Album Notes

Death... what else would you sing the blues about? Well, there's sex, too. But, of course, those ideas are so tangled up in the human psyche and condition.

Shroud for the Dead , a modern take on a first person murder ballad, has both – the cheating wife killed by the jealous husband, who is then condemned to his own hell.

In good blues tradition, we explore the other side of the coin in Your Man is Dead, chiding a woman (presumably) who won't move on with her life after the death of her man... we don't know anything about he man's death, just that she's stuck there.

OK, so let's lighten the mood a little already! Snake in the Grass is just a fun, upbeat tune about... well, a snake in the grass – the metaphor is left as an exercise for the listener.

Rushing to the Funeral resulted from Doc almost getting run over by a speeding motorist in Cambridge, MA (yes, he was in the crosswalk). He says, “if you want a lesson in how not to drive, just hang out on the Boston area streets for a while... but stick to the T to get around there.”

What's Wrong with You? Began life as Bosnia – recorded in 1996 by Oakroot's former band, Emrys. It was a very angry protest of the Bosnia gencide... but now we've got the Darfur genocide... it seems to be a more general problem. This version tones down the anger in favor of sadness.

Oakroot says he dreamed Gone Gone Gone,, which deals once again with loss and infidelity, one night and woke up with everything – vocals, guitar parts, etc. in his head. One fan commented, “you can really hear a Beatles influence in this one.”

Jen Mi is a blues bragging song in the tradition of Willie Dixon's Back Door Man... but it's sung in the International Language, Esperanto. Oakroot has been an Esperantist for many years. In fact, he began his solo blues career as Radikulo – a blues performer who sang exclusively in the international language.

We close out the album with a traditional song, House of the Rising Sun... but aside from two verses drawn from Georgia Turner's version, Doc takes this in a very non-traditional direction... as a straight up blues song.