John McCutcheon
Sprout Wings and Fly
This album of traditional material includes a handful of tunes not entirely from the standard traditional repertoire. Woody Guthrie's "Ludlow Massacre" is included as well as some of John's more traditional-style originals: "Who'll Rock the Cradle," "Heaven's Wake," and "Road to Bangor." In addition to singers Iris Dement, Tim & Molly O'Brien, and Robin & Linda Williams, instrumentation is far-ranging. Not only are there the requisite fiddle, banjos, and hammer dulcimers, John has brought in didgeridoos and African drums...instruments that were traditional long before banjos were invented.
Personnel John McCutcheon, vocals, fiddle, 5 and 6-string banjo, 6 and 12 string guitars, hammer dulcimer, autoharp, mountain dulcimer; TJ Johnson, guitar and mandolin; Mark Schatz, bass; Zeke Healey, didgeridoo; Darrell Rose, djimbe and talking drum; Robert "Jos" Jospé, hand drum and log drum, Michael Aharon, piano and cello; Charlie Pilzer, piano; Jesse Smith, fiddle; Erin Shrader, fiddle; Steve Riley, Cajun accordion; Tim O'Brien, mandolin and harmony vocal; Mollie O'Brien, harmony vocal; Robin & Linda Williams, harmony vocals; Iris DeMent, harmony vocal.
Formats
Compact Disk: Rounder CD:0406
Cassette: Rounder CS:0406 | 
|
Produced by John McCutcheon and Bob Dawson
Year Released: 1997
Lyrics
Who'll Rock the Cradle?
words & music by John McCutcheon
John: vocal and banjo (dADAB)
TJ: mandolin
Tim & Mollie: harmony vocals
Written as an anniversary gift for my wife, Parthy.
There's a star I the east
In the still of the night
There's 200 miles on this old road
Before the morning light
There's a hole in this heart of mine
And I don't know what to do
But I swear that I would drive all night
Just to wake up next to you
Chorus:
Who'll rock the cradle when I'm gone, my darling?
Who'll rub your tired feet? Who'll sing the song?
Tell me, who's gonna rock the cradle when I'm gone?
Who'll rock the cradle when I'm gone?
There's a point on the horizon
I never seem to find
There's a vision in my rear view mirror
I just can't leave behind
There's ain't no way to change
No word that I might say
I try to hide it deep in inside
It just won't go away
Chorus
I hear the highway humming
I can feel the diesel roll
I'm southern bound for the higher ground
And there's a headlight in my soul
It shines there like a beacon
Amidst this steel and chrome
A slender thread it beams ahead
And points the way back home
Chorus
The wind blows through this valley
It trembles in the trees
It can thrill you with its gentleness
Or bring you to your knees
And love is like a wellspring
That feeds the hungry heart
It can satisfy your longing
Or can tear you clean apart
Chorus
©1996 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)
Reuben
Traditional
John: vocal, 5 and 6-string banjos, mountain dulcimer
Zeke: didgeridoos
Jos: hand drum and log drum
Darrell: talking drum
A study in drones. The drums and the banjo are originally African. Joining it with my love of the Australian aboriginal didgeridoo was a natural. The dulcimer I play was built by and is played in the style of ID Stamper, of Thornton, KY.
Reuben had a train, ran from Danville to Maine
You could hear the whistle blow a hundred miles
If this train runs me right I'll be home tomorrow night
I'm 900 miles from my home
I'll pawn you my watch, pawn you my chain
I'll pawn you my gold diamond ring
If this train runs me right I'll be home tomorrow night
I'm 900 miles from my home
If my lover tells me so I'll railroad no more
Tie back my engine and go home
If this train runs me right I'll be home tomorrow night
I'm 900 miles from my home
And I hate to hear that lonesome whistle blow
You oughtta been in town for to see the train come down
You could hear the whistle blow a hundred miles
If this train runs me right I'll be home tomorrow night
I'm 900 miles from my home
Over the Garden Wall
words and music by AP Carter
John: vocal, guitars, and autoharp
Iris: harmony vocal
Mark: bass
From the singing of the incredible Carter Family, of Poor Valley in Scott County, VA
My love stood under a walnut tree
Over the garden wall
She whispered and said she'd be true to me
Over the garden wall
She had beautiful eyes and beautiful hair
She wasn't very tall so she stood on a chair
Many is the time I kissed her there
Over the garden wall
Chorus
Over the garden wall
The sweetest girl of all
There never was yet such eyes of jet
And you can bet I'll never forget
The night our lips in kisses met
Over the garden wall
There's always a will there's always a way
Over the garden wall
There's always a night as well as a day
Over the garden wall
We hadn't much money, but weddings were cheap
So while the old feller was snoring asleep
With her lad and her ladder she managed to creep
Over the garden wall
Chorus
Jack of Diamonds
traditional
John: fiddle (GDGB) and vocal
Steve: Cajun accordion
Robin & Linda: harmony vocals
From Tommy Jarrell, of Toast, NC. Also known as "Drunken Hiccups" or "Rye Whiskey."
