In February Birthplace of Country Music announced In the Pines, a new music experience coming to Historic Downtown Bristol, TN-VA June 1. Dwight Yoakam, Elle King, Paul Cauthen, and Wyatt Flores are slated to perform at the inaugural event, but the inspiration for the concert goes much deeper than the artists who will take the stage that day. It is a celebration of Bristol’s music legacy, bridging the traditions of the past with the innovation of the present.
In the Pines takes its name from a song recorded for the 1927 Bristol Sessions by the Tenneva Ramblers called “The Longest Train I Ever Saw.” From its origins of Southern Appalachia in the 1870s, “In the Pines” emerges as both a muse and a chameleon, seamlessly adapting its melody and lyrical essence to the unique styles and interpretations of every artist who dares to unravel its enigmatic allure. The song is believed to have been the combination of two songs, “In the Pines” and “The Longest Train;” the writer is unknown. It has been recorded under many titles over the years, with some artists adding their own lyrics.
“In the Pines” and all of its adaptations serve as a metaphor for Bristol’s creative music scene, which draws inspiration from the roots of Appalachia yet continuously evolves into new territory and genres. Below are a few interesting examples of the versatile tune that continues to shape-shift over time:
In 1923, King Oliver‘s Creole Jazz Band released a version for Okeh records entitled “Where Did You Stay Last Night” as a B-side for “Dipper Mouth Blues.” Louis Armstrong and his wife Lil Hardin Armstrong, both members of Oliver’s band before Armstrong left the group to pursue a solo career, are listed as composers of the track. This jazz instrumental stands out in sharp contrast to numerous other versions, showcasing a remarkable level of creativity and innovation that sets it apart as a distinctive and captivating interpretation of the timeless song.
The Tenneva Ramblers, an old-time string band based in Bristol, Tennessee, recorded “The Longest Train I Ever Saw” for producer Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company on the iconic 1927 Bristol Sessions. The Ramblers were briefly a backing band for Jimmie Rodgers under the moniker Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers, Rodgers and the group were supposed to audition for Peer together under that name. Instead, Rodgers auditioned as a solo act. There’s some controversy as to why the band split, but Rodgers’ solo performances for Peer would be his first recordings. The Tenneva Ramblers, sometimes performing as the Grant Brothers, remained active on various radio stations until the 1950s but never achieved the level of stardom enjoyed by Rodgers.
“Father of Bluegrass” Bill Monroe recorded “In the Pines” in 1941 and 1952 as an anthem of heartache and sorrow–a man “pining” for the girl who cast him aside. The crooning “who hoo hoo hoo” vocal harmonies mimicking the sound of a train whistle in that distinct “high lonesome sound,” combined with Monroe’s innovative bluegrass instrumentation, helped elevate the song to that of a country standard for decades to come.
In 1944 Huddie Ledbetter, a.k.a. Lead Belly, first recorded “(Black Girl) Where Did You Sleep Last Night” for release on the New York-based label Musicraft Records. Though he is responsible for the wider popularization of the song, he is often incorrectly cited as its author. Lead Belly’s interpretation was inspired by the 1917 transcription collected by Cecil Sharp and he went on to record several more versions of the track. It has been documented that when performing the song live Lead Belly adjusted the lyrics to “Black girl” for black audiences and “My girl” for white. His haunting depiction of a cheating lover and a grizzly decapitation is in stark contrast to Bill Monroe’s more G-rated tale of lost love, perhaps made darker by Lead Belly’s own past as a convicted murderer.
Joan Baez is an icon and activist who, during the folk music revival of the 1960s, marched for social justice and change during a time of segregation and political unrest in the United States. Baez’s rendition of “In the Pines” shares lyrical similarities with Lead Belly’s version, yet her voice and the contemporary context in which she sang it infused the song with a novel significance for the era. Baez’s iteration was a commentary on racism and violence against Black people from a woman’s perspective. The Black girl referred to in the song is fraught with anguish over the gruesome killing of her father and the disappearance of her lover as she mourns–or pines–her life away, leaving her cold and distant from an unjust world. Joan performed the song live during her concerts from 1961 to 1963, a volatile time in the civil rights movement, but it was not released until 1982. “In the Pines” appears on the album “Very Early Joan,” which contained 23 other previously unreleased live recordings.
