It was 1866, and in a town in North Carolina, a man was about to be hanged.
The man was called Tom Dula and his crime – taking the life of an innocent woman.
Tom Dula loved two women – Laura Foster and Ann Melton.
…But it was the life of Laura Foster he was guilty of taking.
She was sadly found in a shallow grave, and Dula confessed to killing her.
That was the end for him, and he was hanged.
…But many years later, the other woman, Ann Melton, lay on her deathbed and…
…Confessed it was her all along that was guilty of murdering Laura Foster.
This is one heck of a powerful story, and one that sent chills down my spine the first time I heard it.
Sad, powerful, and emotive – like so much music out there.
I guess that was why this story was turned into a powerful guitar song and covered by great artists such as:
The Kingston Trio, Neil Young, Doc Watson, Bing Crosby, Lonnie Donegan, The Grateful Dead, and even actor Harry Dean Stanton.
The song is “Tom Dooley” (the name Dula was changed slightly for some reason) and it is one of the most powerful traditional folk tales in my opinion.
It also makes for a wonderful fingerpicking song you can learn in a variety of ways.
It is all in my course where you also get every detail on the techniques needed to play it
Plus, how to play it as a wonderful solo fingerstyle version, a sing and strum version, a sing and fingerpicking version.
It goes deep on this one song to help ensure you really learn it well.
Enjoy your Saturday
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
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