The Kingston Trio - Tom Dooley

Bob Shane - the last of the original members of the Kingston Trio - passed away this week.  It was a hit for them in 1958 - a huge hit.  It sold 6 million copies, won a Grammy, and is listed at position #198 (out of 600) on Billboard's all time Hot 100 chart beating hits like Bridge Over Troubled Water and American Pie.  By 1961, the Kingston Trio made up 15% of Capitol Records' revenue even with other stars like Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole.

While it doesn't seem obvious that this is country music, allow me to make the case.  It won the Grammy for Best Country and Western Performance.  It's also a song that tells a story, something that country music excels at.  And not just a story, it's a story about a love triangle that led to a murder and a hanging.  It happened in Wilkes County, North Carolina.  Sounds pretty country to me.

Tom Dula historical marker

Tom Dula was a Confederate veteran, serving in Company K, 42nd North Carolina Infantry.  Discharged at the end of that war, he returned home and resumed a relationship with his childhood sweetheart, Anne Foster even though she had married another man.  Dula had a reputation as a lady's man, and soon also took up with Anne's sister Laura.  The story is that Laura got pregnant and she and Dula decided to elope.  Early in the morning of May 25, 1866 she slipped out of the family house and rode off on her father's horse.  Nobody ever saw her alive again.

A lot of folks thought that Anne killed Laura but since Tom still loved Anne, he took the blame.  Rumor had it that Anne knew where the grave was, and showed people where it was.  Dula's trial was a sensation, even making the pages of the New York Times.  His lawyer was no less than North Carolina's Governor who represented him pro bono.  He was convicted anyway, and convicted again in a second trial.  Anne was also tried but Dula testified that she wasn't involved and she was acquitted.   Dula was sentenced to hang.  As he stood on the gallows, his last words were said to be "Gentlemen, do you see this hand? I didn't harm a hair on the girl's head".

Now if that all isn't a country song, I don't know what is.  I mean, all it's missing is a pickup truck.



Tom Dooley (Songwriter: Thomas Land)

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Poor boy, you're bound to die

I met her on the mountain
There I took her life
Met her on the mountain
Stabbed her with my knife

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Poor boy, you're bound to die

This time tomorrow
Reckon where I'll be
Hadn't a-been for Grayson
I'd a-been in Tennessee

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Poor boy, you're bound to die

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Poor boy, you're bound to die

This time tomorrow
Reckon where I'll be
Down in some lonesome valley
Hangin' from a white oak tree

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Poor boy, you're bound to die

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Poor boy, you're bound to die

Poor boy, you're bound to die
Poor boy you're bound to die
Poor boy, you're bound to die...

The Queen Of The World recommended that I post this song.  She knows a thing or two about country music.