Kurt Cobain‘s raw interpretation of “In the Pines” not only paid homage to Lead Belly, but also served as a poignant symbol of the grunge era’s cultural ethos. Prior to the performance Kurt erroneously credits Lead Belly as the writer of “In the Pines,” while declaring him the band’s favorite performer. By infusing the song with his own emotive intensity during Nirvana‘s iconic MTV Unplugged performance in 1993, Cobain brought this traditional folk tune to a new generation. It resonated deeply with Gen X in what is known as the “grunge” era, which was defined by a sense of non-conformity and disillusionment of society norms. Tragically, Cobain’s performance of the song stands as a haunting reminder of his artistic legacy, forever tied to his untimely death at the age of 27 just a few months after the show aired.
Xavier Dphrepaulezz, a.k.a. Fantastic Negrito, recorded a searing version of “In the Pines” for his Grammy Award-winning album The Last Days of Oakland, released in 2016. Growing up in Oakland, California, Xavier was one of 14 children. After leaving home at the age of 12, he went into the foster care system. He hustled the streets of L.A. to survive and lost a brother and a cousin to gun violence. “In the Pines” resonated deeply with Xavier. In his version of the song, he added the verse “Black girl, Black girl, your man is gone/ Now you travel the road alone / And you raised that child all by yourself / Then the policeman shot him down” to emphasize the trauma Black women face when their lives are impacted by such senseless acts. The haunting video below is the accompanying “docu-narrative” featuring one such mother whose son was tragically killed.
By Ed Hagen, volunteer gallery assistant and guest blogger at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.
The Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, Virginia celebrates Bristol’s rich musical heritage surrounding the1927 Bristol Sessions, a series of recordings that launched the careers of the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers. With April being “International Guitar Month”, this two part blog post will take a deep dive into the guitars of these famous musicians and stories surrounding these instruments.
The first Carter guitar
Maybelle Carter is remembered today as one of the most influential country guitar players of all time. Maybelle learned to play guitar on a Stella guitar. “Stella” is one of many brand names used by the Oscar Schmidt guitar company, a major manufacturer of budget guitars in the 1920s, often sold by catalog or door-to-door and were cheap and affordable instruments. Maybelle’s brother had purchased the guitar when Maybelle was thirteen. She was still playing the Stella five years later when the then unknown Carter Family made their first records at the Bristol sessions.
We don’t know much about that guitar. The pictures we have of it are quite grainy (we only know for sure that it was a Stella because Maybelle, in interviews years later, identified it as such).
Two photos of the original Carter family showing Maybelle’s Stella guitar.
Maybelle’s L-5
Shortly after the Bristol sessions, with record royalties coming in and show bookings picking up, Maybelle’s husband Eck bought her a customized 1928 Gibson L-5 guitar. Carter family reminisces and Internet sleuthing indicate that the guitar was ordered at Lamb Music, then a Gibson affiliate, in Kingsport, Tennessee.
This was an extraordinary purchase for a rural Virginia family in the late 1920s. Introduced in 1923, the L-5 was the very top of the Gibson guitar line and cost $275 ($5,000 in 2023 dollars).
Note the white strip between the crossbars of Maybelle’s tailpiece, something I have never seen on a Gibson archtop. I’ve exchanged emails with early Gibson guitar expert Paul Alcantara, who maintains the superb “Pre-War Gibson L-5 . He believes that it was a label or advertising insert from the music store.
Maybell Carter’s truss rod cover
Another unusual feature of Maybelle Carter’s L-5 tells us that it was a custom order. The truss rod cover on the headstock has fancy inlay with Maybelle’s name, misspelled as “Mae Bell Carter.” I had assumed that this was something done later by a local craftsperson, but Paul Alcantara has the inside story on his Web site. It was likely crafted by William C. Schrier, who did similar etchings and engravings for Gibson from 1928 to 1931, working independently from the basement of his home. Examples of his work, including Maybelle’s truss rod cover, can be found here.
A 1928 Gibson L-5 in original condition would be quite valuable today. Working musicians back in the day would be more interested in a guitar’s playing condition than its originality, though, and would replace parts on the guitar from time to time. Maybelle certainly did this. By the 1960s (and perhaps earlier) we can see that the tailpiece had been replaced with a “triple parallelogram” tailpiece (Gibson used these with midrange guitars like the L-7 and ES-175 models), and the tuners had been replaced with Kluson tulip tuners.
