Milwaukee Record is proud to present Public Domain. The monthly video series features Milwaukee musicians setting up at Colectivo Coffee to adapt some of the world’s best-known songs in ways they’ve never been heard before. Watch the entire series here.
This month, the always wonderful Abby Jeanne and her band came to Colectivo’s Back Room performance space to breathe new life into Eddie Green’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find.” The 1918 song is regarded as one of the American-born vaudeville composer’s most popular songs in his limited catalog. It was first performed by Marion Harris on a recording that was released the following year.
Over the century since the song was published, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” has been covered by the likes of Barbara Streisand, Frank Sinatra and Shelley Winters, Bessie Smith, Cass Daley, Carol Channing, Sweet Emma Barrett, and many more. Now, Abby Jeanne’s soulful vocals and the rocking accompaniment of her backing band come together to create the latest cover, and possibly the best rendition since the song’s early-1900s inception.
The video was shot, recorded, and edited by Cheston Van Huss of Effigy Media (with additional camera support and visuals by Wes Tank). Travis Whitty produced the opening sequence. Public Domain is sponsored by Colectivo Coffee Roasters, Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, and Transfer Pizzeria Café.