Artist	Song
June Carter Cash	I Used to Be Somebody
Dave Alvin	Downey Girl
Kris Kristofferson	Sister Sinead
Neil Young	Pocahontas
Ian Tyson	Will James
Tom Russell	Claude Dallas
Country Johnny Mathis	Caryl Chessman
Billy Bragg and Wilco	Eisler on the Go
I See Hawks in L.A.	Byrd from West Virginia
Paul Kelly	The Ballad of Queenie and Rover
David Olney	A Dangerous Man
Bob Dylan	Who Killed Davey Moore?
John Prine	Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone
Oliver Morgan	Who Shot the LaLa?
The Clash	Janie Jones
Human Sexual Response	Jackie Onassis
Singers & Players, feat Prince Far I	Bedward The Flying Preacher
Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet	Stalin Wasn't Stallin'
Jackie DeShannon	Anna Karina
Koerner, Ray & Glover	Lady Day
The Greenbriar Boys	Amelia Earhart's Last Flight
The Byrds	Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins

Comment:

My take on the famous people episode of Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour show. Title from “Desolation Row.”

In the first track, June Carter Cash remembers some of the icons she used to know, including Elvis Presley (1935-1977), James Dean (1931-1955), and Marlon Brando (1924-2004).

Dave Alvin honors Karen Carpenter (1950-1983), who spent her teenage years in the same town (Downey, California) where Dave lived.

Kris Kristofferson pays tribute to fellow singer Sinéad O’Connor (b. 1966).

Neil Young’s song is as much about our mythical idea of Pocahontas (c. 1595–1617) as about the actual young Native American.

Will James (1892-1942) was a Canadian artist and author who wrote several books about the American West.

Claude Dallas (b. 1950) is a mountain man who escaped prison after being convicted on two counts of voluntary manslaughter.

Caryl Chessman (1921-1960) became a cause célèbre when he was facing the death penalty for robbery, rape, and kidnapping. He was executed in 1960.

Billy Bragg and Wilco perform a Woody Guthrie composition written after the appearance of Austrian composer Hans Eisler (1898-1962) before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

I See Hawks in L.A. commemorate U.S. Senator Robert Byrd (1917-2010).

Queenie McKenzie (c. 1930- 1998) and Rover Thomas Joolama (c. 1926- 1998) were Indigenous Australian artists.

“A Dangerous Man” recalls soldier and author T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia,” 1888-1935).

Davey Moore (1933-1963) was an American featherweight boxing champion who died following a match against Cuban-Mexican Sugar Ramos.

John Prine offers a humorous take on the career of Indian-born actor Sabu Dastagir (1924-1963), who starred in such films as "Elephant Boy" and "The Thief of Bagdad."

Prince La La (born Lawrence Nelson, 1936-1963) was a New Orleans singer who died of a drug overdose.

Janie Jones (b. 1941) is a British pop singer who became notorious as a brothel-keeper and spent time in jail for her role in a payola scheme.

Jackie Onassis (1929-1994) was widowed by the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and married Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis five years later.

Alexander Bedward (1859-1930) was a popular Jamaican Revivalist preacher. He promised his followers he would fly to heaven, but he ended his life in a mental asylum.

“Stalin Wasn’t Stallin’” was written and recorded in 1943, when Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) was an ally of the U.S. in World War Two.

Anna Karina (b. 1940) is a Danish-French actress, director, and screenwriter.

“Lady Day” honors American jazz singer and songwriter Billie Holiday (1915-1959).

Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) was the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She disappeared attempting to fly around the world.

Finally, the Byrds honor the astronauts of Apollo XI, the space flight that first landed humans on the moon: Neil Armstrong (1930-2012), Buzz Aldrin (b. 1930), and Michael Collins (b. 1930).

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