If you’re not familiar with Tim Armstrong’s ongoing project, Tim Timebomb and Friends, I highly recommend it. Armstrong explores and reinterprets a wide array of music spanning the past century covering numerous genres like blue grass, zydeco, folk, punk, blues, early rock, reggae, ska, and early country.

Armstrong, along with his band of rotating members for this project, recorded a series of three murder ballads. These are actual folk songs from the early 1900s about horrific acts, one of which is my pick for today: “On the Banks of the Old Ohio.” It sounds like a pleasant song, but the lyrics paint a dark portrait.

If you’ve read any of my short stories, you would understand my draw to a song like this. It left a such an impression that I referenced it in my dystopian short story “The Last Gun,” available to read for free on Section 8 Magazine’s website. Please check it out, if you would, I enjoyed writing it.