The Devil came for a farmer's wife. He took her straight to Hell. She tore the place apart. He brought her back.
That's the story within the ballad. It's been sung across the British Isles and through Appalachia for more than a century, and most versions play it for laughs: a woman so mean, even Hell won't have her.
Cecil Sharp documented the ballad's popularity in World War I-era Appalachia, and a 1929 recording by the husband-wife duo Bill and Belle Reed from Johnson City, Tennessee — one of relatively few 78 RPM releases from that era to be included on the influential Anthology of American Folk Music — helped carry it forward into the urban folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s. The song has been in these mountains a long time. It has earned its place.
Playwright Diana Jean Skeen isn't interested in leaving it as a punchline. In her version, the wife is addicted to opioids, the farmer is barely holding on, and their daughter — Baby Girl — has grown up holding everything together. When the Devil finally shows up at the door, nobody is all that surprised. But Hell has a way of clarifying things. This episode asks what it takes to actually face yourself — and whether the people we write off as impossible might just be people who've been hurt too long.
Cast
Farmer — Holden Howard
Farmer's Wife — Tayler Bolling
Baby Girl — Ashlyn Mullins
Devil/Construction Worker — Jess Mullins Fullen
TV News Anchor/Rob — Holden Howard
TV News Reporter/Sheila — Celeste Holmes
Demons — Celeste Holmes, Holden Howard
Production Team
Director — Michael McNulty | Musical Guest/Narrator — William Ritter | Sound Effects Design — Rosa Bott | Audio Engineer — Samuel O'Sullivan | Poster Art — Jess Shadrick
"The Farmer's Curst Wife" radio play is written by Diana Jean Skeen. Commentary written by Natalie Axton.
