West Virginia Mine Disaster

Hello again, Friends,

I’d like to devote a blog to the great Jean Ritchie original song “West Virginia Mine Disaster.”

I first heard Jean herself perform this song several years ago at a music festival where we were appearing together.  It is sung a ccapella, and she did so, sitting in a chair under a tent with lots of folks listening.  It was transformative for me.  The story of a woman whose husband disappears into the mines one day never to return was one that hadn’t been told quite like that ever in my experience.  And, true to Jean’s introduction of the song when she sings it, it hadn’t ever been written from that perspective before either ~ of the woman’s view of things when a tragic accident falls on a mining community. 

Jean always says that when she ever heard of a story that didn’t have a song to go with it (as was always the case when she was growing up in Eastern Kentucky), she knew she had to write one.

So this is how Jean introduces the song and it’s now what I say to audiences of my own: 

“When a mining accident occurred in the neighboring state of West Virginia, it came to my mind that all the mining disaster songs were about the places, the men’s names and the dates.  None of them told how the women felt when they had to stay home. It was taboo then for women to go into the mines and the women would often wonder what goes on when the whistle blows off time.”

Say did you see him going, it was early this morning?

He passed all your houses on the way to the coal.
He was tall, he was slender, and his dark eyes so tender,
His occupation was mining, West Virginia his home.
 
It was just before twelve, I was feeding the children.
Ben Mosely came running to give us the news;
Number eight is all flooded, many men are in danger,
And we don’t know their number, but we fear they’re all doomed.

So I picked up the baby and I left all the others

To comfort each other and pray for our own;
There’s Timmy, fourteen, and there’s John not much younger,
Their own time soon will be coming to go down the black hole.

 

 

O if I had the money to do more than just feed them,

I’d give them good learning, the best could be found,

Then when they grew up, they’d be checkers and weighers,

And not spend their time drilling in the dark underground.

 

O what can I say to his poor little children?

And what can I tell his old mother at home?

And what can I say to my heart that’s clear-broken?

To my heart that’s clear broken, if my darling is gone?

 

Say, did you see him going, it was early this morning?

He passed all your houses on the way to the coal,

He was tall, he was slender, and his dark eyes so tender,

His occupation was mining, West Virginia his home.

 

Jean’s beautiful recording of this song can be found on her 1971 album “Clear Waters Remembered.”   Clear Waters Remembered

It was also included on the marvelous soundtrack album to the PBS documentary “The Appalachians”  The Appalachians

 

 

 

Here's Jean's Track on Spotify

I was lucky and honored to perform this song for Jean herself when we worked together on our 2005 Jean Ritchie tribute show “Singin’ the Moon Up: The Voice of Jean Ritchie” at Penn State.  Later that same year I began adding West Virginia to our regular concerts with the Hilonesome Band.  Here it is from The Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena, California:

 

Susie Sings West Virginia Mine Disaster

 

Discussion of this song brings to mind the singing of a ccapella songs in the Appalachian style and tradition.  I was reminded of the power of this type of performance when seeing the Chieftains in concert recently.  Their percussionist came to the front of the stage early in their first set to sing un-accompanied, and it was powerful, pure and beautiful. 

In my research, I found that singing solo served a purpose in the country community:  it was always a time of quiet respite in the midst of noisy gatherings, and the singer would always tell a tale with his or her tune.  It was implicit that the story not be “acted out” but simply sung plainly:  heartfelt, yes, but not animatedly, as an actor would, “trying to put the song over.”  In my experience, either listening or singing, when the story is “told” this way it is more able to be vividly imaged by the listener.  The singer just simply needs to “get out of the way” and trust the song, trust its own integrity and life.  For me, it truly becomes an internal journey.  And to underline the spiritual nature of the performance, I would remind everyone that in fact, the old-time rural Baptist church didn’t allow accompaniments to their hymns, believing that God didn’t need the “decoration” for an expression from the human to the Divine. 

 

The Jean Ritchie Tribute Project

 

There’s some great news coming out of the East coast that I can let you know about! It’s the soon-to-be-announced tribute CD project to honor Jean Ritchie, produced by long-time colleagues and friends Dan Schatz, Charlie Pilzer and Mick Lane.  This CD project will be a treasure to honor Jean’s life's work and will feature new recordings of her original songs and songs from her family tradition, with all proceeds benefiting Jean as well as organizations that work against mountaintop removal.  Some wonderful and amazing artists are involved, and I eagerly await its official announcement.  I was honored and happy to be invited to sing on this project, and my recording of “West Virginia Mine Disaster” will be there. 

