Accidental death and manslaughter, guilt and atonement. The murder ballads that make up Tales of Misfortune and Woe are grounded in the dark side of the early American folk tradition, which preacher’s son Jonathan Brown was brought up on.
Born in Taiwan, raised in Texas, he’d while away long hours of confinement to a church pew, scrawling out his own song lyrics on the back of the prayer sheet.
In the same tradition he now writes songs that follow luckless characters to their terrible ends: a desperate mother of three, two brothers on a hunting trip, an innocent girl who wanders into the forest. But the bleak world he explores is often illuminated by sparks of dry wit, and sunny harmonies retrace the grim path of fate with a spring in their step.
Jonathan Brown writes the music and lyrics on Tales of Misfortune and Woe. He is accompanied by Marjolein van der Klauw en Jac Bico (Powderblue) and Gert-Jan Blom (Beau Hunks).