By:Jim Burns · Source Recording: The Lonesome River Band (1989)
Just a country girl from Malone
Liked to dance to rock and roll
Left that red-haired boy all alone
Travelin' 'round from town to town
I call these dances in these honky tonk bars
Where they dance the do-sido
Change to the center with the right hand start
Swing that gal from Buffalo
Take your partner and you do-si-do
Swing her high and swing her low
Don't you let that good girl go
Oh no
I play for drinks just to drown these blues
I often wonder how you are
Let's get together like old friends do
A hundred miles ain't that far
Things aren't going now as I had planned
Honey I can't take much more
I call these dances in these honky tonk bars
All night long 'til early morn'
If I can't have you then I will go
To the state of Texas I will roam
Now down in Texas you can always get a job
If you can play that Cotton-Eyed Joe
At two a.m. those wild fiddles ring
And the crowd can't get enough
And though I'm smilin' sadly my heart sings
For Laura Jean my only love
That’s your free listen. With an account the band keeps going — this song and every other one, as many times through as you like, in any key, at any tempo. Free for 14 days, no card.
Start my free 14 daysClicks before the band comes in, so you start together.
Raises the tempo as the band goes round, so you build up speed.
The band goes quiet for a bar or two and you keep the time going.
By:Jim Burns · Source Recording:The Lonesome River Band (1989)
“Laura Jean” was written by Jim Burns and recorded by the Lonesome River Band, the long-running Virginia bluegrass group.
The song is a sweetheart’s song built around a name. Laura Jean is the woman the singer loves and longs for, and the lyric returns to her name the way a memory keeps returning to a face.
The Lonesome River Band has carried a deep catalog of original songs.
Reader notes on this song — corrections, sources, version lore, open questions. Contributions are public and signed.
No notes yet.
Sign in to add a note — free account.
Please choose a song.
Clicks before the band comes in, so you start together.
Raises the tempo as the band goes round, so you build up speed.
The band goes quiet for a bar or two and you keep the time going.
Loading chord chart…
Every song and every practice tool, free for 14 days. No card, nothing to cancel. Already have an account? Log in
Everything free for 14 days
Every song, every practice tool, the app. No card, nothing to cancel.
Create an account and the whole thing is yours free for 14 days — every song in the catalog, every practice tool. No card needed.
More than lyrics and chords — the most fun and powerful way to learn bluegrass.
The most fun way to learn bluegrass
Play along with the real record, your own backing band, or karaoke.
