Songs From the Old Home

The summers and autumns of my youth were spent driving around the mountains and valleys of south western Virginia with my dad. Other than the occasional hauling of yard clippings or leaves, I can't remember the trips ever having a destination. Dad's old Ford F150 was the perfect vessel for handling all the hollers and hills. He would put her in low gear and say, "we're justa creeeepin' off this ol' mountain". He never had to touch the brake on the down-grade. We would drive with the windows down to fill our ears and noses with what the woods had to offer. I remember being almost hypnotized by the sound of the rocks on the dirt road, popping and crunching under the weight of the tires. And the smell...my Lord, the smell. The intoxicating aroma of Virginia's hill country has an almost over powering sweetness to it.

We would usually start our trip home around sunset. As the cicadas switched their daytime drone to night-time clicking, my dad too would start singing. He grew up with the good fortune of getting to listen to the Grand Ole Opry in it's prime. Bill Monroe, Patsy Cline and Hank Williams often visited my dad's mountain home...thanks to 50,000 Tennessean watts. Hank Williams was banned from the Opry when my dad was five years old. This led to an almost exclusive interest in the newly titled "Bluegrass" music. This makes perfect sense as most of the songs brought over with the Irish and Scottish settlers were later turned into bluegrass and old-time standards. Songs like "Knoxville Girl" and "Barbary Allen" became the most popular because the people of Appalachia related to the dark and gloomy subject matter. My dad was one of these people.



As we drifted home, my young mind started imagining what was creeping around out in the cool night air. Dad, in his deep baritone voice...almost on cue would start singing, "Ten years ago, on a cold dark night...someone was killed 'neath the town hall light". Chills ran down my spine. These songs about deception and murder didn't scare me however, they enthralled me. I loved the stories. Dad would mix in a few old gospel songs just to show both sides of the coin.

As a tribute to my father, and the songs that he and I love so much, I am going to start a project called, "Songs From the Old Home". I am going to do my best versions of the songs my dad sang to me while we were rolling down those dusty back roads in rural Virginia. Just for effect, I am going to attempt to make them sound like you're hearing them straight off an old scratched up 78. I will post each song as they are finished. I hope you enjoy.