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Stories of I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music: Etta Baker

Museum

July 14, 2023

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Charlene Baker

Voice Magazine for Women, a free, monthly publication distributed regionally in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia to 650 locations, partners with the Birthplace of Country Music an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, to take you inside the special exhibit I’ve Endured: Women Old-Time Music, on display at the museum through December 31, 2023. Each month through the duration of the exhibit, Voice features impactful stories of the hidden heroines, activists, and commercial success stories of the women who laid the foundation for country music. Inspiring, insightful, and Dolly-approved, you may just find a piece of yourselves, or a loved one, in the stories of some of these hidden figures in American music.

With their permission, we have duplicated our “I’ve Endured: Woman in Old-Time Music” special feature article for this month – we hope you enjoy it! To read this month’s issue in its entirety, click here.

A photo of Etta Baker in her youth, wearing a coat and head scarf and playing her guitar. — *Photo from the Music Maker Relief Foundation archive.*

The Stories of I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music
Etta Baker
By Guest Contributor Charlene Tipton Baker

“Etta Baker didn’t put up with any of that foolishness, either. You know, she would call somebody on it. She’d say ‘Lord, honey, I have been around so long, how could you call me a girl?” ~ Sheila Kay Adams, Appalachian ballad singer

Born in 1913 in Caldwell County, North Carolina, Etta Baker learned how to play guitar before she could hold one. She grew up in a musical household, with influences passed down from her African American, Irish, and Native American lineage. When she was just shy of three years old, her dad would lay his guitar on a bed face up as she stood, teaching her tiny hands how to pluck the strings and work the frets.

It was around that time her family moved to Keysville, Virginia. She would often get up in the middle of the night to listen to her dad play, and she played music at churches, parties, and dances with her family as a child and young woman. In interviews she has said that she practiced on her guitar an hour or more every single day. The music she made brought her great joy and, while sleeping, Etta often dreamed of the melodies she would write. She played 6-string and 12-string guitar and the 5-string banjo. The majority of Etta’s songs were instrumental; she chose instead to let the chords and melodies of her instrument do the talking.

Married at the age of 36 to a piano player, Etta’s husband forbade her to play music outside the confines of the home. Decades would pass before Baker was given the opportunity to perform her music in public again, so she helped make ends meet working in a textile factory. Together they had nine children and she played for her kids and encouraged their musical abilities. When asked how she had time to play music with so many children, she laughed and replied “I made them be quiet!”

Baker’s distinct, two-finger style of picking the Piedmont blues would later influence artists like Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, but she never achieved the money or the fame she so deserved—an all too familiar narrative around the careers of many women in early American music.

“This gracious grandmother was the source of a great deal of joy and surprise when I found that she still played guitar after I had heard her early recordings in the ’60s,” says blues legend Taj Mahal. “One of the signature chords of my guitar vocabulary comes from her version of ‘Railroad Bill.’ This was the first guitar-picking style that I ever learned.”

In fact, Etta was 43 years old before she was “discovered” by renowned folk singer and scholar Paul Clayton who, along with Diane Hamilton and Liam Chancey, recorded and released five of her songs on the compilation album Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians. Those historically significant recordings were among the first commercial releases of African American banjo music, and though Etta’s songs “One Dime Blues” and “Railroad Bill” became traditional standards, she was unpaid for the session.

Baker was invited to perform at the 1958 Newport Folk Festival due to the impact of those recordings, but was denied the opportunity by her husband. After he passed away in 1967, she left her job to pursue music full time. In 1991, at the age of 78, Etta released her first album, One Dime Blues, on Rounder Records. She soon became recognized as one of the foremost practitioners of the Piedmont finger-picking style—her right forefinger picking out melodies as the thumb strummed the bass notes.

Decades passed before Etta was able to regain the rights to those early recordings, doing so with the help of the Music Maker Relief Foundation, a North Carolina-based nonprofit that provides traditional musicians 55 years and older with financial and professional support for their art.

Whatever hardship or challenge Baker may have endured over her long life, she remained positive and focused on playing the music passed on to her by her father and his family before him. She also loved to garden, grow and can her own food, and forage for herbs. She had many grandchildren and also loved playing music for them.

“Just the sound of happiness,” Etta said in a recorded interview for Music Maker. “It gets on your mind heavier than your ailments do, I think.” It must have been a healing kind of magic; in the same interview Etta proclaimed she never knew any doctors or treatments until she was 89 years of age.

