Nearly five years ago, I had my first in depth experience diving into music history with my late mentor Joan Crane. This new record "Folk Songs For Old Time's Sake" is a culmination of what she taught me, and harbors mostly traditional material revisited and rearranged that Joan inspired in me. Some of the songs are by pioneers such as Elizabeth Cotten, The Carter Family, Mississippi John Hurt and Jimmie Rodgers, with the mindset of preserving their legacy and exposing their history to my generation and its successors. After starting the music history podcast "American Songcatcher", my desire for preservation has become a mission, and inside the liner notes of the limited edition vinyl gatefold resides a summary of the song or artists history behind the 14 tracks. This installment is the first of many to come honoring the legacy of American roots music.
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One of the true musical treasures to emerge from Southern Appalachia, known as the "Minstrel of the Appalachians," Bascom Lamar Lunsford was born into the mecca of traditional folk music, Madison County, NC in an area called Mars Hill, in 1882. He’s responsible for creating and organizing Folk Festivals, and in one sitting from memory, documented 330 pieces of music on banjo for The Library of Congress. A song that Bascom preserved and recorded in 1924 for Okeh Records called “I Wish I Was a Mole In the Ground” was included by Harry Smith on the Anthology of American Folk Music in 1952, which has been widely recognized as the catalyst for the American Folk Revival of the 1960’s. The exact origin of the song is unknown, though Bascom said: “I've known it since 1901 when I heard Fred Moody, then a high school boy, sing it. Fred lives in Haywood County, North Carolina, and the footnote to the song is that the "bend" referred to is the bend of the Pigeon River in Haywood County. I played it as a request of my mother back in 1902. She was interested in my picking the banjo, and she asked me to play "I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground." I went away, and she grew sick and passed away and that was the last request she ever made of me.”
lyrics
Wish I was a mole in the ground
Wish I was a mole in the ground
If I's a mole in the ground I could root that mountain down
Well I wish I was a mole in the ground
Emmy wants a nine dollar shawl
Emmy wants a nine dollar shawl
When I come up on the hill
With my 10 bill saying baby where you been so long?
Baby, where’d you stay last night?
Honey, where’d you stay last night?
Been round the bend with some rough and rowdy men, I’m never goin back again
Don't like them railroad man
I don't like them railroad man
Cause a railroad man, they could kill you when they can
They’d drink up your blood like wine
Wish I was a lizard in the spring
Wish I was a lizard in the spring
If I’s a lizard in the spring
I could hear my lover sing
Emmy let your hair fall down
Emmy let your hair fall down
Let your hair fall down, down to the ground
Emmy, let your hair fall down
credits
from Folk Songs For Old Times' Sake,
released November 2, 2021
Nicholas Williams - Banjo, Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals, Stomp
Host of the music history podcast
"American Songcatcher", Nicholas is a 37 year-old multi-instrumentalist and
storyteller who is dedicated to playing it forward by preserving the songs and styles that have shaped America: ragtime, Piedmont blues, traditional folk, old time and early country. He's opened for Taj Mahal and The Wood Brothers.
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