Growing up, Dad had a … particular … preference for music being played in the house.
Basically anything recorded after after about 1950 was considered modern, and he honestly wouldn’t allow us to play anything in the house that wasn’t of the “hillbilly” persuasion. Not country, not bluegrass, not western swing (though he would begrudgingly permit some of that modern stuff occasionally) … old time hillbilly. He insisted this was the correct term for the music he grew up with.
One learned not to even mention rock, folk music, or heaven forbid, jazz songs in his presence. It was hillbilly or bust. He used to torture mom with Tammy Wynette records, and the kids found pretty much all of his music equally awful.
He often demonstrated a particularly sadistic glee in playing songs from his carefully maintained list of “miserable songs”. Songs with lyrics so mournful and awesomely horrible it beggars the imagination. I hope to uncover the list amongst his things eventually, but from memory the most iconic song on the list was Old Shep by Red Foley. The classic murder song Down in the Willow Garden is also pretty unforgettable.
Despite the obvious and predictable rebellion from his children while we were living at home, we’ve all acquired a growing fondness for “Dad’s music.”
We created a playlist for his funeral service that contains so many wonderful songs. Many of these are emotional triggers for us at the moment, so strong are the memories of Papa singing and playing these great songs. Regardless, for posterity, these were the songs that we played during Papa’s service and reception.
Lastly, over time we hope to uncover more video of Papa picking some of his favorite songs, but for now this will have to suffice: Jerry picking The Prisoner’s Song