Category Archives: Personal Stories

“Goodby, Katie!” (for the 2nd time…)

Katie Lee Posted on by

I had heard about Katie Lee almost from the first moment I moved to Jerome in 1983… the stories were vast and varied to say the least! The first time I had the honor of stepping into her home was when her long time friend, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, came to town to visit her. Ramblin’ Jack had been a folk hero of mine for years so I asked Katie if I might attend the little get together she was hosting and she said “Sure!”. It was an evening I will never forget. Ranblin’ Jack sat in Katie’s front room to … Continue reading →

Maude, Billy & Mr.’ D’ – Western Folk Opera

Katie Lee Posted on by

Way back in the mid-fifties, I read a story in the Saturday Evening Post titled, “The Rider on the Pale Stallion”, written by Helen Eustis, an author well regarded back then in the heyday of folk music and folk tales. Her story simply cried aloud for music and rhyme, so I began making it into a Folk Opera, writing lyrics and music, using the author’s words in-between the songs to keep the story intact. While I was performing at the Blue Angel in New York, and had almost finished the music, I looked her up. I played it on my … Continue reading →

The Story of the Arizona Killer Song

Katie Lee Posted on by

I’d just returned from a gig at Telluride MountainFilm Festival in 2008—where they showed a documentary DVD of my activism; trying to save our Colorado River and restore Glen Canyon—to be zapped back into my past with a force that has left me dazed. Out of the blue I get an email from a guy named Bill who is a PhD student in rhetoric and a composition teacher at Carnegie-Mellon University. He tells me he saw this movie 3:10 to Yuma and they played a verse from a song called “The Arizona Killer.” When he did a web search about … Continue reading →

THE RIDE

Katie Lee Posted on by

THE RIDE Essay originally published in “Sandstone Seduction” (Johnson Books) Published in Mountain Gazette – #78 Re-launch Issue – December 2000 – Breckenridge, CO.   It was the hottest day of the year when I decided to do it. Sure as hell it wasn’t anything planned in advance. Intuition works best in a case like this. I remember dreaming up something similar a year or so back and threatening that I would do it someday, but the notion didn’t even get out of bed with me that morning. I was still deep into the sorrow of loss. He was such … Continue reading →

Snail Mail Magpie

Katie Lee Posted on by

Snail Mail Magpie          They don’t fly very well. Or maybe I mean they fly awkwardly compared to other birds their size; more like a glide-skip-plop than a zoom-bank-settle. To some people who live around them they’re a damn nuisance but they are beautifully marked in the eyes of various artists who find them worthy of intricate drawings, paintings, carvings, or whatever. I saw a boat once down in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, named the Mad Magpie—something I can well imagine. When the Sea of Cortez acts up, a sailboat can glide-skip-plop on a mad sea just like … Continue reading →