More Carter guitars
The original Carter family – A.P., Sara, and Maybelle – broke up in the early 1940s. Maybelle’s three daughters, Helen, June, and Anita, had sung with the original Carters over the years. Maybelle loved show business, and took her daughters out on the road as “Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters,” where they had great success, eventually landing a spot on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
Here’s a picture of the group in 1944. Maybelle is playing a blonde Gretsch Synchromatic 400, the very top of the Gretsch guitar line. These were big guitars, 18″ wide, with “cats-eye” sound holes, stairstep bridges, harp tailpieces, gold-plated parts, and a chili-pepper inlay on the headstock.
Maybelle’s 1928 L-5 had a 16” lower bout and dot inlay. In 1934 the Gibson company “advanced” the L-5, giving it a 17” body and block inlays. This picture, taken in the late 1940s, shows Maybelle playing a post-1934 17” L-5.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland also has a Maybelle Carter guitar that they date to 1964; If that’s accurate, there were at least three L-5s acquired by the family over the years.
Getting the word out takes on a special significance when one talks about the method that the visual word is produced. Many have heard of the history of printing, that Gutenberg produced the first movable type in Europe. Some know that over the following five hundred years, printers used a variety of technologies, from monotype to linotype and letterpress to offset printing to our modern digital processes. Yet few recognize the threads that run through the centuries of printing that are reflected in the current exhibit at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum entitled, “A Cardboard History of Blue Ridge Music.”
A variety of posters which have come from the Sign of the George Press at King University, Bristol, TN. The Chandler and Price press, workhorse of the Sign of the George Press.
These posters that anchor the exhibit were produced with handset and letterpress printed type, some from small local print shops and some from more established print shops, such as Hatch Show Print in Nashville. The posters used primarily wooden type, which could be up to 5” in height to grab your attention. Some of the smaller type up to 1” were metal. Both types would have been arranged and fastened together to be printed on presses that had their origins in the early days of printing, both presses that were flat bed operated manually and presses that were motorized.
In the early days of country music, hand bills that could be put up in stores and stations advertised the location of music shows. The posters of this collection are primarily from the 40s through the 70s and advertised concerts and small festivals. They were printed on thick cardboard, were cheap and easy to produce, and were expected only to last from the time of posting to the time of the show and then thrown away. The fact that many have survived is a tribute to both the stability of the printed form and the diligence of those who recognized their historical importance.
Letterpress printing is a trade that has gone out of favor with the coming of more modern techniques, but has reemerged as a craft in the art field. When many of the old shops closed or were converted, often the type was scrapped, the presses were sold for their weight in cast iron, and the typecases ended up as showcases for knick-knacks. For those materials and equipment that survived, the current recognition of hand-crafted art will prolong the legacy of the printing trade.
Letterpress refers to both the type of medium which is being printed, as well as the technique and presses which are used for printing. In this context, the letters are individual or monotype. This means that each letter has to be uniquely selected and arranged to form the words. These lines of type are then firmly locked into a frame, which is then printed on a press.
Composing a body of type before printing.
Pictures that accompany the text can be made mechanically or by hand, cut from wood, linoleum or engraved. When the copy is set and prepared, ink is applied by rollers, either by hand or mechanically on the larger presses. Unique to this process is that the letters are created and set in reverse, essentially backward, so that when the impression is made it comes out right side up and readable.
Locally in Bristol at King University, the Sign of the George Press has had a resurgence with the support of the Digital Media Art and Design Department. The Press was started by Dr. George P. “Pat” Winship in the late 60s as a way to show his English students the methods that authors like William Shakespeare had to manage to get their literary works into print. Dr. Winship had a small press when he was growing up as the son of a rare books librarian and he continued the press by accumulating type and presses from the printshops that were going out of or away from the letterpress business as they modernized. The press at King is operated by Winship’s son David, a retired public-school educator who grew up with the press.
Lee Jones, left, and Joe Strickland, right, at the press with students. Both are professors with the DMAD (Digital Media Art and Design) Department at King University.
The Birthplace of Country Music Museum will offer a hands-on workshop at the Museum on March 16, which will allow participants the opportunity to learn about letterpress printing, produce a poster of their own, and to tour the exhibit. Participants will also have the opportunity to tour the Sign of the George Press on King University campus to get a close up look at the printing process.
Poster advertising has been used as a marketing tool since the late 1800s. Companies and businesses would advertise anything from places to shop, war propaganda and music events. Since these posters were often made of paper and glued to an outside surface, like a telephone pole or outside of a business storefront, many early posters ads did not survive and are often highly sought after by many collectors.
