Acoustic original folk with strong lyrics that address personal, social and political issues accompanied by guitar, mandolin and harmonica.

12 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Folk Blues, FOLK: Modern Folk

Details:
A Storyteller, of suicides, railway drifters, half-sane neighbors and a Mother's baby boy turned soldier, lost in Iraq, of working men and women, immigrants and discarded love, These mostly original songs are done with simplicity of style, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, and a voice that desperately wants you to hear the story. It's all about the story.

Bill Kostelec is a "blue collar Ph.D." He can talk about the factory, a veteran of several. A one time evangelical pastor, he can talk about the church, about a Jesus stolen by reactionaries. This follow-up album to Railroad Boy continues with his storytelling. With his wife Kathy Kostelec on mandolin and doing back up vocals, and writing several of the songs the heart of the music is in the stories.

On the space labeled "occupation" in the marriage license of Ignaz Kostelec, from 1902, the immigrant to the steel mill of Joliet, Illinios writes, "working man." His son, Louie, WWII combat veteran and refinery worker always referred to himself the same way. Thus the title of this album. The songs loosely honor the tradition of American folk ballads, telling the stories of ordinary people. Some of these folks are a bit unusual; take Dugout Dick, for example, a still living hermit who lives in a cave along the Salmon River where he has lived and worked since the 1940's. Then there's the unnamed suicide, and the loneliness of his porch as the world of life drives by. There is a mother, slammed with the news of the loss of her baby boy serving in Iraq. There's the traditional John Henry, and another John, a song by Utah Phillips, John D. Lee. This album reveals the commitment of Bill and Kathy Kostleec to the American folk traditions, as a living tradition, with ever changing stories and characters. It is as workers that they present it.

People who are interested in Woody Guthrie John Prine Utah Phillips should consider this download.