Did a Bourbon Family Murder Inspire the Song “Careless Love”?

 

Bessie Smith had the first hit with "Careless Love" in 1925.

The tremendous success of Old Crow, the first modern bourbon, produced several fortunes in the decades before Prohibition. Few profited more than the Berry family. Hiram Berry joined the firm after the deaths of founders James Crow and Oscar Pepper. He was succeeded by his eldest son, George. 

Both men were prominent members of Kentucky’s bourbon aristocracy. George Berry may have been the wealthiest person in the state. He was married to Mary Bush, from a prominent Louisville family. As such, Mary’s younger sister, Cornelia, was George Berry’s sister-in-law. Her sensational murder in Louisville in 1895 is believed to have inspired the classic blues song, “Careless Love,” according to W. C. Handy, to whom it is attributed. 

For the rest of the story, a real "true crime" tale, you need to subscribe to The Bourbon Country Reader.

Proudly anachronistic, The Bourbon Country Reader remains paper-only, delivered as First-Class Mail by the United States Postal Service, which is not allowed to deliver bourbon but can handle this.

A six-issue, approximately one-year subscription is just: 

$25 for mailing addresses in the USA. 

$32 for everybody else. (That is, addresses on earth but not in the USA. Interplanetary service is not yet available.)

The links above take you directly to PayPal, where you can subscribe using PayPal, Venmo, or any major credit card.

If you are unfamiliar with The Bourbon Country Reader, click here for a sample issue. 

If you prefer to pay by check, make it payable to Made and Bottled in Kentucky, and mail it to Made and Bottled in Kentucky, 3712 N. Broadway, PMB 298, Chicago, IL 60613-4198. Checks drawn on U.S. banks only, please.

Formerly Great Company Yields to Blackmail by White Supremacist

 

In the new issue of The Bourbon Country Reader, I try to put a positive spin on the ghastly decision by Brown-Forman to discontinue its programs to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at the company.

Brown-Forman owns Jack Daniel’s and several other leading spirits brands. It is one of the Big Four, who make about 70 percent of America’s whiskey.

The decision is ghastly because Brown-Forman caved to right-wing extremists, specifically one Robby Newsom, who goes by the name Robby Starbuck. He threatened to call for a boycott of Jack Daniel’s like the one that devastated Bud Light.

So, what’s the positive spin?

It’s not so much positive as it is a clarification of who this decision harms. One problem with opponents of diversity initiatives is their misrepresentation of what DEI is and does. DEI as practiced is not what they say it is. They claim it harms more qualified white male candidates by giving jobs to less qualified ‘diverse’ candidates, i.e., women and people of color. That isn’t true, but Newsom and his supporters don’t care. Opposition to DEI is a proxy for their white supremacy agenda.

In this issue of The Reader, I describe my personal experience working on DEI for a major American retailer, not in the beverage alcohol business, and I explain why Brown-Forman's decision will primarily harm Brown-Forman. I don't usually use the first-person voice, but I do here because I'm writing about my personal experience, including with Brown-Forman, which spans 40 years.

Also in this issue, we ask the question "Did a Bourbon Family Murder Inspire the Song 'Careless Love'?" I'll tease this one a bit more in a few days. If you enjoy "true crime," it's quite a tale, and it will take more than one issue to spin it all out.

Proudly anachronistic, The Bourbon Country Reader remains paper-only, delivered as First-Class Mail by the United States Postal Service, which is not allowed to deliver bourbon but can handle this.

A six-issue, approximately one-year subscription is just: 

$25 for mailing addresses in the USA. 

$32 for everybody else. (That is, addresses on earth but not in the USA. Interplanetary service is not yet available.)

The links above take you directly to PayPal, where you can subscribe using PayPal, Venmo, or any major credit card.

If you are unfamiliar with The Bourbon Country Reader, click here for a sample issue. 

If you prefer to pay by check, make it payable to Made and Bottled in Kentucky, and mail it to Made and Bottled in Kentucky, 3712 N. Broadway, PMB 298, Chicago, IL 60613-4198. Checks drawn on U.S. banks only, please.