"He was a medical doctor, but he wrote songs."
July 12, 2015 12:07 PM   Subscribe

Ben Bullington was a small-town doctor in Livingston, Montana, who wrote and recorded country/Americana music in his spare time. In November of 2012 he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and decided to start crossing things off his bucket list. One of those things was doing a songwriting workshop in Nashville, and that brought him into the orbit of the great Darrell Scott.

(You might not know the name Darrell Scott, but if you watched the TV show “Justified,” you certainly know his spellbinding song “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.”)

Knowing that he didn’t have much time left, Bullington handed 10 of his songs off to Scott, along with numerous vintage guitars and pianos that he used to write them, and Scott has recorded them on a new album simply called “10: Songs of Ben Bullington.” Here are Darrell’s liner notes to the record.

Some highlights include:

Thanksgiving 1985 - A young boy talking to his late father, lamenting what life is like with the new step-dad

The One I’m Still Thinking About - True love never dies, or forgets

Born in ’55 - When you don’t have your ID with you, sometimes a story or two is good enough to please the bartender

There’s not a lot of video of Bullington himself performing, but here’s a gem: “Country Music, I’m Talking to You,” live in Nashville with Scott as well as other friends Rodney Crowell and Will Kimbrough. (Fantastic lyric: “I wasn’t surprised but it made me sick, how you turned your backs on the Dixie Chicks, while waving that old red, white and blue…”) From that same show, here’s his rendition of the previously mentioned “Born in ’55.

Ben Bullington died in November of 2013.
posted by jbickers (6 comments total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
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posted by pxe2000 at 12:19 PM on July 12, 2015


In memory of Ben Bullington, and in thanks to Darrell Scott.
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:07 PM on July 12, 2015


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posted by drezdn at 2:11 PM on July 12, 2015


Thanks for the post.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:13 PM on July 12, 2015


I've Got to Leave You Now, mentioned in the obituary, is a lovely song.
posted by Kattullus at 2:17 PM on July 12, 2015


Thank you for posting, taking in the second half of the album today. Some great stories in there.
posted by HycoSpeed at 7:18 PM on July 13, 2015


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