Be the first to have a copy of our brand new album on vinyl LP!
Includes unlimited streaming of Down Below
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 5 days
Purchasable with gift card
$20USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Be the first one on your block with a copy of our upcoming album, Down Below, in compact disc format. The CD includes some amazing photography by, New Orleans artist, Tom Harvey.
Includes unlimited streaming of Down Below
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 5 days
Purchasable with gift card
$15USDor more
about
I first heard this song on The Library of Congress Leadbelly collection when I was an adolescent. My buddy, Adam Ahrens, and I worked up a version. I wrote two of these verses myself and collected the others from Huddie Leadbetter and Mance Lipscomb’s versions.
lyrics
First time I shot Ella,
I shot her in the side,
second time I could not quite tell where
The third time I shot Ella,
I shot her in the head,
that must have been the shot,
that killed poor Ella dead
Ella Speed went out,
just to have some fun,
got shot down with my colt forty-one
I pulled out my piston and I held it in my hand
little girl I'm gonna make you understand,
I saw her dancing with her new man on the floor
Ella Speed don't do me that way no more,
two white horses tied to a rubber tire hack,
seven women going down to the graveyard,
six of 'em coming back
when they heard the news that Ella Speed was dead,
everybody dressed up in red
two white horses riding side by side,
gonna take Ella on her last carriage ride,
last thing she said, just before she died,
little sister don't you do like me,
don't get mixed up with no crazy man,
any old crazy man that you see.
credits
from Down Below,
released May 23, 2021
Produced by Ted Hefko & Justin Carlo Davi
Recorded August - September 2020 at Music Shed Studios, and Below Studio by Mike Dorsey and Ben Lorio
Edited by Ted Hefko and Justin Davi
Mixed by Keenan McRae Artisound Production
Mastered by Gene Paul at G&J Audio
Musicians
Ted Hefko (Lead Vocals, Finger Style Guitar, Clarinet)
Matt Galloway (Lead Guitar)
Justin Carlo Davi (Bass)
Chris Davis (Drums & Percussion)
Kevin Louis (Trumpet )
Craig Klein (Trombone)
Huddie Ledbetter PUBLIC DOMAIN - additional verses, and arrangement Ted Hefko Thefko Music ASCAP
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