“Hard Times” by Jacob Sweet

Click here if you want to download the mp3 at Amazon for 89 cents

Good ol’ Stephen Foster keeps on flowing and “Hard Times” is just one of his many truly good songs.  If they gave posthumous Nobels in music, he would be in line for a trip to Oslo.  Bob Dylan and Jerry Garcia (he’d come back for this) would give speeches on his behalf. 

Always plain spoken, sparse, and deeply sweet and respectful, Foster was America’s first great songwriter of note.  I see him up there with Sam Clemens, himself a sure fire Nobelist in literature, as long as we are handing them out posthumously at HarryShots. 

“Hard Times” has been recorded by a long list of fine folks;  today I thought I would choose someone less well known -  Jacob Sweet, who lives in Chicago, is a folksinger, and teaches at the Old Town School of Folk Music.   Can you say Steve Goodman (he’d be in Oslo to sing to Stephen Foster), John Prine, Bonnie Koloc, and Studs Terkel (He’d deliver the Clemens speech, along with Will Rogers).

Enjoy Jacob Sweet with “Hard Times,” our song of the day.   HL