Chris Thomas King "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues"

[@nikkihalstead4103]

"Oh son....you mean to say you gave your everlasting soul just to play the guitar?" "Well, I wasn't using it." 😂

[@nickbrown1478]

Give the coloured boy a lift

[@constantravens4800]

LOL 🤣 Shit son

[@gilster650]

"Well, theres a many lesser imps and demons, but the great satan himself is red and scaly with a bifurcated tail and he carries a hay fork "

[@deanmorton6537]

I always wonder'd, wha' the devil look like?

[@jackhudson1282]

Damn right he wasn't using it. See his ancestors taught him that, There's no such thing as good or bad, things just are. THIS IS WHY I LOVE VOODOO. Hoodoo is a balance between our constructs of good and bad. IT teaches us that "Do good and you shall receive good" But if its a construct qe do as our heart tell us. Your heart is the center of the universe.

[@alanilling3959]

My favorite scene when they are sitting around the campfire..

[@stevee7774]

Same.

[@svlulalime9293]

Seriously hauntingly beautiful.

[@hauntmoor]

agreed

[@terencegarcia4193]

Mine too. I’m an aspiring film maker and the Cohen brothers are big influences for me.

[@hamiltonpimenta229]

that made me cry and i just don’t know why

[@kevinmckay4795]

this is bonafide

[@chaunceyhulbert7264]

Hes a suiter!

[@antonioharden2500]

Kevin Mckay Everett, my beard itches

[@GoGoNative]

I wasn’t hit by no damn train

[@dianekiki9651]

Amen

[@og-greenmachine8623]

Meh... He got the ham. But ain’t got d’grits...

[@whenmountainsmove]

This is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard in my entire life. Hands down.

[@lunalea1250]

Absolutely, I also love Amos Lee, Arms of a woman, haunting, achingly beautiful!🎙

[@danielkokal8819]

of course it is.... he sold his soul to the devil

[@whenmountainsmove]

@@danielkokal8819 😂😂😂😂

[@the_minimalistic_adventure]

That little bendy riff holds so much emotion. So good.

[@gregbrady4114]

I agree

[@rkernell]

I just realized that this is the same person from "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". The campfire scene where he plays this has always been the strongest in my memory of the movie. The music simply is overwhelming.

[@consciousdrifter7182]

Jack Burton it totally is that’s the guy from the movie!!

[@stevee7774]

Jack Burton - Yes, 100% him.

[@bodbn]

This is a great version. A true honor to the great bluesman Skip James.

[@mikem9384]

The music in that movie along with the visuals are just mind blowing.

[@hauntmoor]

@@mikem9384 it was truly ahead of its time

[@the_minimalistic_adventure]

This song is so ungodly haunting. That little slide up riff adds so much to this beautiful tune. You can feel the deep south emotion behind that short riff.

[@raimesey]

I just said the same thing on another comment. The slide notes, pull off and vocals are just incredible. A true masterpiece!

[@danielk8149]

I wouldnt call it ungodly more like the human soul crying out to God

[@zippitydoodah5693]

Skip James had that quality in a lot of his music. Chris captured it well.

[@eddiekaya1]

That's some mighty fine 'a pickin' and 'a singin'...

[@Nobody-so9sh]

ima give yah 10 dollar a piece !

[@GroupConglomerate]

Is that from RDR?

[@thomaserickson4249]

@@Luci-Lose oh yeah that's the movie that song with featured in, but I think it was actually written a few years before the movie came out LOL

[@cherylronneberg3045]

@@Nobody-so9sh the 4 of us can write Aluishus & gomer will put an X, LOL

[@masoncook8564]

This song reminds me of me and my older brother who was killed 2 years ago on this day we grew up not having much of a life mostly just me and home trying to do anything we could to survive the only things we had was a few clothes and an old six string our daddy had he always used to play this song he was awesome becuse he was the father in some sort of way he left for Iraq during 2012 and was killed in 2013 every time I hear this song it touches ne reminds me of all the struggles we went through how many times he played that song in our roughest times rip Daniel I love you brother

[@jerrybyrd1866]

+Mason Cook Sorry for your loss Mason. May the lord bless you and shine his face upon you ... and may he lift up his countenance to you.

