Trouble in Mind (Public Domain Song by Richard M. Jones)

Peggy Jenkins’ passionate vocal delivery of the song’s lyrics demonstrates that the blues genre can also be aspirational - expressing hopes for a brighter future even amongst life’s lowest moments. The Project Preservation Band supports Jenkin’s performance with a slow vaudeville style blues, highlighting Paul Hornsby’s haunting piano solo and Anthony Staffiero’s moving saxophone parts.

Featured Artist:

Peggy Jenkins (Lead Vocals)

Project Preservation Band:

David Adkins (Guitar, Organ)

Paul Hornsby (Piano)

Kevin Scott (Bass)

John Seals (Drums)

Tony Staffiero (Sax, Baritone Sax)

Song History:

Trouble in Mind was written by jazz pianist Richard M. Jones and first recorded by singer Thelma La Vizzo in 1924, with Jones accompanying her on piano. However, the song has been traced to two African American spirituals from the 1800s before Jones’ penning of this early blues standard: “I’m, a-Trouble in De Mind,” published in the Slave Songs of the United States (1867) and “I’m Troubled in Mind,” cited in The Story of the (Fish University) Jubilee Singers and Their Songs (1880). In 1926, the song gained more popular appeal when it was recorded by Bertha “Chippie” Hill, with Louie Armstrong on trumpet. The song has subsequently been recorded by famous artists such as Dinah Washington, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Nina Simone. The Blues Foundation inducted Hill’s version of “Trouble in Mind” into the Blues Hall of Fame as a “Classic Blues Recording” in 2020.

Lyrics:

Ohh Yeah

Trouble in mind

I’m a little blue

Bet you I won’t be blue always

‘Cause that sun is going to shine 

On Peggy’s backdoor step some day

I’m going to lay my head

On somebody’s lonesome railroad line

Let that old midnight special

Ease my troubled mind

Will they tell me that old graveyard 

Is a mighty lonesome place

(Piano Solo)

Goodbye baby, may God bless you

And may He bless ol’ Killer a little bit too

Oh, don’t meet you over yonder, baby

When they throw that darn right over you 

(Guitar Solo)

Goodbye baby, may God bless you

And may He bless ol’ Killer a little bit too

Oh, don’t meet you over yonder, baby

When they throw that darn right over you 

Trouble in mind, I’m a little blue

Bet you I won’t be blue always

‘Cause that sun’s gonna shine

On my back door step

Some lowdown, some lonesome, mother humpin’ day