Charlie Brown (b. ca. 1940)
Charles Edward Artman (a.k.a. Charlie Brown) was born in Northern Iowa. He is a mystic, poet, tipi builder, and a prophet of a New Age of Consciousness. Living a rather nomadic lifestyle, Charlie traveled and lived in a tipi. He ran The Temple of the Rainbow Path; based on letters to Moses Asch, the Temple was located in various places, including Utah, California, and Florida. When this song was recorded, Charlie was living on the Lower East Side of New York City, and the album was recorded in his apartment.
The Best of Broadside: 72. "The Ballad of Earl Durand"
The story of Earl Durand is true. The song was written by Jack Langan, a Wyoming songwriter. Durand, a resident of Powell, Wyoming, was first arrested on December 2, 1937 for buying furs without a license. The second arrest, chronicled in this song, was on 13 March 1939 and resulted in a six-month prison sentence. An avid outdoorsman and crack shot, he eventually killed himself in the Powell Bank rather than be captured after eluding the police. The story happened pretty much as the song reports. Langan, in a letter to Moses Asch at Folkways, informed him that he had actually written the words and the music, but the singer had changed the melody to meet his own needs. The story of Durand drew interest in the 1960s because the public continued to be fascinated with the image of a great Western outlaw still living in the 1930s. A Hollywood movie was produced on Durand starring Peter Haskell, Martin Sheen, Keenan Wynn, and Slim Pickens. This scenario repeated itself again in the 1980s with the western outlaw Claude Dallas, who also became the subject of songs and inspired a motion picture. Dallas was eventually captured alive in a 7-Eleven in California.
Text extracted from the notes by Jeff Place accompanying The Best of Broadside.
Smithsonian Folkways recordings featuring Charlie Brown:
Teton Tea Party with Charlie Brown (FW05305)