Some Dark Holler: A Murder Ballad Podcast

Some Dark Holler
  • 5.0 (13)
  • True Crime
  • Updated Biweekly

Welcome to “Some Dark Holler”: a murder ballad podcast! What’s a murder ballad? Well, it’s a song that tells a story about… you guessed it… murder! They started before radio, television, and was an original way to tell true crime stories, and chill its listeners to the bone with their darkly intriguing stories! Join folk singers, Broadway and tv actors Amelia Cormack and Allison Guinn as they sing the traditional murder ballads, tell their true crime origin, and then write their own ballad about each story! If you love true crime, folk music, and spooky folklore, this podcast is for you!

  1. 11/19/2025

    EPISODE 19: KNOXVILLE GIRL

    Episode 19: Knoxville Girl Oh my word! It’s been 7 months since we recorded this! Life, theater jobs got in the way, but finally we got our frickin’ ducks in a row and we have to present to you, with many trials and errors, an episode based on my (Allison here) favorite murder ballad: Knoxville Girl. This was the first murder ballad I’d ever heard, and was horrified and fascinated all at the same time! Little did I know when researching this song, I’d fall down a rabbit hole leading all the way to England and a miller! Have a listen to our playlist accompanying this episode: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/knoxville-girl-sdh-episode-19/pl.u-gxblM4JC55rxAo Main source is www.planetslade.com Thanks to Paul Slade for helping me figure out the last stanza of the Arthur Tanner version!

  2. 03/11/2025

    Episode 18: Railroad Bill

    Welcome back!! We hope you’re enjoying the podcast - we’d love to hear from you! In yet another after hours episode, this week Amelia tells yet another outlaw story! This is becoming a habit! We look at the wild story of the incredible, elusive, mysterious Railroad Bill - both his exploits and the extraordinary story of what happened to him after death... We also announce a slight programming adjustment which we hope will ensure we’re bringing you our best every episode. Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0kYiiTvwSKsl3fwjhbwdvV?si=18dab01f384e480f Sources: Sources - ‘The Life & Crimes of Railroad Bill: Legendary African American Desperado’ by Larry L Massey, encyclopediaofalabama.com, and pancocojams.blogspot.com Send us an email: cormackandguinn@gmail.com

  3. 02/18/2025

    Episode 17: Jealous Lover in a Lone Green Valley

    This time we give you 3 songs in one episode! Hear the more than unhinged story of Pearl Drew the Murderous Mississippi Poetess, and the murder ballad that inspired her! Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QICy0rHKJYNsthGlumjHE?si=WM80i0P4QdumEcrIa0eaNw Sources: Time.com Murder in Rhyme Newspapers.com: “Poet from Miss confesses to Murder in poems.” The Evening Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, Fr, Jan 10, 1930 “Confessed Her Fatal Love Vengence” TheOgden Standard Examiner. 19 Jan 1930 Convicting the Innocent by Edwin Bouchard, published 1930. CrimeSong by Richard H. Underwood

  4. 01/21/2025

    Episode 15: Young Freda Bolt

    It’s Some Dark Holler Day! And this episode, we bring you the sad story of Freeda Bolt! A young girl from Virginia who elopes with her sweetheart in hopes of a happily ever after. Alas, what happens next is the theme of the ballad Young Freda Bolt. We sing and tell her story and Allison rewrites history for her version of the song. Sources: Appalachianhistory.net “The Story of Freeda Bolt” posted by Dave Tabler Roanoke Times, Thursday, December 19, 1929 Theroanoker.com “Strange Days of Roanoke: Murder on the Mountain” by Nelson Harris, October 26, 2021 Crimesong by Richard H. Underwood Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/07T7TOa0lCHNJtfJk5e3l2?si=Rcbm170BS0akgx1So6nXSg Link to Planned Parenthood: plannedparenthood.org

  5. 01/07/2025

    Episode 14: Cruel Elizabeth Vickers

    IT'S SOME DARK HOLLER TUESDAY!! We're back in your podcast feed every 2nd Tuesday. IN this week's episode, we FINALLY leave North Carolina, and in fact the US of A! Amelia tells us the story of the truly awful and irredeemable Elizabeth Vickers, and her murder of William Jones in Brixton, London in the 1850s. Sources for this episode - Paul Slade and planetslade.com, the British Newspaper Archive, Wikipedia and The Slaveholder Abroad or Buck's Visit With His Master to England. Spotify link to The JetSonics “Cruel Elizabeth Vickers”: https://open.spotify.com/track/38NYlq7ugr1KCbrMRk9jlG?si=8n66lmUzTkudW6yO_t8Q3g YouTube link to Wagon Train theme song: https://youtu.be/DG12dJfX1QM

  6. 12/25/2024

    Episode 13: The Ballad of Frankie Silver

    Episode 13: The Ballad of Frankie Silver Wow! It’s been a while! BUT WE’RE BACK with a new episode just in time for Christmas! This ballad has all the components to make a great A24 film: The remote Appalachian woods, a bleak snowy night, a drunk abusive white man, a small pissed off woman, and AN AXE, and a legacy that leaves us asking WHY! We’ll discuss the ins and outs of one of the most famous murder ballads of all time and sing the old and new version of her infamous story! Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0xOSGdNPaQ7LffA8abKwEQ?si=yj1MLNsiT9uD_ClbTImpbQ Sources: Folkstreams.net “The Ballad and the Legends of Frankie Silver: A Search for the Woman’s Voice by Daniel Patterson Die With It In You: The Legend of Frankie Silver (1831) from the Old Fashioned Murder and Mayhem Podcast by Mindy Hudson The Untold Story of Frankie Silver by Perry Deane Young Story by Bobby McMillon: https://youtu.be/qAFT4OwNhSg?si=MNdSM8M4KSYywLy

  7. 09/14/2024

    Episode 12: Stagolee (Part 2)

    Welcome to Stagolee Part 2! In this episode we hear how Lee Shelton may have got the nickname ‘Stack’, how the ballad circulated throughout the country in a multitude of musical and cultural forms, crossing racial divides, and how its legacy can still be seen in the music of today. Sources - Hear My Sad Story, by Richard Polenberg - Stagolee Shot Billy by Cecil Brown - Wikipedia Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/502Tb2TI78URZzIYiW1nSe?si=ykYAUUZaTtGWmalUMHw0IA&pi=a-VVlhNzoiTh-n

  8. 08/28/2024

    Episode 11: Stagolee

    On this week’s episode we have the first of another 2 parter, this time told by Amelia! we cover the fascinating and very culturally significant Stagolee aka Stacker Lee aka Stack O’Lee. Here who exactly Stack Lee was and why over 450 versions of the song have been recorded, in almost as many different iterations! And who knew a Stetson could be the cause of so much trouble?! Sources: Stagolee Shot Billy by Cecil Brown, Hear My Sad Story by Richard Polenberg Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/08Zvk6x1xGL0GRW5vd1kY3?si=omZT_NFGQ_6EP3W_9Z0gyw

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5
out of 5
13 Ratings

About

Welcome to “Some Dark Holler”: a murder ballad podcast! What’s a murder ballad? Well, it’s a song that tells a story about… you guessed it… murder! They started before radio, television, and was an original way to tell true crime stories, and chill its listeners to the bone with their darkly intriguing stories! Join folk singers, Broadway and tv actors Amelia Cormack and Allison Guinn as they sing the traditional murder ballads, tell their true crime origin, and then write their own ballad about each story! If you love true crime, folk music, and spooky folklore, this podcast is for you!

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