3 Folk Songs That Could Be Turned Into Gripping True Crime Documentaries

When it comes to the craft of storytelling in music, there is no question that folk music does it best. After all, that is the foundation of the genre. Folk songwriters have seemingly told every single story under the sun, from political war tales to stories about the mundane moments of life.

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Thanks to the astounding diversity of stories in the folk music canon, a popular narrative subgenre that exists under the umbrella is true crime. We believe these three folk songs have the capacity to become gripping true crime documentaries.

“Tom Dooley” by The Kingston Trio

What gets the people going better than romance and murder? At this point in time, not much else. Hence, The Kingston Trio‘s murder ballad “Tom Dooley” tells a tale worthy of a true crime documentary adaptation.

In short, the song tells the true tale of a Confederate soldier who kills his lover and whom the government later executes. It is a common crime tale in folk music, yet folk musicians rarely tell it in the same exact form. It is a tale that never gets old, as an act such as this is always incredibly difficult to understand, but always morbidly entertaining to question.

“Georgia Lee” by Tom Waits

In 1997, a 12-year-old Black girl named Georgia Lee Moses went missing. She was last seen alive on August 13, 1997, after a friend walked her to a gas station and left her with an unidentified man. Days later, a Caltrans worker found her body on the side of a highway. Needless to say, this is an incredibly tragic story, and Tom Waits captures the true crime tragedy in his 1999 folk single, “Georgia Lee”.

Morality, God, and tragedy are what Waits chimes on in his haunting single. The mysterious lack of details and sorrowful emotional appeal of this story and song could easily, yet disturbingly, be the basis of a true crime documentary.

“The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll” by Bob Dylan

While there is no major mystery in Bob Dylan‘s 1964 folk single, “The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll”, the sheer facts of racial injustice, grotesque acts of violence, and legal and moral failures provide a harrowing and captivating story.

Dylan’s single tells the tale of the real-life murder of Hattie Carroll. A woman who was beaten to death by William Zanzinger, a young white man, at a society ball. Frankly, it is somewhat surprising that no major true crime documentary exists about this story, as it is a story that deserves a broader storytelling platform.

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