A photo of Etta Baker in her later years, holding an acoustic guitar and smiling. — *Photo courtesy of Music Maker Relief Foundation, photograph by Tim Duffy*

In 1991 Etta was honored with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts after winning the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award from the North Carolina Arts Council two years prior. The wunderkind passed away in 2006 at the age of 93, having performed music into her 90s.

Etta Baker possessed a soul that breathed the essence of music, transcending the ephemeral allure of fortune and fame. With each pluck and strum, her hands were vessels, channeling the sounds of her ancestors. Her guitar was an extension of her very being, an instrument of liberation and expression. Her legacy transcends the trappings of success, forever embodying the boundless joy of music for music’s sake. Her enduring legacy serves as an inspiration for women and musicians of all ages, showcasing the unwavering passion and dedication that can carry an artist through a lifetime of creating and sharing their art.

Stay tuned! Next month’s I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music spotlight will focus on the dynamic performer, musician, and forward-thinking businessperson Cousin Emmy, born Cynthia Mae Carver, the first woman to take home a win from the National Old Time Fiddler’s Contest, and a teacher and influencer to Hee Haw’s Grandpa Jones. She also appeared in Hollywood films and on television.

Will the Circle Be Unbroken? History of a Song

History Museum Music & Songs

June 22, 2023

Posted on June 22, 2023June 21, 2023 by Guest Blogger

By Ed Hagen, Gallery Assistant and guest blogger

There is a dance floor inside of the Birthplace of Country Music Museum that features the song “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” playing over and over and sung by a mix of modern and old-time country artists. Toward the end of the looping video, John Carter Cash explains that the “circle” is music itself. In that sense “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” is a homage to the pioneers of country music and a salute to current artists who honor these diverse roots. The circle is unbroken because the music is handed down from generation to generation.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1972 album “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” cover

The song has had that association for many years now, perhaps starting with the release in 1972 of the Will the Circle Be Unbroken album by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, a 1960s California jug band that had gone electric and was at that time best known for covering Jerry Jeff Walker’s Mr. Bojangles. Will the Circle Be Unbroken was their seventh album and came about when band member John McEuen asked bluegrass musician Earl Scruggs and legendary guitarist Doc Watson if they would record with the band. One thing led to another, and many of country music’s biggest stars – including Roy Acuff, Jimmy Martin, Maybelle Carter, Merle Travis, Vassar Clements, Randy Scruggs, Pete “Oswald” Kirby, and Norman Blake – signed up for the project. It was a collaboration of two culturally different generations of musicians, traditional Grand Ole Opry stars and a group of hippies that Acuff described as “a bunch of long-haired West Coast boys” (Maybelle called them – affectionately – the “dirty boys”). By all accounts, the generation gap was bridged and new friendships were made, not to mention the incredible music. The album was a crossover success, introducing many folks to traditional country music, and in 1997 the original album was certified platinum.

Since its release, the song has become an inspiration for intergenerational celebrity get-togethers. When the song is called at any local museum jam sessions, everyone sings the chorus, and the emotion in the room is palpable.

A black and white image of lyrics to the song "Will the Circle Be Unbroken". — *A hymnal page of the song “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” dated 1907 courtesy of hymnary.org*

The original version of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” was a hymn written in 1907 by Ada R. Habershon, with music by Charles H. Gabriel. It is long out of copyright, and so we freely reproduce the sheet music here. According to hymnary.org, the song peaked in popularity just before World War II, when it appeared in about 20% of hymnals in use. It is down to about 7% today. Based on conversations I have had, the number is higher here in East Tennessee.

Note that the words and melody of the verses in the original hymn depart substantially from the way it is usually sung today (although the refrain is very close). That’s because A. P. Carter rewrote the song when The Carter Family recorded it in 1935.

Victor producer Ralph Peer used to tell A. P. and his other folk and country artists to avoid recording songs heard on the radio, but to collect traditional music that could be modified and copyrighted. A. P. may have thought it was a traditional song. Perhaps to differentiate it a bit more, the Carter version was retitled as “Can the Circle Be Unbroken” (though nobody uses that title anymore).

