Work: Charlie Dunn

Jerry Jeff Walker: Charlie Dunn

[purchase]

This would have been a great song for the Footwear theme, but I hadn’t stumbled upon SMM at that time. It fits equally well as tribute to an under-appreciated worker.

These days, people don’t think twice about their footwear. They just go to the nearest shoe store and get a new pair. But, especially for day labor-ers, good boots are the most important thing they put on each day. Here, Jerry Jeff pays homage to the lost art of the boot-maker. Charlie Dunn is portrayed as a humble, little man with a gift for making custom boots.

“Charlie’s been makin’ boots over there,
he says about 50 some-odd years.
Once you wear a pair of his hand-made boots,
you know, you’ll never wear a store-bought pair.
Charlie can tell what’s wrong with your feet,
just by feelin’ em with his hands.
He can take a look at the boots you wear,
and know a whole lot about the man.”

Here’s to the modern-day cobbler, the man behind every American Worker.

Boats: Steamboat Edition

John Hartford: Steamboat Whistle Blues [purchase]

John Hartford: Julia Belle Swain [purchase]

Jimmy Work: Hear That Steamboat Whistle Blow [purchase]

John Hartford was truly one of the greats. He's not as well known as he should be, but almost everyone’s heard his most famous composition Gentle On My Mind, which was a huge hit for Glen Campbell in 1968. Campbell’s version alone has received more than 5 million radio plays, and the song has been covered by hundreds of other artists.

So what do you do when you’ve got a hit song under your belt and royalty money coming in? Well, if you’re John Hartford, the answer is to get a job as a steamboat captain and go have yourself some fun on the river.

Hartford, a man of many talents, not the least of which was banjo picking, was a frequent guest pilot on the Julia Belle Swain out of Peoria. Notably, the Julia Belle Swain bested the heavily-favored Delta Queen to win the Great American Steamboat Race of 1976.

Learn more about John Hartford (and get more songs) here.

Learn more about Jimmy Work, another under-appreciated country great, here.

Where else but a muddy old river, would a person want to be?