Two Coats
“Two Coats” is a gospel song recorded by Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys. Gospel material ran all through Stanley’s long career, alongside his secular songs.
The song works a simple parable of charity and faith. A person with two coats is called to share with one who has none; the lyric draws from that scriptural lesson a plain teaching about generosity and the open heart.
Stanley’s mountain-rooted voice gave the song its weight.
Born this day · June 24, 1900
Gene Austin was one of the first American crooners and one of the best-selling recording artists of the late 1920s. His 1927 Victor recording of “My Blue Heaven” sold more than five million copies and held the all-time sales record for over a decade; his own songs “When My Sugar Walks Down the Street” and “The Lonesome Road” entered the standard popular repertoire and later the country and bluegrass canon.
- Born Lemuel Eugene Lucas on June 24, 1900, in Gainesville, Texas; took the surname Austin from his blacksmith stepfather Jim Austin.
- Raised in Minden, Louisiana, where he learned piano and guitar.
- Enlisted in the U.S. Army at fifteen; rode with John J. Pershing’s 1916 expedition into Mexico after Pancho Villa and served in France during World War I.
- Briefly studied dentistry and law in Baltimore before settling on a singing career.
- Recorded “My Blue Heaven” for Victor on September 14, 1927; the single eventually sold over five million copies and held the all-time sales record into the mid-1940s.
- Co-wrote “The Lonesome Road” with Nathaniel Shilkret in 1927; the song became a standard for country and bluegrass acts.
- Wrote “When My Sugar Walks Down the Street” and roughly a hundred other songs — though he never learned to read music.
- Credited as a direct influence on Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Russ Columbo.
- Ran an unsuccessful 1962 campaign for Governor of Nevada.
- The Victor recording of “My Blue Heaven” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978.
- Died in Palm Springs, California on January 24, 1972, at age 71.
Doc Watson Recordings
Doc Watson (1923-2012) defined modern flatpicking guitar — and his Folkways and Sugar Hill recordings made traditional Appalachian material accessible to a generation. His material spans old-time ballads, country, gospel, and blues — anything that fit his approach of playing fiddle tunes on the guitar. The Watson Family recordings with father Arthel and son Merle Watson are foundational. These twenty-nine songs are the recordings on this site whose canonical version is Doc's.
Each song's page on Picker's Guide has chord charts, lyrics, recordings, and song history.
- Columbus Stockade Blues
- Crawdad Song
- Dream of the Miner’s Child
- Greenville Trestle High
- Little Orphan Girl
- Pallet on the Floor
- My Dear Old Southern Home
- Omie Wise
- Shady Grove
- Sitting on Top of the World
- Streamline Cannonball
- Tennessee Stud
- Tom Dooley
- Train that Carried My Girl From Town
- Walk On Boy
- Way Downtown
- Your Lone Journey
- Alberta
- Nashville Blues
- Grandfather’s Clock
- Muskrat
- Deep River Blues
- Freight Train Boogie
- Sweet Heaven When I Die
- Give Me Back My 15 Cents
- All About You
- What Does the Deep Sea Say
- You Won’t Be Satisfied That Way
- Foggy Mountain Top
An editorial introduction to bluegrass — its history, its sound, the theory that explains why it works, and the culture that has carried it for eighty years.
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