The sentiment conveyed in both versions is that we have all lost loved ones, but that they have gone to a better place where we will see them again. It is interesting to compare the two versions of the song. Habershon’s version admonishes the listener to take the Christian view of family loss:

A black and white image of The Carter Family. Three people are facing the camera, A.P. Carter is wearing a blazer and vest, looking toward the camera. Sarah Carter is to his left and is standing facing the camera. She is holding an autoharp and wearing a dress. Maybelle Carter is sitting holding an archtop guitar and looking into the lens. All three individuals have a slight smile to their faces. — *A promotional photo of The Carter Family taken by the Victor Talking Machine Company circa 1928. Left to right: A.P. Carter, Maybelle Carter, and Sarah Carter.*

You remember song of heaven
Which you sang with childish voice,
Do you love the hymns they taught you,
Or are songs of earth your choice?

The Carter version, recorded and released in 1935, focuses on the painfulness of the loss:

Oh, I followed close behind her
Tried to hold up and be brave
But I could not hide my sorrow
When they laid her in the grave

“Can the Circle Be Unbroken” also focuses on the death of a beloved mother rather than family members in general (as in the original hymn). In any event, it is not surprising that the more emotional Carter version won people’s hearts. Roy Acuff used the Carter lyrics when he recorded it in 1940, and that eventually became the standard version. You can listen to different versions of the song via the YouTube links below.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Will The Circle Be Unbroken

The Carter Family – Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol.2／Nitty Gritty Dirt Band／Johnny Cash／Ricky Skaggs

Ed Hagen is a volunteer gallery assistant and guest blogger at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. His earlier post, Celebrating Jimmie Rodgers: A Short Lesson in His Guitar Style, appeared here last year.

Instrument Interview: The Frying Guitar

Museum

June 6, 2023

Posted on June 6, 2023June 6, 2023 by Erika Barker

By Erika Barker, Curatorial Manager

“Instrument Interview” blog posts are a chance to sit down with an instrument and learn more about it! From the different types of instruments played in traditional, country, bluegrass and roots music to specific instruments belonging to artists, luthiers, and songwriters, these blogs feature several questions that are posed and the instruments giver their answer. Today we talk with the frying pan guitar.

Why are you called a frying pan guitar? That is my most popular nickname. I get called “Frypan” or “Frying-pan” guitar because of the way I look – similar in shape to a frying pan!

A frying pan guitar (also known as a fry pan guitar) lays flat with a white background. Rickenbacker Electro “Fry Pan” Lap Steel Guitar (c.1934) — Rickenbacker Electro “Fry Pan” Lap Steel Guitar (c.1934)

Some of my other nicknames include; the “Aluminum Lollipop”, the “Beauchamp Elektro guitar”, “panhandle” guitar, “pancake” guitar, and the “electro-Hawaiian model”. My original name was Ro-Pat-In Electro Hawaiian Guitar. I am named after the company founded by my inventors. They soon changed my name, and the name of the company, to Rickenbacker though so many people know me by my official name: Rickenbacker Electro A-22.

You may have noticed that my nameplate spells my name Rickenbacher instead of with a “k”. This is because one of my inventors, Adolph Rickenbacker, changed the spelling of his Swedish last name to honor his distant relative and American WWI hero, Eddie Rickenbacker. Even though the official name of the company used the new spelling of his name, the headstock nameplates on me and my siblings kept the original spelling into the 1950s.

Are you really a guitar? I am the first commercially successful electric guitar and also the first solid body guitar. I know I don’t look much like a modern electric guitar, I am what is called a lap steel guitar. I am made to be played while lying flat on your lap or on a stand in front of you. Some people refer to this as a “Hawaiian-style guitar” because my acoustic ancestors were invented in Hawaii.

Near the end of the 19th century, a Hawaiian teenager named Joseph Kekuku developed a new technique, and the lap steel guitar was born! There are many legends about how this came about. One popular version is that he picked up a railroad spike while walking along a railroad track and later noticed the unique sound it made when he ran it along the guitar strings while strumming them in his dorm room. However he did it, by the 1930s, Hawaiian-style guitar had become very popular in the continental United States. One of my inventors, George Beauchamp, particularly enjoyed the Hawaiian-style lap steel guitar. He was an avid musician whenever he wasn’t tinkering with electronics. So when he began inventing, it is no surprise that he made an electric lap steel guitar, like me!

Are you the first electric instrument? No, people have experimented with making electric instruments as far back as 1761. A few interesting electric instruments, such as the telharmonium, an early electrical organ, were developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. But these earlier instruments were often impractical and never became widely popular the way I did.

The period between World War I and World War II was an exciting time for innovators working with electricity; many new electronic instruments were invented in those days. Some other folks attempted to create electric guitars in the 1920s, but they were not successful. My unique design, which captures vibrations directly from the strings, is still in use today and is what made me one of the earliest electronic instruments to be commercially successful.

