OLD TIMEY TUESDAY!* Can't Feel at Home

It's once again Old Timey Tuesday!  We are just two short days from the show.  So, today's Old Timey Tune addresses one of the themes of She's Folks:  finding a sense of home.  The song is "Can't Feel at Home," an old gospel tune recorded by the Carter family.  Woody Guthrie rewrote it to highlight the plight of the migrant worker during the Dust Bowl.  Something I like to do with old timey tunes, particularly gospel pieces, is pull them from the hereafter and bring them down to earth where they can find new life speaking to human experience.  The song might be old, but the words are timeless. 

I may be a folk fan, but my taste in music is varied.  You wouldn't know it to look at me, but I'm a big Nirvana fan.   For their Unplugged album, inspired by the Vaselines, Nirvana did something interesting, particularly for their genre and their sound.  They took an old gospel tune ("Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam"), and put their spin on it:  "Jesus Don't Want Me For a Sunbeam."  It's a simple tune, but through it we hear Cobain's troubled soul. 

"Can't Feel at Home" rings true for me personally.  It also ties into our next project:  Fixed Abode:  A Benefit for Refugees.  If you can't join us this Thursday and Friday, consider seeing She's Folks along with a lineup of wonderful acts in a variety show that will benefit Loom Chicago, an organization for refugees. 

Please enjoy "Can't Feel at Home!" 

*On Old Timey Tuesdays we feature old North American folk, bluegrass, country, blues, ballads, and work songs we love. Some we grew up singin'. Some we've discovered along the way. These songs don't appear in our live shows. But we love them too much not to play them. We hope you love them too.

Do you have an old-timey tune you love?  Let us know and we might give it the She's Folks spin!