[@jerrybyrd1866]

+Mason Cook Sorry for your loss Mason. May the lord bless you and shine his face upon you ... and may he lift up his countenance to you.

[@duffmorton]

So sorry, Mason. Thank you for telling us this.

[@elainedangerfield5773]

Damn, son. I'm so sorry. But hard times make you who you are today.

[@BJBee]

You brought me to tears. Hope Love finds you. Hope Life makes everything up to you.

[@naneek2]

used to sing this and play for hours on an old mahogany gibson 00, back when my hands still worked

[@jimmy2shoes75]

I started to play this song recently again, only to realize on watching this video that my arrangement is different and not as slow as this, great song DADFAD is a great tuning for blues

[@vasilakiz]

your soul still does brother

[@dangerous.jay2000]

Almost 20 years, and this song STILL gives me the chills. The times were harder back then. But the life was simpler...

[@zippitydoodah5693]

This song is from 1931. Skip James. Chris simply covered it.

[@pussuchre]

This guy is pretty incredible. I am going to take off time from work and rent a hotel room so that I can see him live. His music moves me.

[@soulstorm8806]

He's perfectly covering an original by a Baptist preacher named Skip James! Brilliant song! Amazing.

[@MrBlacksheep12]

I hope you got that time off!

[@TheLeewmcknight]

This is the roots of all American music, from country to metal. The blues have coursed through my veins since birth. With a constant beat in my head waiting to flow through finger tips...

[@ABlackCountryWoman]

Mick Knight EXACTLY! That's why todays music stinks - strayed from Blues roots.

[@RobertHeadley]

+Tara Adams It easy to say "music today" but there are lots of artists keeping the blues alive in their music.

[@jovesheerwater]

+Tara Adams This IS today's music!

[@treroney4720]

+Robert Headley please say that a thousand times

[@Miami1991]

even Hip Hop shares its roots with blues

[@cabnbeeschurgr]

Apparently my dad played the soundtrack for O Brother when I was a baby, and I'd always fall asleep to it. Coming back to it when I'm 19, coming up on hard times... Something deeply beautiful about it, can't quite figure out what it is aside from the song being so damn good

[@JetPackDino]

My favorite song from the movie. One of my favorite songs, full stop. Thank you Chris Thomas King

[@zippitydoodah5693]

Thank Skip James first.

[@TheLeewmcknight]

Being a musician, how can someone hate a race that can produce such beauty? I hate to say it but, this is a dying breed!

[@Malgorzana]

Nice music..

[@Malgorzana]

You're right ! ;-)

[@brandonf24]

A reflection of the human spirit....no more...no less.

[@suzannji]

Perhaps one day we'll realise that we are all one race -- the human race --and then no doubt we'll find something else to fight about.

[@Spudderr]

If you're a fellow musician and hate someone for their ethnicity, you don't deserve to be able to play an instrument. The human condition knows no color or gender.

[@chiefmojorising1]

This dude is seriously under rated.

[@michaeljamesmccabe]

This re-imagining of the old Skip James classic with the Robert Johnson-esque fret slides is perfection. Amazing.

[@jjubert29]

For those who have lived that troubled life, and find a way to keep it moving forward

[@GTX1123]

This takes me way way way back to past yrs, visiting my Grandma in the sleepy little coastal southern town in the deep south where she was from. Live oaks draped with spanish moss, hot and humid summer afternoons, Grandma cookin fried chicken and okra in the kitchen of the old Victorian house she grew up in with a wrap around porch. I would sit and talk to her for hours as she told me stories of what life was like in the early 1900's when she was a child.

[@wesleyculpepper4571]

Steve, great visual. Same with me and my grandma in middle ga. Major Respect.