Please stay tuned for more news of this landmark album coming soon.

In the meantime, I send you blessings and love,

Susie

February-March Newsletter ~ Announcing the Release of "White Swan"

Announcing the Release of Susie Glaze & the Hilonesome Band's new 2013 album

"White Swan"

 

"Glaze and company have done a wonderful job of charming us in the past but now it seems like her recent vintage live set was to clear the palette before the next stage was set. A bluegrass crew that could easily stand toe to toe with Union Station, this crew has elected to widen the lens and take newgrass into the wide open mixing in Celtic, folk, roots, Americana and a full range of indigenous sounds that blend into a wonderful down home, home grown stew. Boldly powering their way down their own new cut road, if you haven't had the chance to enjoy the Glaze sound yet, this is the place to jump in to be totally blown away. This is the perfect record for anyone that's ever wondered what the big deal about roots/Americana is to find out what's what."   Chris Spector for Midwest Record

 

"Exceptional musicianship... stunning, timeless ballads... like a clear mountain stream is the pure, clear voice of Susie Glaze...this is one gorgeous album - a 'must discover.'" 
Folkworks

"I've said it before, 'new is easy different is hard' - many artists achieve the former, some the latter, few manage both. Well here's one that falls into the 'achieved both' category. Susie Glaze & The Hilonesome Band have with 'White Swan' blended unadulterated Americana folk from a mix of influences - poetic narrative, a soupcon of bluegrass, a touch of mountain-muse and pure invention to create a folk-fusion of that's both steeped in tradition and fresh as the sunrise...'White Swan' blends the inspiration of tradition with the charisma of contemporary - and does it faultlessly."

Tim Carroll, FolkWords (www.folkwords.com - UK)

"Susie Glaze & the Hilonesome Band continue to hone and refine their brand of rootsy Americana on their very appealing new album, White Swan. Alison Krauss and Union Station remain the most obvious reference point for this troupe which comprises Glaze on lead vocals, guitars and mountain dulcimer; Rob Carlson on guitar; Steve Rankin on mandolin and bouzouki; Mark Indicator on fiddle; and Fred Sanders on bass. But with White Swan, the band have broadened their bluegrass sound to encompass folky Celtic elements, and the results stand up well alongside the best of AKUS.

 

The playing throughout is supple and evocative and the choice of material is stellar, combining original (mostly penned by Carlson), traditional material and well-chosen covers. The Irish tune “Si Bheag, Si Mhor” ushers in a fine opening take on James Taylor’s “Mill Worker”; Glaze channels Joan Baez for a gripping “Fair Ellender”; Rankin takes a low-key lead on a cover of Steve Earle’s “Me and the Eagle”; and a spare, evocative reading of “The Soldier” by Jean Ritchie (about whom Glaze composed the acclaimed theatre show “Singing the Moon Up: The Voice of Jean Ritchie”) brings the album to an elegant end. The best tracks, however, are two stunning songs from the pen of Ernest Troost: the murder ballad “Evangeline”—sung from the perspective of the now-remorseful culprit—and the exceptional “Harlan County Boys” which economically traces a family history from the early 1900s to the present day. Glaze inhabits these songs with absolute conviction and subtle dramatic flair, making them the highlights of an altogether beguiling record."

 

Alex Ramon, Pop Matters, London  http://www.popmatters.com/

 

“The net has been cast wide,” says Susie Glaze of Susie Glaze & The Hilonesome Band, referring to the range of influences on their latest collaboration, “White Swan.” The West Coast quintet’s eleven-track project reflects a love for bluegrass, folk and Celtic music, with five originals written by various configurations of the band, plus well-picked covers by the likes of masters, such as Steve Earle (“Me And The Eagle”) and James Taylor (“Mill Worker”).

