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The Kentucky Cycle - The Songs.

Part One.

Cumberland Gap - recorded by Crooked Jades (instrumental)
The Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains . The pass has historical significance because it was one of the major passageways through the lower central Appalachians in the late 18th century. Long used by Native Americans, Daniel Boone and a team of loggers widened the path to make it accessible to pioneers wishing to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee .

Go and Dig My Grave - recorded by Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson
Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson are two of the most recognizable performers of American folk music. Jean Richie was born in Kentucky in 1922. The youngest of 14 children, Ritchie’s family considered music to be an important part of daily life. Song served not only as entertainment, but as accompaniment for daily chores as well. Richie quickly gained recognition for her folk songs and dulcimer playing. She helped launch a dulcimer revival, a renewed interest in Kentucky music, and has had a profound influence on future generations of folk and country singers.

Doc Watson was born in North Carolina on March 2, 1923. Watson was born with an eye defect that led to an infection, and caused him to lose his vision before his first birthday. When Watson was eleven years old, his father built him a banjo and taught him the rudiments of playing the instrument. The rest Watson learned through trial and error. Watson transitioned to guitar when he was thirteen years old. He proved to be a natural and within months, he was performing on local street corners with his brother Linny. In 1960, as the American folk music revival began, Watson began playing acoustic guitar and banjo exclusively. He got his big break at the 1963 Newport Folk festival and subsequently recorded over 20 albums. Doc Watson is best known for his guitar flat-picking skills, his rich baritone voice, and his story-telling abilities.

Pretty Polly - recorded by Pete Seeger
“Pretty Polly” is a Child Ballad of originating from the British Isles . The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland compiled by Francis James Child in the late 19th century. The ballads are arranged by song with the English, Scottish and American variants included. The Child ballads frequently feature ten or more verses and deal with a variety of subjects, including romance, historical events, morality, and murder. Pretty Polly is a murder ballad that tells the story of a young woman who is lured into the forest where she is killed and buried in a shallow grave. Many artists have recorded this song, including Judy Collins, Ralph Stanley, Burl Ives, The Byrds, and this recording by Pete Seeger.

Down to the Valley to Pray - recorded by Doc Watson
“Down to the Valley to Pray” (also known as “Down to the River”) is a traditional hymn characteristic of early American camp meeting songs. During the 18th century, thousands of pioneers moved into land that had previously been empty wilderness. There were few houses of worship or ordained ministers and so the camp meeting was created. Worshipers would learn through word of mouth that a religious meeting was taking place in a specific location and would camp near the site since there were rarely accommodations available. Hundreds would gather at these meetings, which provided the participants with continuous services. These meeting helped contribute to the Second Great Awakening. Music was an important component of the American camp meetings. Hymns were taught or learned by ear, but frequently participants would take lines from a preacher’s text and borrow or create melodies to go with it. Many collections of camp meetings hymns were published including The Camp-Meeting Chorister (1830) and The Golden Harp (1957).

Oh Death - recorded by Ralph Stanley
Ralph Stanley is a southern bluegrass artist known for his distinctive singing and unique banjo playing style. Born in 1927 in rural Virginia , Stanley grew up hearing his father sing ballads such as “Pretty Polly.” Stanley received his first banjo when he was fifteen years old and learned to play using the claw hammer style from his mother. In 1946, Stan ley joined his older brother Carter in forming the Clinch Mountain Boys, a band that drew heavily from traditional music from area. The brothers began writing their own music in 1947. They were eventually signed to Columbia Records as the Stanley Brothers. Following his brother’s death in 1966, Stanley continued to perform solo. His music was featured in the 2000 film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and he was awarded the 2002 Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for the song “Oh Death.”

Forgotten Soldier Boy - recorded by The Monroe Brothers
Bill Monroe is considered by many to be the father of bluegrass music. Born September 13, 1911 in Rosine , Kentucky , Monroe and his seven siblings grew up playing and singing music at home. In 1929, Monroe moved to Indiana to work with his brothers Birch and Charlie at an oil refinery. Together they formed a musical group, the Monroe Brothers to play at local dances and house parties. The group disbanded in 1938 and eventually formed the Blue Grass Boys, a band featuring several banjos, mandolin, guitar, fiddle, bass and vocals. The music was noted for its fast tempos, sophisticated vocal harmonies, and breaks for solos on mandolin, banjo, and fiddle. Bluegrass music saw a huge revival with the folk music revival of the 1960s. In the 1960’s college students discovered Monroe ’s traditional folk sound and the word “bluegrass” first appeared around this time to describe the music of Monroe and similar artists.

No More Auction Block - recorded by Pete Seeger
“No More Auction Block for Me” is a traditional African-American spiritual. The lyrics offer a firsthand testimony against the brutality of slavery. Many people believe this song was the source for the 20th century protest song, “We Shall Overcome.” Most famously recorded in 1956 by Paul Robeson, the song has been performed by hundreds of black and white musicians, including Odetta, Bob Dylan, John Legend, and this recording by Pete Seeger.

Down on Penny’s Farm - recorded by The Bently Boys
Very little is known about The Bently Boys other than that there were from North Carolina and recorded “Down on Penny’s Farm” in 1929 for Columbia Records in 1929. The song refers to personal experiences with sharecropping on George Penny’s farm. The renters find themselves caught in desperate poverty with bad land, houses “with no windows but the cracks in the wall,” low income, high expenses, and the threat of going on the chain gang for debt. They view their landlord as a miser, a thief, and a liar. The song inspired Bob Dylan to write “Hard Times in a New York Town ” and later “Maggie’s Farm.”

