The Dying Californian

A hearty and full-voiced folk tune setting for men's voices with optional solo sections. This Gold Rush-era tune shows up in several collections and in a variety of forms. My first experience with the tune was hearing the version by Cordelia’s Dad on their phenomenal folk/punk album, Comet. Band member Tim Eriksen has a more recent solo version which is close to the album version. My second experience with the tune comes from Vance Randolph’s excellent collection Ozark Folksongs (pp 180–2). The two versions of the song are fairly distinct in some ways, and my rendering draws on each to create my own, distinct, setting.