[@GTX1123]

@@wesleyculpepper4571 I miss her. She lived a long good life and passed about 23 yrs ago at the age of 91

[@wesleyculpepper4571]

@@GTX1123 Definitely keep her memory close to your heart ❤️

[@Pete-tq6in]

I watched the film years ago and I instantly loved this tune, The first time I heard it, I vowed to learn it. It took me a long time to work out why I couldn’t play it and make it sound right: Eventually I figured out the tuning - open D minor, DADFAD. I learned to play it just by listening and concentrating and copying and I have so many memories of playing and singing it at significant moments in my life. When you play this tune, especially when you’re feeling sad, broken and alone, it projects those emotions in such a beautifully haunting way. I remember so many occasions when playing it that the conversation around me just died away and people stopped to listen. The places that hold those memories for me, along with many of the people who were there, are gone now, empty or replaced or moved away or dead, but when I play this music now, I can cut back through the years and they’re there again, rebuilt, smiling, present and alive. This is more than just ‘a song’, it has a way of grabbing people’s souls and holding them captive for a few minutes. Skip James was a true genius and Chris Thomas King has harnessed that genius and gifted an incredibly soulful rendition of this masterpiece to the world. Even now, having experienced it literally thousands of times, when I hear or play it, the hairs still stand up on the back of my neck. Thank you, Skip James and thank you Chris Thomas King.

[@jipevandervaere8833]

Thank you for the tuning! Made me save time... 😉

[@Pete-tq6in]

@@jipevandervaere8833 you’re welcome. Having done a bit of research since I typed my post, I think the Skip James original was played in open E minor, E B E G B E. The fingering is exactly the same as when played in open D minor. It sounds great in either tuning, which tuning you use is more dependent on where you’re most comfortable singing the tune.

[@austinforant4264]

There's just something so hauntingly beautiful about blues, when you feel shivers down your spine and feel at true peace there's no better feeling that music gives

[@GrassrootsGourmet]

This song is so so good. Smoke a spliff and let it carry you along..

[@dspf68]

quit, but I hear you!

[@PaterExcelsior]

GrassrootsGourmet - this is Whisky sippin’ music.

[@nebulaorion716]

the hum with the slide part makes me feel so much

[@paulthanasse7405]

....blues perfection...thank you Mr King

[@FischerFilmStudio]

"You ain't no kind of man if you ain't got land."

[@BenGrem917]

@alterdestiny It's old physiocratic philosophy. S'why those who didn't own land couldn't originally vote. Different time.

[@stevee7774]

Cani Terrae - Way to overthink a comment. 👍

[@enterbalak]

This quote always slips back in my mind from time to time lol

[@jessezass]

I wake up some mornings with this guitar riff playing in my head, it's like the sound a ghost makes as it travels across the barren desert....

[@silenagomez3547]

happened to me just this morning

[@benjaminneaves3195]

@@silenagomez3547 Can you tell me how to get to the Crossroads?

[@KnightOnBaldMountain]

Or, as it travels across the Mississippi Delta.

[@captainsquiggs]

O Brother, Where Art Thou has one of the greatest soundtracks.

[@BluesDeville]

That moaning lap steel just does it for me. With the hall reverb it adds such an eerie atmosphere to the song. What an amazing instrumental addition to such a great song.

[@cherylronneberg3045]

I have been wanting to hear the whole song since I heard a piece of it on "O Brother where art Thou" LOL, going to learn it myself now. Thanks Chris, it sounded just like what I remember.

[@earlgarcia6106]

Love Chris!! He's rare in that he's so talented and could really 'go off' but completely understands that in songs like this one there's magic already in there, just let it come out naturally. Outstanding job

[@hilmarwensorra1215]

A real HAPPY 60th Birthday to Mr. Chris Thomas King and really ALL the best to him ... (2022-1014)

[@charlespayne2002]

A beautiful cover of a masterpiece by the legendary Skip James.

