Enjoy an American traditional in a way you haven’t quite heard before. The version you’ll hear is deeply informed by the jazz-blues flare of Karen Dalton, which I absorbed on her Pine Street Recordings (Live in Boulder Read more
Enjoy an American traditional in a way you haven’t quite heard before. The version you’ll hear is deeply informed by the jazz-blues flare of Karen Dalton, which I absorbed on her Pine Street Recordings (Live in Boulder 1962). Funny enough, my great-grandparents Elsa and Jack lived on Pine Street around that same era. This take on “Green Rocky Road” includes some priceless lyrics by folksinger David Massengill, which I heard straight from the horse’s mouth at a Cafe Wha? tribute to Dave Van Ronk put on by Fabio Fantuzzi in February 2026. Van Ronk was a Greenwich Village Folk Revival stalwart who loved to play this tune in his own way, though it is commonly accepted to have originated in the Southern Delta region in the oral tradition as a children’s chant.
In the midst of dancin two-step at Williamsburg's best honky tonk bar Skinny Dennis, drinkin' Narragansett on Valentine's day with my sweetheart, I took a breather in the frigid nighttime air to jot down these lyrics.
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scored," said English playwright William Congreve. Indeed, the spirit of this song falls in alignment with those wise words.
This song was part of a live holiday album recorded at Baker Falls in Manhattan's East Village in the winter of 2025.
This song is an open-hearted celebration of feminine vivacity, while at the same time evoking a sense of nostalgia for times of innocence.