EARLY IDAHO SONGS OF THE MONTH - January 2012
(Hannibal F. "Seven Devils" Johnson, 1895) |
This song was written around 1895 and published by the colorful "Seven Devils" Johnson in his 120-page book of poems and songs Poems of Idaho. The song is a classic miner's song about the trials and joys of a prospector's life in the rugged Seven Devils range overlooking Hells Canyon. The song is rendered here by the Hokum High Flyers band of Boise with Scott Knickerbocker singing lead. The song appeared in the CD/booklet The Way We Worked in Idaho issued in September, 2011 by the Idaho Songs Project. |
The Poet-Prospector, Clarence E. Eddy, wrote this song around the time the Idaho constabule force was created in 1919 to enforce prohibition. This untrained force was sometimes ridiculed as incompetent and bothersome, but was the forerunner of the professional Idaho State Police in 1939. Perhaps the Poet-Prospector himself had an encounter with a constabule! The song appeared in the CD/booklet The Way We Worked in Idaho issued in September, 2011 by the Idaho Songs Project. |
(Clarence E. Eddy, 1919) |
This page was created on October 14, 2011