The Folklore of the Mormon Country

Hector Lee was an academic and folklorist specializing in folklore of the American West. On this recording, he recites stories and yarns about J. Golden Kimball, a cowboy-turned-preacher who rose in the ranks of the Mormon Church and achieved the status of President of the Seventies, a position in the church hierarchy second only to the Twelve Apostles. Despite his piety and post, Kimball (or Brother Golden, as he was known) often slipped into the colorful vernacular of his buckaroo days, leaving his sermons sprinkled with spiritual insight, humor, and profanity; when asked if this was intentional, he replied, “I never intend to cuss, but every time I get up to speak, those words just come out.” On the second side of the recording, Lee tells the Brother Peterson Yarns, light-hearted stories about the sizeable population of Scandinavian Mormons who settled in Utah and Idaho in the 19th century. A special recording, Lee’s recitations offer a view into Mormon culture and oral history that is likely to be quite unfamiliar to those outside the church. Folk Humor of the Mormon Country was originally released by Folk-Legacy Records in 1964.