UNDERAPPRECIATED MUSIC: CLARK KESSINGER

People react to bad moods in different ways.  One person I went to school with, Chris, would go into the men's room at a bar, rip the urinal off the wall, causing a flood, and then would sit at a table drinking flaming shots and glaring at everyone in the bar.  You could say this was an extreme case.

Since the shooting in Parkland last week, I have not been in the greatest of moods.  The response from the right and the NRA tools could darken the mood of even the most positive of persons.  These days, I respond by posting articles that offer solutions on Facebook and on other media and by calling BS on the outlandish conspiracy theories that have (inevitably) been popping up.  Back in my college days, however, I responded differently.  (No, not by ripping out urinals.)  I had a record album, Clark Kessinger, Old Time Fiddler, and I would crank that thing up full volume with my dorm window opened wide.  Nothing shares your dark mood like blasting out "Turkey in the Straw" as loud as possible to passing college students:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7XK4pWwcME


Kessinger was a great musician and in happier moods I would enjoy his fiddling at a decent decibel level.  Take a listen to this Folkways album from 1966:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6fWNaBV7NQ


You may wonder what music I blasted out of my dorm window when I was in a good mood.  The answer is obvious:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFa1-kciCb4

and this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9FzgsF2T-s


Do have special music for special moods?