Letterpress is one of the most recognizable forms of concert posters in Country music styles. Letterpress printing is a technique, which has been used for centuries, of printing multiple copies of the same design by inking a raised surface and stamping it on a piece of paper. Similar to a stamp, the letters and designs are replaceable. The design is held together with a frame and is placed opposite of how the poster will be hung. To learn and make your own letterpress poster sign up for a Letterpress workshop with BCM and King University on March 16, 2024.
Photo by Julia Underkoffler. On loan from the Tom Murphy Collection, a part of Cardboard History of the Blue Ridge.
The company that would later become Hatch Show Print was founded in 1875 and became infamous in the country music industry for their work with the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry starting in the mid-1920s. You can join us for a Speaker Session on April 9, 2024 with guest Celene Aubry from Hatch Show Print to learn more!
Today, however, many posters are produced digitally. There is still a deep nostalgia for letterpress posters.
Fifth Annual Fiddlers Convention
Donated to BCMM in 2017, this poster advertises the fifth annual Fiddlers Convention and North Carolina State Championship held at Cool Springs School in Statesville, North Carolina on November 19, 1966. Dwight Barker, a radio and TV personality, was the M.C. for the convention. There were cash prizes for the top three best bands, best banjo players, and most promising talent, as well as trophies to the state champions.
Photo by Ashli Linkous. Donated in honor of all the musicians that participated.
Roy Acuff for Governor Poster
Donated at the request of the late William Wampler in 2016. The poster was produced for Acuff’s Tennessee Governor campaign in 1948, when he accepted the Republican nomination. Although he did not win the Governorship these posters survived and reproduction prints are still being sold by Hatch Show Print. The copy in our collection was signed by Acuff on August 26, 1972.
Photo by Ashli Linkous. Roy Acuff poster donated at the request of the late William Wampler.
Mountain Stage/BCMA
A signed poster from a partnered show between Mountain Stage, a live radio program in West Virginia, and the former Birthplace of Country Music Alliance (BCMA) organization. In 2013 BCMA and Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion merged to create the Birthplace of Country Music Inc. organization. This event was on August 21, 2011 and included Jim Lauderdale, John Lilly, Red Molly, The David Mayfield Parade, Vince Gill, and hosted by Larry Groce.
Photo by Ashli Linkous. From the Birthplace of Country Music’s Institutional Archives
Orthophonic Joy
Orthophonic Joy is a collection of reimagined recordings of the original 1927 Bristol Sessions songs. This album was produced by Carl Jackson, a Grammy award winner and used as a benefit for the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. The album includes Emmylou Harris singing “Bury Me Beneath the Willow”, Dolly Parton singing “When They Ring Those Golden Bells”, Sheryl Crow singing “The Wandering Boy,” and Brad Paisley and Carl Jackson singing “In the Pines.” This CD can be purchased in the museum store.
Photo by Ashli Linkous. From the Birthplace of Country Music’s Institutional Archives.
Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion Festival Posters
Starting in 2001 the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion festival (BRRR) was created to celebrate the rich musical heritage that was popularized by the 1927 Bristol sessions. Occurring on the second weekend in September every year, BRRR has seen countless legendary musicians on the lineup, like The Del McCoury Band, Little Jimmie Dickens, Jim Lauderdale, who made his first appearance in 2004, and Marty Stuart just to name a few. Each year the organization gets a different artist to create and design the festival poster. Over the last 20 plus years we’ve had artists including Willard Gayheart, Charles Vess, and Leigh Ann Agee and many more. Only so many of these posters are printed every year and once they are gone, they are gone! Below are some of my personal favorites.
2001 Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion Poster
The first year highlights the train station which helped many artists get to Bristol in 1927 to record with Ralph Peer and make Bristol what it is today!
Photo by Julia Underkoffler. From the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s Institutional Archives
2005 Bristol Rhythm and Roots Poster
I love all of the artists that were included in this poster. It is a great way of showing the impact Bristol has had to music.
Photo by Julia Underkoffler. From the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s Institutional Archives
2006 Bristol Rhythm and Roots Poster
This poster was designed by Charles Vess. I absolutely love how the colors complement each other and the tree roots making a treble clef.
Photo by Julia Underkoffler. From the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s Institutional Archives.
2021 Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion Poster
This will always be one of my favorite BRRR posters because it was my first BRRR.
10th and 20th Anniversary Posters
These are two special posters we came out with for the 20th anniversary. This is a great way to display all of the first 20 years of festival posters.
Photos by Julia Underkoffler. From the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s Institutional Archives.
Several years of Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion posters are still available for purchase at the museum store.