I've played cards in England and I've gambled in Spain
I'm going back to Rhode Island gonna play my last game
Jack of Diamonds, Jack of Diamonds, I know you from old
You have robbed my poor pockets of silver and gold
Well, if the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck
I'd dive to the bottom and drink myself up
But the ocean ain't whiskey and I ain't no duck
I'll play that Jack of Diamonds and I'll trust to my luck
I eat when I'm hungry and I drink when I'm dry
If I get feeling much higher I'm gonna sprout wings and fly
Jack of Diamonds, Jack of Diamonds, I know you from old
You have robbed my poor pockets of silver and gold
Wheels/Tim the Turncoat
traditional
John: hammer dulcimers
Charlie: piano
These are both tunes that my hammer dulcimer mentor, Paul Van Arsdale, and I independently discovered in the repertoire of other traditional hammer dulcimer players. Wheels is a tune from the playing of the amazing Jimmy Cooper. I met Jimmy shortly before his death in 1977. Tim the Turncoat is from the playing of John Rea, of Belfast.
Ludlow Massacre
words & music by Woody Guthrie
John: vocal and 12-string guitar
Tim: mandolin
Michael: cello
A true story from the Ludlow, Colorado organizing drive by the United Mine Workers in the early part of this century. One of my favorite Woody Guthrie songs.
It was the early spring and the strike was on
They run us miners out of doors
Out from the houses that the company owned
We set up tents down at old Ludlow
I was worried bad about my children
Soldiers guarding from the railroad bridge
Every once in a while bullets would fly
Kicking up gravel underneath our feet
We were so afraid they'd kill our children
We dug a cave about seven foot deep
We carried the young ones and a pregnant woman
Down into that cave to keep
That very night the soldiers waited
Until us miners was fast asleep
They crept into our little tent town
And they soaked our tents with kerosene
Then they struck a match and the blaze it started
And the roar of the gattling gun
I made a run for the children but a fire wall stopped me
Thirteen children died from their guns
I'll never forget the look on the faces
Of the men and the women that awful day
As we stood around for to preach their funerals
And lay the corpses of the dead away
Then we took some cement and we walled that cave up
Where those thirteen children died
And I said, "God bless the mine workers' union,"
Then I hung my head and cried
Sweet Sunny South
traditional
John: vocal and guitar
TJ: mandolin
Mark: bass
Tim & Mollie: harmony vocals
Originally recorded by DeCosta Waltz's Southern Broadcasters.
Chorus
Take me back to the place where I first saw the light
To my sweet, sunny South take me home
Where the mockingbird sings me to sleep every night
Oh, why was I tempted to roam
The path to our cabin they say has grown green
And the fields are quite mossy around
I know that the forms and the faces I loved
Now lie 'neath the cold, mossy ground
Chorus
Take me back to the place where the orange blossoms grow
To my spot in the evergreen shade
Where the flowers from the river's sweet margin do flow
And shed their sweet scent through the glade
Chorus
Take me back let me see what is left that I knew
Could it be that the old house is gone?
The friends of my childhood indeed must be few
Now I must face death all alone
Chorus
Yellow Rose of Texas
traditional
John: vocal, fiddle (GDAE) and banjo (aDADE)
TJ: guitar
Mark: bass
Robin & Linda: harmony vocals
This was the signature tune of Wry Straw, an old time string band I played in back in the 1970s. My old pals, Rich Kirby and Tom Bledsoe, and I shared a common love of fiddle tunes and Carter Family songs. We recorded a single album for June Appal Records that was enjoyed by dozens of people.
