Tag: blues

#12 – King Lonesome

Aside from playin blues that would break the heart of the devil himself, and preaching a mighty fine, if not quite theologically proper, sermon from time to time, he’s a rambling hoodoo man of sorts, with a habit of hunting down “the things that cause them cries of woe, them unseen things that just shouldn’t be so”.

But he rebuffs anyone’s attempt to deter him from this path, or who would make him a professional and tie him to the treasures of this world. “Don’t you worry ’bout ol’ King Lonesome. I’m bound to wander these four corners of the earth ’til I meet that Man of Sorrows, and either I strikes him or he strikes me.”

Til then, he’s got his guitar, The Psalmist, and his song, “Justine”, in which is encoded the essence of his wife and true love, a former voodoo queen of New Orleans. The Psalmist was taken apart and rebuilt during a ritual that involved lining it with the pages of the bible, specifically Ephesians 6:10-18 dealing with the armor of God, and of course, a full complement of Psalms. There’s only one known recording of King Lonesome singing “Justine” — sold only at B.T. Dubs’ Incidentals and Curiousities– but once you hear Lonesome sing her to life, she’ll be in your heart forever.