Sharecropper's Son - recorded by Ralph Stanley
During the Reconstruction period, the emancipation of slaves and disenfranchisement of poor whites in the South led to the practice of sharecropping. Under the sharecropping model, the landowner allows a tenant to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop produced on the land. The cost of production and price of sale were largely controlled by the landowners, leaving the sharecroppers with little margin for profit. Sharecroppers thus become dependant on the landowners, forcing them into slave like conditions.

Amazing Grace is a hymn written by English poet and clergyman John Newton in 1779. Newton drew inspiration for this song from his own experiences. While a sailor in the Royal Navy, Newton found himself participating in the slave trade. One night, during a terrible storm, Newton became so frightened that he called out to God for mercy. He eventually ended his career as a slave trader and turned to theology instead.

The Battle Hymn of the Republic - recorded by Judy Collins
In 1861, after a visit to a Union Army camp, Julia Ward Howe wrote the poem, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The song became the unofficial anthem for the Union soldiers. It was quickly adopted by Confederate soldiers as well, with different lyrics.

Part Two.

My Old Kentucky Home - recorded by O’Neill Brothers
Stephen Foster was the first great American songwriter. His melodies have become an integral part American culture and history and as a result, many people believe they are folk tunes. All in all, he composed some 200 songs, including "Oh! Susanna" "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair," and "Camptown Races." Although he lived in Pittsburgh for most of his life, Foster’s music managed to capture the spirit of southern culture. “My Old Kentucky Home” is the state song of Kentucky , while “Oh, Susanna” references coming to Alabama with a banjo.

Though he virtually invented popular music as we recognize it today, Foster's personal life was tragic and contradiction-riddled. At the time, Foster was writing his songs, there was no legal system in place for composers to reap the profits from the sale of their music. He never made much money from his work, his marriage was largely unhappy, and he died at the age of 37 a nearly penniless alcoholic on in New York .

Sixteen Tons - recorded by The Weavers
“Sixteen Tons” is a song about the life of a coal miner. It was first recorded in 1946 by American country singer Merle Travis. The song touches on the difficult work conditions that the miners faced, as well as their financial enslavement to the coal mining company. The line I owe my soul to the company store” refers to the credit system, where workers were paid in exchangeable credit vouchers for good at the company store, rather than in cash. This made it impossible for workers to build any savings. Workers also frequently lived in company owned houses and their rent was automatically deducted from their pay. This system of debt bondage continued until union strikes forced the end of such practices.

Which Side Are You On? - recorded by The Weavers
Florence Reece, the wife of a union organizer for the United Mine Workers in Kentucky , wrote the song “Which Side Are You On?” in 1931. In 1931, the miners of the region were in the midst of a bitter and violent struggle with the mine owners. In an attempt to intimidate the Reece family, the mining company hired deputies to illegally enter and search the Reece family home. Florence and her children were terrorized by the deputies and after the men had left, Florence wrote the lyrics to the song. The source for the melody has been attributed to both the traditional Baptist hymn, “Lay the Lily Low,” and the traditional ballad “Jack Munro.”

Miner's Lullaby - recorded by Utah Phillips
The lyrics for “Miner’s Lullaby” were inspired by a personal experience by the singer Utah Phillips. While roaming around Park City , Utah , he discovered a small tin on a belt clip. He took it to a local historian and the historian explained it was a morphine tin. Many miners did not want to be trapped by a fire or flood or injured in a cave in with no chance of being rescued. They would take a morphine tin into the mines with them so they could die in a peaceful manner. A number of the miners were Catholic immigrants with families that believed it was a mortal sin to commit suicide. The miners therefore kept these morphine tins a secret.

Dark as a Dungeon - recorded by Sidesaddle and Company
Country singer Merle Travis wrote “Dark as Dungeon in the 1940s and first recorded the song in 1946. According to Travis, the song was inspired by a conversation he had with an old family friend of the family who lived in Kentucky . The old man told Travis he was lucky he was to have a nice job and to never have to “dig out a livin’ from under those hills and hollers like me and your pappy used to.” When asked why he did try some other kind of work, the old man replied “If you ever get this old coal dust in your blood, you’re just gonna be a plain old coal miner as long as you live…It’s a habit sorta like chewin’ tobaccer.”

West Virginia Mine Disaster – recorded by Michael and Carrie Kline
On December 6, 1907, terrible explosions occurred at the No. 6 and No. 8 mines at Monongah , West Virginia . The explosions ripped through the mines, causing the earth to shake as far as eight miles away, shattering buildings and pavement, hurling people and horses violently to the ground, and knocking streetcars off their rails. Rescue workers could only work in the mines for 15 minutes due to the lack of breathing equipment. In all, the lives of 362 boys and men were lost in the underground explosion, leaving 250 widows and over 1000 children without support. This explosion remains the worst mine disaster in the history of the United States .






special thanks
Ron Atlee; Gay Bitts; Patrick Bitts; Todd Bitts; The Everett Daily Herald; FightDesigner.com; Fine Balance Imaging Studios; Genealogical Society of South Whidbey Island and Maureen MacDonald; David Gignac; Caitlin Goldbaum; The Inn at Langley, Paul and Pam Schell; Langley United Methodist Church; Robert Schekkan; Sound Publishing; Claudia Walker; Whidbey Daily; Whidbey Institute; Denis Zimmerman