She's the Yellow Rose of Texas that I am going to see
There ain't no other soldier that loves her quite like me
When I get back to Austin how happy I will be
With the Yellow Rose of Texas sittin' on my knee
She's the sweetest little rose bud this soldier ever knew
With eyes as bright as diamonds and they sparkled like the dew
When I get back to Austin how happy I will be
With the Yellow Rose of Texas sittin' on my knee
She cried so when I left her it like to broke my heart
And if I ever find her we never more will part
When I get back to Austin how happy I will be
With the Yellow Rose of Texas sittin' on my knee
The Heaven's Wake
words & music by John McCutcheon
John: vocal
Michael: piano
Erin: fiddle
I literally dreamt this song one night on the island of Carriacou near Grenada in January of 1991.
He was a handsome sailor lad the fairest I had seen
I was a housemaid at the Inn, just only 17
He sailed upon the "Heaven's Wake" bound out of Newport town
He had one more night to drink his money down
Oh, his eyes they shown like silver, his hair the shade of sand
The lies he told 'bout the band of gold that glittered on his hand
Still, I had no eyes for truth or lies, so potent were his charms
As he rocked me like the ocean in his arms
Chorus
From the highest point of land I watched the highest point of sea
Draw on to the horizon and slip away from me
May the winds that strain the billows and swell the hearts of men
Bring back my handsome sailor lad again
Then sad the news this morning as word spread through the town
The Heaven's Wake has struck a reef and every man is drowned
The will of the Atlantic has claimed an awful toll
She's taken both his body and my soul
Chorus
I've heard the widows talkin', the old ones oft' have said
On judgment day the sea will finally offer up her dead
If she gives a drop of water up for every tear she bore
She'd be a mighty desert, shore to shore
Chorus
©1991 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP).
Road to Bangor/Morrison's
John McCutcheon/traditional
John: hammer dulcimer
Charlie: piano
Jesse Smith: fiddle
Road to Bangor is actually geographically reversed. After a Winter Solstice concert in Bangor, ME I somehow decided it was a good idea to drive to Boston. Composing this tune helped keep me awake and on the road.
Morrison's is a well-known jig in the Irish fiddle repertoire. During the recording session we played the jig as a reel during the mic checks and there you have it.
©1985 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP).
Oh Death
traditional
John: vocal, banjo (f#CGAD), 6 and 12-string guitars
Zeke: didgeridoo
Darrell: djimbe and talking drum
Robin & Linda: harmony vocals
From the singing and playing of Dock Boggs, of Norton, VA.
What is this that I can't see
With icy hands takin' hold of me?
I am Death, none can excel
I hold the keys to heaven and hell
Chorus
Oh, Death, Oh, Death
Won't you spare me over for another year
Mother, Mother come to my bed
Place a cold towel upon my head
My head's so hot, my feet so cold
Fell Death is moving in upon my soul
Chorus
Children cried, the preacher preached
Time and mercy are out of reach
"Death," I heard somebody say,
"Won't you come back some other day
"My wealth is all at your command
"If you'll only remove your icy hand."
No wealth, no money, no silver, no gold
Nothing satisfies me but your soul
Chorus
I will lock your jaws so you can't talk
Lock your feet so you can't walk
Gonna close your eyes so you can't see
This very hour come and go with me
Chorus
Hangman's Reel
traditional
John: fiddle (AEAE) and banjo (aEAC#E)
TJ: guitar and mandolin
Mark: bass
Hangman's Reel is the signature tune of Albert Hash, fiddler, fiddle-maker, and old friend from Whitetop, VA.
Time Has Made a Change In Me
traditional
John: vocal
Michael: piano
Tim & Mollie, Robin & Linda: harmony vocals
From the singing of Cas Wallin, of Sodom Laurel, NC.
Time has made a change since my childhood days
Many of my loved ones have gone away
Some I never more in this life shall see
Time has made a change in me
Chorus
Time has made a change in the old homeplace
Time has made a change in each smiling face
And I know my friends can plainly see
Time has made a change in me
In my childhood days I was young and strong
I could climb the hillside all day long
I am not the same as what I used to be
For time has made a change in me
Chorus
When I reach my home in that land somewhere
Meet my friends and loved ones over there
Free from pain and care I shall ever be
Since time has made a change in me
Chorus
Cumberland Gap
traditional
John: banjo (dADAB)
TJ: mandolin
The banjo tuning (originally fCFCD) and the first part of the tune comes from Ralph Ford, of Newport, TN. I met Ralph playing dances at the Sunset Gap Community Center in the very early 1970s. The second half of the tune comes from one of my fiddle mentors, Beachard Smith, of Snowflake, VA.