This weekend I had the pleasure of playing as a part of the first Cottonwood, AZ artwalk. The wine tasting rooms were lively with art from local artists and music from local musicians. I performed at Arizona Stronghold and where during my second set I performed the classic folk song “Worried Man Blues”.

“Worried Man Blues” is one of those songs that has been passed down orally through generations and because it’s been passed down in this fashion, there are many different versions available. I learned this version from my father and I’m sure he learned it from either a Pete Seeger recording or maybe a Carter Family recording. As is folk tradition, I added my own flair to the song and making it a bit more dark sounding than many other version. Mainly because the song is dark and I felt like it needed dark sounding music.

The song is about a man who has been imprisoned for reasons unknown to him and it doesn’t become clear in the song either. For that reason, I have the impression that the song is being told by a man who is a victim of racism. Someone who is taking the blame for a faulty system.

That’s what makes this song such a classic and it will almost always be relevant. People will always be suppressed or be taken advantage of by another group of people one way or another and songs like this make possible for those suppressed people to connect with each other. From there, the song could create a friendship or maybe, just maybe, a song like this could be that first connection between people that starts a movement to take power back from a ruling class.

It’s power of music and connection and “Worried Man Blues” has the essence to create connections between people to lead to something much bigger. This is why I love folk music and why I keep this song in my repertoire.