It takes a worried, but hopeful, man

Stumbling around the internet this morning I found this campaign ad for Obama. Virginia bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley has been around, knows what's what, and gets right to the point.

Click To Play

Which led me to some Stanley Brothers music. First, live with Alison Kraus singing O Angel Band. About the hard-to-understand-but-must-be-funny opening banter: Youtube commenters who were at the concert say that Stanley tells Kraus, "It's good to have you." She replies, "oh, it's good to be had."



And here's the Stanley Brothers doing It Takes a Worried Man on Rainbow Quest, Pete Seeger's 1965 tv show.



One more, here's the same song, same show, but with a young Johnny Cash and June Carter.



There's lots more of this show on youtube, including June telling the story of their trip to entertain the troops in Asia. In Korea, she did her usual trick of tossing out the mike and pulling it back to her. But this time... Well she tells it best right here. Then they sing their favorite Native American protest song.

Bein' country and supportin' the troops ain't necessarily bein' conservative. (Wink, smile.) And that's our history lesson for today.