[@soulstorm8806]

Nah he's gotta have a great soul to play this one! Thank you Brother Skip James who wrote it about the great depression and thanks to Chris Thomas King for covering it perfectly! Brilliant! Edit 2024 Ive gotta learn it now. Been a while and this song haunts me wherever I go. It’s one of the greatest songs I think. Born out of poverty and perseverance in the very midst of that poverty. They say that true genius can never be born without conflict. That without the disturbance of the sand causing friction within the oyster the pearl would never come into existence. That Beethoven never wrote his ninth symphony until he became deaf for that reason. Maybe I have to agree. I think I do now. I may hate trials but I’ve grown out of my own trials. To a brighter day. Honestly? Chris Thomas King does this song even better justice than Skip James did at times. I mean Skip James is the original maker of the song but I saw him live in an old video clip and I thought Thomas grasped the vocals better and maybe even perfected them. But there is a certain grainy soul to the original that maybe can never be achieved live again.

[@sheryllcarter2043]

I love this song when they were sitting around the campfire and this song was playing make me think about when I was a kid and we used to sit around my grandmother fireplace she would tell us about the old days when she was coming up in the old days when she was a kid how it used to be hard time when she was a kid I miss those days being with my grandmother and my grandpa we all used to sit around the fireplace and they would tell us stories when they was kids and how hard time they used to have and this song here it is a True song👍👍👍

[@luvellecummingsiii5903]

O Brother where art Thou brought me here

[@jeffwilliams8464]

Luvelle Cummings, III same

[@jox1157]

+Jeff Williams me too

[@k98killer]

Look up the original recording by Skip James. (He wrote it in the middle of the Great Depression.) King's version is also quite good, but it is still worth it to hear the original.

[@jamesogilvie1649]

k98killer you're most correct.. Chris is good but I'm not getting chills like I would listening to skip James version.. Definitely not one to listen to in a dark room anywhere near bedtime.. Lol

[@kittycuz]

The very best scene in the movie, imo.

[@charlesleblanc7777]

My ancestors are from Louisiana, I love the sound

[@xhessxpressx]

You say you have money, you better be sure, these hard times will drive you from door to door- sweet lyric

[@fear0617]

This song is hauntingly beautiful. Makes you want to learn guitar 🎸

[@ninamo6581]

Thanks to the Cohen's bro ! I can't live without this beautiful blues. Hi from France !

[@joedeli1095]

1:46 to 2:00 is probably the best blues I have ever heard and I've heard a lot.

[@wesleyculpepper4571]

If I ever get off this killing "flow".. "Lawd", I'll never get down this low no "mo"....

[@chalkywhite2598]

The Blues... the story of the Black American South and its harships and struggles. Alot of soul, culture and history within those Blues songs that many dont realize. it is how Black folks were able to document our history and tell our tales.

[@packersfan1905]

listening to blues like this really inspires me to play blues guitar especially this song. it shows you hardships bluesman went throught in the early 1900s

[@brandonf24]

To know that this was held in the Music City area...my hometown...makes this all the more special. Love this song...

[@christophermoody1448]

This is proof that great songs are usually the shortest.

[@wesleyeisenberg4180]

So perfect, so sincere and heartfelt, he’s not copying, he’s owning that thing. 😎

[@rogerengle2509]

Wow... What a great song! O' brother where art thou anyone?

[@massudcnee6649]

+roger engle O'brother where art thou?.. R - U- N- N- O- F- T! Where the horse's meat tastes 'awfully good? :)' O'brother..I think the girls' daddy was hit by train? WOW WOW WOW, you can't talk like that to my FEEONCSAAY!!(fiance), I heard she COUNTS TO THREE!..Yes THEM SIRENS turned PETE into a(h)FROG! (: O'brother

[@StajoLaBell]

+massu dcnee a horny toad haha

[@rogerengle2509]

Damn!!!were in atight spot!!!!

[@massudcnee6649]

"..WE..AIN'T GOT A RADIO.." (Piet is begging for his life as he is for certain has a rope around his neck.) Ooooh..BROTHER

[@massudcnee6649]

roger engle Piet: I see first! The MAN him self:"..my hair! my hair!.."

[@MMMHERETAUNGAMC]

One of the best scenes.. set amongst the chaos of their journey that sweet moment of peaceful contemplation and dreaming time

[@demolitionwilliams7419]

There is something eerie and special about this song

[@WarmothGuitarist]

While I love Skip, Chris's rendition is hard to beat. His guitar tone... His voice... Amazing.

