Ole Slew Foot is a great bluegrass song with an interesting history. It's got a great sing-along chorus & gets a great response at Billy Strings shows. According to bmfsdb.com, Billy Strings has played Ole Slew Foot 110 times, as of this writing. That's about 10.5% of the shows, with almost half of the plays coming in 2022 & 2023. Here's a nice vid from '23. Check out Billy Failing getting into it as they get going!
The Song
Ole Slew Foot has J.D. Crowe and Jimmy Martin listed as authors & started life as Bear Tracks, the instrumental B-side to the "You Don't Know My Mind" single in 1960.
J.D. Crowe has a version on his killer Blackjack record.In 1961, Johnny Horton put words to it & Ole Slew Foot was born. It was more of a straight country or even rockabilly song.
About a year later, Rose Maddox released a bluegrass(ish) version. After that you start to see it pop up from a decent number of bluegrass and country acts.
Jim & Jesse
The Stonemans (this one smokes)
Buck Owens
All told, secondhandsongs.com lists 41 versions of Bear Tracks/Ole Slew Foot. Billy Strings is not listed ;->
No comments:
Post a Comment