Ashland performer Josh Gross’s ‘Ghost Ballads’ spins a centuries-old tradition by giving the dead a voice in their songs of murder
By Lee Juillerat for Ashland.news
“The Ghost Ballads: Songs of Murder,” a mix of story and song, will be presented by Ashland-based playwright and performer Josh Gross at the Oregon Fringe Festival in Ashland on April 25 and 26.
Gross will debut “The Ghost Ballads,” which he describes as a “literary hybrid of story and song.” He said the program “examines the history of murder as a topic within folk music through the performance of 10 new original songs and with monologues detailing the stories of the crimes that inspired their composition.
A twist on an age-old tradition
The deets
Josh Gross will perform “The Ghost Ballads” for the Oregon Fringe Festival in Ashland: 5:50 p.m. Thursday, April 25, at Ashland Elks Lodge, 255 E. Main St., and 3:30 p.m. Friday, April 26, at the Gambrel Annex, 2082 E. Main St. Admission is free, seating is first-come, first-served.
Gross said the murder ballad is an oral tradition that stretches back centuries, and that it was often used as an early form of what he describes as “crime beat journalism.” “Ghost Ballads,” he said, “flips the traditional form on its head by recounting the crimes from the perspective of the ghosts of the victims rather than that of the killer or a third party.”
The performance will include songs he describes as “examining America’s complex relationship with race and policing, as well as gender-based violence and the psychological appeal of serial killers.
Three notorious crimes from Ashland’s history are included, including the November 2020 murder of a Black teenager, Aidan Ellison, in a motel parking lot after an argument about Ellison playing music too loudly. Another remembers the still unsolved brutal 2011 murder of an Ashland man who was nearly decapitated along a section of the Ashland bike path. A third song remembers the 1923 DeAutremont brothers train holdup at Tunnel 13 in the Siskiyou Mountains that resulted in the killing of four men.
“Everything happens everywhere,” Gross said of remembering incidents that happen close to home.
He began work on “The Ghost Ballads” during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The performance at the upcoming Oregon Fringe Festival, which runs April 24 to 28 at various Ashland locations, will be the first time his program is being presented as a complete collection.
Along with reflecting on murders in and near Ashland, several of the songs are direct responses to popular murder ballads performed by such artists as Johnny Cash (“Delia’s Gone”), Jimi Hendrix (“Hey Joe”), and the Kingston Trio (“Tom Dooley”), a ballad about the 1866 murder of a woman by her lover and the father of her unborn child.
‘Hey Josephine,’ not Joe
In a response to the Hendrix hit “Hey Joe,” a rock standard that about a man planning to murder his wife that has been recorded by hundreds of other musicians, Gross will sing, “Hey Josephine.”
“I wanted to write that song from the perspective of the woman,” he explained of his version. His songs are intended to be from “the perspective of ghosts of those who were killed.”
Gross, who has a diverse background, will combine music with storytelling to give audiences of the backstories behind his music. He believes the Fringe Festival, a five-day marathon of “unfiltered creative outpourings” is the perfect venue because audiences are more likely to “sit and pay attention.”
Multidisciplinary performer
Gross describes himself as a writer and performer who has also written books, rock music and stage plays, including musicals for his group “Puppeteers for Fears,” which will be on a national tour this summer.
Gross said he was drawn to murder ballads by their “rich capacity for storytelling.” He added, “I’ve always been more interested in sci fi and horror than in crime and punishment. By writing these songs from the ghost’s perspective instead of the living, it meant I could have it both ways.”
Two performances of “The Ghost Ballads” are scheduled. The Thursday, April 25, show is set for 5:50 p.m. in the basement of the Ashland Elks Lodge, 255 E. Main St. The Friday, April 26, performance is at 3:30 p.m. at the Gambrel Annex, 2082 E. Main St. Both performances are free with no tickets required. Seating is first-come, first-served.
There is no age restriction for entry, but themes and subject matter would be considered PG-13.
Email freelance writer Lee Juillerat at 337lee337@charter.net.