[@the_minimalistic_adventure]

Agreed. This version is just way more haunting and emotionally deep and soulful.

[@zippitydoodah5693]

Skip inspired many later blues players with his style. I use his tuning a bit myself.

[@suzannji]

Skip James the greatest, but he's great, too. Aren't we lucky to have such musicians! james

[@Monkey_D_Buhlahkay]

This is insanely beautiful and the best rendition of this song without a doubt.

[@jbelden36]

This is so great. True blues coming from a black man. Hits you right in the soul. Tears of frustration, anxiety and pain of all the desperate homeless people that people walk or drive past everyday. Someday things will change.

[@weedism]

No matter your background we all live this song. Man, I could listen to these blues all day long.

[@ohlmaxe]

I don’t think I’ve ever heard a version of this song that didn’t gimme goosebumps. the soul of ol Skip lives in Chris.

[@bombomos]

I've been searching for this song ever since I saw the movie ;-; I'm so glad I found it

[@CoachDodderidge]

My favorite song of all time. Chris Thomas King, your version is my my go to song in life for many years now. Cheers. Thank you.

[@orionmyth]

Masterpiece

[@gobstompper13]

Beautiful man. Beautiful voice. Perfect for the role and should be as huge as his cohorts on the film if not bigger. You can't fake amazing talent like that.

[@andrewbrigance4902]

If i ever get off this killing floor. Lord ill never get down this low no more

[@stevencieleszko3193]

Just saw him today at the Vence Blues Fest. Awesome talent!!!!

[@subhasish1231]

O brother thank you.....I can keep listening all day long

[@connorjones100]

this is music at its finest.

[@falkgrundschok1517]

This is basically the essence of blues. All you need to know.

[@ThinkerThunker]

Oh man, that hit the spot. Rock solid.

[@k-9thecat765]

Hard-times for-sure... I recall asking to go through hard -times just so I could have the pain to sing, play and write the Blues... Be careful what you wish for...

[@mdmarion5213]

Took me a couple of days to learn this on guitar. Beer and bonfires.

[@MrDodirty28]

Damn son that was some mighty fine pickin and strumming.

[@johnr.timmers2297]

Finally, someone who know how to sing this song, perfect amount of slurring the words just sounds so good

[@Dameon666666]

My soul aches for skip james every time I hear this. His pain is the beauty in my blues filled existence.

[@tracythomas3565]

God, killer cover of Skip James, absolutely beautiful. The Bentonia school.

[@petrossithole9188]

listening to this realy gives me the BLUES and I am able to focus on the work I am busy with.

[@mrcatfishjohnson]

This guy sings to your very soul! Incredible

[@markhackney3305]

Anyone remember when Eric Clapton released his 'Me & Mr Johnson' Album...and it was utter crap. Squashed all the original beauty into a formulaic 12 bar lesson in tedium? Well, this man is wonderful...soulful, authentic, captures the spirit of the originals that he plays. I salute you sir. Clapton isn't worthy to kiss your feet! For modern renditions of classic blues..this is the MAN!

[@codytaylor5335]

My god what a tune!! Incredible sound

[@sukiwashington8719]

2021 still like this song & still watching Oh brother, where art thou!

[@dillonheimerl5683]

Your words speak for a lot of people now a days... Thx

[@RichardBoutinMusicandOthers]

I'm full of tears...

[@codyking4848]

How could you not love this.

[@cgonneville6677]

Open D minor sounds like the wind cryin through the birch trees. Good cover. Well done.

[@imsneeky]

the playing and singing voice here are amazing,i mean that,but the words hit you right in the soul,absolute darkness and despair

[@matthewsmith5886]

The sound from that guitar is intoxicating. Top 5 favorite songs.

