How can a poor man stand such times as this? - unreleased track

We thought it would be timely to share this great track from Parchment's unreleased third album at a time when the coronavirus is causing unusual hardship in the world. The song was written nearly hundred years ago by "Blind" Alfred Reed and reflected the hard economic times in the inter-war years. Most likely Parchment found it through Ry Cooder's version - but as so often the Parchment version is nothing like other renditions - it's got its own exuberance and passion! This is one of the few recordings to highlight the electric guitar work of Jeff Crow and indicates what could have happened if the band had found a level of commercial success in the mid-70s. The late John Pac was very opposed to releasing the "lost" third album and he was right. It's an interesting collection of songs and recordings - and this is one of the most notable - but did not hang together as an album release. It also had no Christian content - meaning it would have been hard to pitch it to the bands' Christian base. It needed more work and the development of a couple of stand-out tracks. Two tracks, Denomination Blues and Parchment's own People and Places were re-recorded for later albums.