Songfacts®:

• Jesca Hoop is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Northern California. Bought up in a Mormon household, she grew up singing traditional folk tunes in four part harmony. This instilled in her a love of traditional music, reflected in this murder ballad. "I grew up on one murder ballad, 'Greenwood Sidie-O,' and I love them as a form, because people are singing about killing those they love the most," Hoop told The Independent April 23, 2010. "Music was my family's primary connection, it was our strongest bond. We were very much a Von Trapp family, my mom was a classical singer and my dad was a folk singer, so mom taught us to sing in harmonies at an early age."
• Hoop was once a nanny for Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan's three children. Her contact with Waits led to her initial exposure at the Southern California radio station KCRW in 2003. Waits said with a rare quote – "Her music is like going swimming in a lake at night."