Pharis & Jason Romero - Goodbye Old Paint (BBC World on 3 Live Session)

[@kimberlysolano4664]

African American cowboy Charley Willis was recognized as a singing cowboy who authored the popular trail song, “Goodbye Old Paint.” Willis was a skilled cowhand who not only sang songs from the trail but who contributed to preserving authentic cowboy music from the era. Charley Willis was born in 1847 in Milam County, outside of Austin, Texas. Freed after the Civil War he headed to West Texas at age eighteen and found work breaking wild horses at the Morris Ranch in Bartlett, Texas. In 1871, at age twenty-four, he rode the Chisholm Trail one thousand miles north into Wyoming Territory as a drover. Charley was musically knowledgeable and talented. He became known for the songs he brought back from the trail. In 1885 Willis taught his favorite song, “Good-bye Old Paint,” to Morris’s seven-year-old son, Jess. As an adult Jess Morris became known as a talented fiddler, and though credited with authoring “Good-bye Old Paint,” he was quick to clarify that had he learned the song from Charley Willis as a child. In 1947 John Lomax, a pioneering musicologist and folklorist, recorded Morris singing and playing Willis’ song, “Good-bye Old Paint,” and later sent it to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress where it is preserved.

[@sherrard5492]

Thank you for sharing details about the African-American roots of this song. For those interested, Stephen Wade devotes a chapter to Jess Morris and Goodbye Old Paint in his wonderful book The Beautiful Music All Around Us- Field Recordings and the American Experience.

[@farside1951]

rarely do you hear a duo so interconnected musically and spiritually.....they were meant for each other to sing together

[@keithrichardscorpse1230]

Agree - they remind me of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings in that respect.

[@williams6966]

The mood they create fits this song perfectly.

[@roundmidnightsuttree]

Saw them two weeks back in Portland, OR. Lovelier souls I don't know. Bless them and long may they ride.

[@isaandrews7600]

There is nothing bad AT ALL about this music! It is so beautiful and I can't stop listening to it!

[@sbingham1979]

God. I love these people. Love their sound in all ways. Feeling coming through pure & strong.

[@karakorum82]

this guys phrasing is awesome. such a unique tone ! Both together are incredibly beautiful!

[@nickwardmusic]

Absolutely gorgeous

[@j3162978]

sincerely, the best version of this song that I've heard and your voices sound incredible together. thanks.

[@tympanuchustornado]

if this is the best version of this song you have heard; a lot of listening needs to be done.

[@jacobthiessen4441]

Colter wall

[@krittmoore]

These two are amazing

[@Twistedest]

Just beautiful.

[@ronanfeely3746]

That just made me cry at work. Good god that was impressive.

[@PutskeDeuce]

Thanks for playing this in Fernie a few weeks ago. What a wonderful song!

[@kevpotter8496]

Top notch. Evocative loveliness

[@rongplanet]

Wonderful music - thanks.

[@geecheer7098]

Awesome performance and song.

[@ballinvillon]

Very nice.Especially the guitar playing.

[@alanhowell3646]

Wonderful.

[@alger1215]

beautiful thanks

[@rodgerjessup3855]

love this...

[@adamrosario7696]

Made my night !

[@jamesevans9007]

Besides being an artful luthier, Jason Romero, like the equally terrific Pharis, is a gifted musician. Together they consistently offer the most listenable acoustic music available anywhere. First rate.

[@tristanschobert5897]

Great song dad

[@gushamborg6690]

Wish we could hear the rest of the set.

[@ZionForman]

this song was like required singing in grade school.

[@rojfitch]

Fabulous

[@eddysvault7603]

Really great!

[@richardfiske]

Great👍🙏🏻

[@egondeur]

I've never heard this Celtic way of singing the song I love best

[@hikrose]

Awesome

[@roymitchell3126]

I want to be a cowboy and I want to sing this song

[@FlyFishMike_]

watched them in horsefly. you think you can play banjo? ja nope good luck huge love pharis!!

[@resilientrecoveryministries]

well that was good.