their gray hairs it will trouble leave.
Dear little girl, we too must part.
To see your tears, it breaks my heart.
If it wasn’t for leaving you here to cry,
I would not care so much to die.
My time is up; I’ve got to go.
Farewell, dear friends on earth below.
I hope we’ll meet above the skies,
And now I’ll bid you all goodbye.
credits
from The Devil Knows How,
released May 13, 2022
Voice: Derek Piotr
Backing voice: Kenneth Roper
Traditional
Folklorist Derek Piotr pulls together mountain songs from North Carolina crossing nearly a century. Child ballads and local murder songs sit alongside dulcimer & close harmony singing. Derek Piotr
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Been loving this stuff since “Music From Saharan Cellphones” dropped. More obscure greatness! Kinda wish it had those notes found with “…Cellphones” releases tho. Lord Dubious
This wild experimental artist from Chicago uses electric kazoos, tape loops, and more to craft far-out, wonderfully confounding songs. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 15, 2021