The Kingston Coffee House 7/14/26: Bad Outlaws & Good Samaritans
Mike Stevenson | July 14
The outlaw Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sherrif Pat Garrett on July 14, 1881. The outlaw inspired many folk songs by performers like Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, John Hartford and Joe Ely.
The great folk singer Woody Guthrie was born on this day, as was country songwriter Marijohn Wilken who wrote “The Long Black Veil. We’ll wish ’em Happy Birthday.
The parable of The Good Samaritan deals with the question, “Who is my neighbor?” We listen to a set of thought-provoking gospel songs from Iris DeMent, Steve Earle and Parker Milsap.
Audio is available for 2 weeks after the original air date
The Coffee House is Open
– Barbara Dane “Deportee” (Woody Guthrie, 1938)
Billy the Kid
– Rodolphe Burger “Billy the Kid” Play Kat Onoma
– Bob Dylan “Title Theme” from the soundtrack Pat Garret & Billy the Kid, 1973
– Bob Dylan “Billy #7” from the soundtrack Pat Garret & Billy the Kid, 1973
– Ry Cooder “Billy the Kid” (Woody Guthrie)
– John Hartford “Billy the Kid” (J ohnHartford)
– Bob Dylan “Turkey Chase” from the soundtrack Pat Garret & Billy the Kid, 1973
– Billy the Kids Bluegrass “B-I-B-L-E” Legacy of Love, 2023
– Joe Ely “Me and Billy the Kid” Live at Liberty Lunch, 1990
– Bob Dylan “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” from the soundtrack Pat Garret & Billy the Kid, 1973
– Waltz from Aaron Copland’s “Billy the Kid”
– Youth “Daughter”
– Old Crowe Medicine Show “Rock Me Mama” (Dylan/Kechor)
– Dan & Peggy Reeder “Clean Elvis” Live, 2025
– Pousette-Dart Band “Amnesia” 1977
Good Samaritan = Good “Other”
– Iris DeMent “He Reached Down” Lifeline
– Steve Earle “Jericho Road” Washington Square Serenade
– Gillian Welsh “Old Time Religion” (trad)
– Parker Milsap “Old Time Religion” (Milsap)
– The Lucky Four “So Glad I Got Good Religion” (trad) from the Norwegian film Happy, Happy.
– Patty Griffin “Move On Up” Downtown Church
Marijohn Wilkin wrote “Long Black Veil”
Happy Birthday in a Long Black Veil
– Lefty Frizzell “Long Black Veil” (Marijohn Wilken)
– John Buck Wilken “Only Once” from The Last Move (Dennis Hopper)
– John C. Reilly “You Don’t Know Me” (Cindy Walker) Mister Romantic
– Dan & Peggy Reeder “Angels May Come” Live 2025
– Bill Doggett “Blue Champaign” Swingin’ Easy
Newport Nee Ningy
– Ry Cooder “Bourgeois Blues” (Leadbelly) Chicken Skin Music, 1976
– Mississippi John Hurt “Candy Man” Folk at Newport
– Ian and Sylvia “Katy Dear” Live at Newport Folk Festival
– Nee Ningy Band “Have a Good Time” Get Nung
– Nee Ningy Band “Pace Egging” Get Nung
– Nee Ningy Band”Battle of Munster” Get Nung
The Hobbledehoy Set: Brògeal
– Brògeal “Lonesome Boatman” Tuesday Paper Club, 2025
– Brògeal “One for the Ditch” Tuesday Paper Club, 2025
– Brògeal “Roving Fallkirk Bairn” Brogeal, 2024
– Brògeal “Girl from NYC” Brogeal, 2024
Happy Bastille Day!
– The Brothers Comatose with AJ Lee “Harvest Moon” (N Young) 2025
– “La Marseillaise” scene from the film Casablanca
PROGRAM NOTES
William H. Bonney, aka “Billy the Kid”, was an American outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West who was linked to nine murders. On July 14th, 1881 the outlaw Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.
– In February 1973, Bob Dylan recorded 19 songs for the soundtrack album Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Among them was “Rock Me, Mama.” According to Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show, Bob Dylan attributed the lyrics of “Rock Me, Mama” to Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup who in turn attributed them to Big Bill Broonzy
– Joe Ely first recorded and released the song Me and Billy the Kid on his 1987 album, Lord of the Highway. He wrote the song after visiting a museum in Fort Sumner, New Mexico (where Billy the Kid was killed) and deciding to create his own fictional, tongue-in-cheek backstory of a man who simply never got along with the infamous outlaw
–Aaron Copland’s Billy the Kid is a cornerstone of American classical music, celebrated for capturing the expansive spirit and folklore of the Wild West through the story of the notorious outlaw William H. Bonney
– Luke 10:25-37 contains the famous Parable of the Good Samaritan. When a lawyer asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life, Jesus points to the commandments to love God and neighbor. Seeking to justify himself, the lawyer asks, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answers with a story about A man who is beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.
UPCOMING SHOWS / CONCERTS /FESTIVALS
– Big Richard Thursday, July 23, 2026 at The Narrows, Fall River, MA
– Rodney Crowell Saturday, August 29, 2026 at The Narrows, Fall River, MA
– Cold Chocolate July 26 4 pm show at the Blackstone River Theater
– Ocean Mistics with Mark Cutler at The Ocean Mist in Matunuck
– Screening of Peter Asher’ documentary. Asher helped define a generation of singer-songwriters as producer and manager for James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, and others, cementing his reputation as one of music’s most influential behind-the-scenes forces of the 1970s and ‘80s. July 26 at Jane Pickens Theater, Newport
– July 30 at Jane Pickens Theater, Newport. Screening of The Cohen Brothers, O Brother, Where Art Thou? opening is Princess June the mystic folk trio from Newport, Rhode Island
– John C Reilly as Mister Romantic, Thursday July 23rd at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre
– From July 24-26, the Newport Folk festival will run from 10 a.m., when gates open, to 7:45 p.m., when headliners are scheduled to wrap up. A map of the festival grounds, including the five stages