 

These artists have a performance chemistry that works, with tight arrangements of fiddle, mandolin, guitar and upright bass, and Glaze’s authentic Appalachian voice – by way of Southern California – is icing on their musical confection. The Ernest Troost song, “Evangeline,” allows her an opportunity to show more ache and tenderness in her confident holler style, and she sings in downright shades of Sandy Denny (Fairport Convention, Fotheringay) on the dulcimer-and-fiddle traditional English/Irish folk ballad “Fair Ellender.”

 

Glaze has a hand in penning “The Dark Eileen,” with its flowery recitation start, and her softer-side delivery glides over the Emerald Isle-inspired hills and valleys of its melody. The title track is where the band lives up to its high-lonesome moniker, and Jean Ritchie’s “The Soldier” closes out the set with a haunting Irish drone. SGTHB give listeners a fresh take on tradition."   

 

Janet Goodman, Music News Nashville

 

"If Susie Glaze were a newscaster, this crazy world would be a lot easier to take. On grisly murder ballads and carefree romps alike, the Tennesse native sings smooth and sweet, her voice like buttermilk pie. Having appeared on Broadway, Glaze has a knack for theatrics, and that serves her well on "Fair Ellender", "Evangeline" and "The Dark Eileen", the three of this album's darker narrative tunes. Relief comes in the form of "April Fools", a bubbly Appalachian bossa nova love song with giddiness to spare. Wherever Glaze goes, her band is right there with her, providig impeccable acoustic instrumentation and sometimes handling lead vocals. The presentation is as seamless as the songs are engaging." 

 

M Magazine for Musicians

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"White Swan," Susie Glaze's fifth release, is truly her most eclectic and collaborative album in over ten years of her critically-acclaimed career as a bluegrass/folk recording artist.  With this CD her Hilonesome Band has veered into the realms of new Celtic-inspired folk songs that harken back to the ballad form from the pen of lead guitarist Rob Carlson, as well as re-interpreted classic cover songs from such diverse sources as James Taylor, Steve Earle and Jean Ritchie.  Also featured are two songs from Los Angeles singer-songwriter and Kerrville New Folk Winner Ernest Troost. Arrangements and new interpretations of songs you think you knew are here for re-discovery from this gifted acoustic quintet in a lush and orchestral folk setting.

 

Susie states about this album:  "The fine players of the Hilonesome Band and I have created these tracks together and on this album you hear their voices alongside my own.  We've come a long way from the early years of our band's inception.  We reached for the sounds of bluegrass because it was the music we loved ~ we were drawn to the stories, the romance, the warnings, the humor and the tragedies.  Now we have found our sound branching out with a natural evolution ~ it came with exploring the older stories and longing for more complex music.  Rob has been inspired to capture the darkness and mysteriously tragic elements of balladry from Ireland, England and Scotland. With the integration of real historical elements along with new and deeper complexity in music, our sound has made a most interestingly subtle shift:  we've cast a wider net to discover a sound unlike anything we've done before.  What is here is a true melting pot of influences that move us, from bluegrass to country to Celtic to Appalachia, and we've found our true home in this, our new, unique sound."

 

The eclectic range takes the listener from bluegrass ("Little Rabbit") to pensive country ("Evangeline") to Bossa Nova ("April Fools") to Celtic-inspired torch song ("Dark Eileen").  The album begins with a newly-interpreted "Mill Worker," James Taylor's classic, introduced by Mark Indictor's beautiful fiddle on the traditional "Si Bheag, Si Mhor."  Indictor's fiddle is featured again on Carlson's new take on the old "Polly Vonn" story, this time as the title track "White Swan."  Jean Ritchie's little-known but powerful "The Soldier" sends a message about the costs of war on the soul.

 

The innovation of this formerly-bluegrass band is taking them to a distinctly folk-driven Americana music, the sounds that came to America with the first immigrants:  Appalachia, old-English balladry, Irish barn-burner fiddle music (the outro of "White Swan" was penned in the studio) and tender stories of family and legacy ("Harlan County Boys").

 

One great album bonus is the inclusion of a previously-recorded live onstage sound track of the classic Childe ballad, "Fair Ellender," arranged by Jean Ritchie, with Susie accompanied by Ritchie sons Peter and Jon Pickow and famed East coast fiddler, Kenny Kosek.  At this concert, the Hilonesome Band will re-interpret "Fair Ellender" in their own way with bouzouki, guitar, fiddle and bowed bass.

 

The album is now released and available for purchase on CDBaby, iTunes and Amazon.