[@MrJett-lr7yr]

Great version of this song, guy's a good guitar player. Being born & raised in Memphis love hearing a good blues cover

[@timtusphil1]

I need to find a CD full of Chris Thomas King's (AKA Tommy Johnson) singin'

[@danielmaydana8169]

timtusphil1 From the Cohens' movie "Oh Brother Where Are Thou?"

[@jayriley4623]

Check out his album "Red Mud".... I dig it. I also grabbed "21st century blues from the hood"... different vibe for sure (kinda Jimi Hendrix-meets-NWA-ish)

[@vickilaw]

Just one of my favorite songs ever - just from the feeling of it.

[@andreaswiki1265]

Oh my goodness. I'm speechless. The bliss.

[@toddinthemiddle]

Haunting version. Hat's off to the original, but this blows it away.

[@TheThreeJTs]

Who can seriously dislike this song??

[@reeldistractionaction1972]

I'm listening to this bad ass tune, sittin by the campfire, GOOD DAY IT IS thommy!

[@zaddik2004]

Amazing performance. I heard and loved this when o Brother cane out, but I was more recently reading up on Alan blind owl Wilson, of canned heat, and it said skip James inspired him to embrace his haunting high voice after he initially was not happy with it. So if you want to hear another inspiring, haunting voice, check out the 1931 recording of Skip. James. After listening to the Skip James version for a while, I realized, oh wow, that's the song arrangement they used in o Brother which is in the 1930s I think. Somebody told me that for oh brother, he had to learn a different way of playing blues guitar. If anybody can confirm or elaborate on that, it would be cool.

[@jfpOne23]

I feel like this toon followed me in the back of my head for decades. End that was before I heard this song.

[@the_minimalistic_adventure]

It’s that catchy little guitar slide-up riff. So good.

[@hackerguitar]

He’s such a gifted musician. Just amazing skills, obviously so much practice and work. To play this song this well takes some serious dedication to the music.

[@GinjaNinja01]

Awesome...way to sing the Blues 'Tommy'...love this version...and love his voice and playing too. Like others I reconnected with this track thru 'O Brother Where Art Thou'

[@silentlamont]

In 2023 and that guitar rift is still just as beautiful as when i heard it the first time

[@awesomo845]

This is a wonderful performance! What skill in singing and in mastery of the instrument

[@KuitlahuakR]

Damn, is the guy from the movie he was really awesome yeaah nice song too

[@Swidhelm]

Yip, it is. I had to look it up to be sure, but yip.

[@itsaguinness]

kuitlahuak rafael argumedo vera he's part of a brain trust now

[@binko969]

Once again the hair on the back of my neck stands on end and I have to force back heavy emotion. In my opinion which means jack shit in this world, if the blues don't move you than you have never really lived the hard side of life. Nothing like well played blues from the soul to make me really feel the feelings that I am void of 99.9% of my life so far. Just felt I had to express that. A lifetime loser and loners meaningless thought.

[@merirowe382]

Binko 969 Mate! You just summed up my thoughts and feelings on Blues!!!! Only people who've had a hard time in life can truly appreciate.

[@cheesybutler9544]

Darn right.

[@alecpipik8297]

🙏🔥💪✊

[@mackgmail]

Keep it lit, ain't no such thing as a meaningless thought. A lifetime loser you are not, even if you have been until now, things change in a heartbeat. Stay strong chief.

[@Bigg724Markk]

If you don't feel the blues you have never lived on the hard side of life. Well said good sir.

[@RRL110]

nobody plays this better

[@GhostofRhurValley]

true dat

[@Psyxic_Crimes]

Skip James does

[@ben9161]

damn right

[@IplayTheGuitar4Fun]

if you could get King's guitar with James' voice...the world would end because we aren't worthy of music that good

[@RayPierreWhit607]

I love CTK's cover for sure. But I know he loves Skip's original every bit as much as I do. Probably more.

[@jonathanconnor7920]

I'd say there are other soundtracks as great as O Brother, Where Art Thou?, but I can't think of a single one that's better. This being probably my favorite song on the soundtrack.

[@yamaha94O]

So glad I found this. LOVE that riff!

[@cylersmiley5259]

Now this ladies and gentlemen is gold