Are you really made out of a frying pan? No, my nickname was given to me because of my shape. I am made out of cast aluminum. I have steel strings and a horseshoe electro-magnetic pickup inside me. The pickup is what makes me an electric instrument. A pickup captures the vibrations of my strings and converts them into electronic signals.

How were you invented? By nature, the guitar is pretty quiet, and louder instruments in acoustic ensemble settings often drown out our beautiful sounds. In the early 20th century, there was a lot of interest in finding a way to amplify our sound using a variety of methods, including resonators and electric amplification.

In 1931, George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbaucher founded the Ro-Pat-In Corporation with the intent of manufacturing a completely electric instrument. Both men had already been involved in the development of early resonator guitars. Beauchamp developed a new “horseshoe pickup” that utilized magnetic coils and was designed to completely shun all acoustic amplification properties. It worked, and pickups today are still based on his design! Adolph Rickenbacher used his expertise to manufacture the guitars and improved the overall design to reduce feedback.

How are you played? I am played while lying flat on the lap of a seated player or sitting flat on a stand in front of them. The player uses a metal slide, called a steel or tone bar, to move along the strings on my neck with one hand, changing the pitch while also plucking or picking my strings with the other hand.

What do you sound like?

You can listen to some of my relatives in these videos:

Honolulu How Do You Do – Rickenbacker Frying Pan and Ukulele

Hilo March – Steel Guitar

Erika Barker is the Curatorial Manager at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.

The Stories of I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music, Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard

Museum

May 16, 2023

Posted on May 16, 2023May 16, 2023 by Charlene Baker

Voice Magazine for Women, a free, monthly publication distributed regionally in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia to 650 locations, partners with the Birthplace of Country Music an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, to take you inside the special exhibit I’ve Endured: Women Old-Time Music, on display at the museum through December 31, 2023. Each month through the duration of the exhibit, Voice features impactful stories of the hidden heroines, activists, and commercial success stories of the women who laid the foundation for country music. Inspiring, insightful, and Dolly-approved, you may just find a piece of yourselves, or a loved one, in the stories of some of these hidden figures in American music.

The Stories of I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music
Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard
By Guest Contributor Charlene Tipton Baker

old Photo of Alice Gerrard posing with guitar with no shoes — Alice Gerrard, Photo by Henry Horenstein

“When I was 13 years old I heard a Hazel Dickens song and it changed my life. I would not be doing what I do without her, Elizabeth Cotten, Ola Belle Reed, Alice Gerrard, and so many other incredible women featured in this exhibit.” ~ Molly Tuttle

Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard were two of the most influential bluegrass musicians of the 20th century. Their focus on women’s issues and their influences from old-time music helped to create a unique sound that set them apart from their male counterparts. Their contributions to the genre continue to be felt today, as they have inspired countless musicians and helped to shape the sound of the genre.

Dickens was born in the coal mining community of Mercer County, West Virginia, and though she later moved to Baltimore, she continued to be an advocate and activist for mine workers and their families. A native of Seattle, Washington, Gerrard was exposed to folk music while in college. The duo met in Washington, D.C., in the early 1960s and quickly formed a musical partnership that would last for several decades. They recorded their first album together, Who’s That Knocking? in 1965. Featuring a mix of traditional ballads and original compositions, the album showcased their vocal harmonies and instrumental skills. It was a critical success and helped to establish Dickens and Gerrard as influential musicians in the bluegrass scene.

Hazel Dickens sitting down playing the guitar outside — Hazel Dickens, photo from the Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project Collection, 1965—1989, #20004, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

One of the most significant contributions that the duo made to bluegrass music was their focus on women’s issues. Their music often addressed themes of social justice, economic hardship, and the struggles of rural women. In a genre that was largely dominated by men, Dickens and Gerrard were trailblazers for women in bluegrass music.

Gerrard and Dickens’ influence on the genre can be seen in the many female bluegrass artists who have followed in their footsteps – along with women in other genres who have been inspired by their example. Women such as Emmylou Harris, Naomi Judd, and Claire Lynch have all cited Dickens and Gerrard as significant influences on their music. Additionally, the all-female country band, The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks), has credited Dickens and Gerrard with inspiring their sound and their approach to songwriting.

In an interview with the Washington Post in 1996, Naomi Judd recalled the moment she and a then 12-year-old Wynonna first heard the album Hazel & Alice:

“Their whole sound was so unpolished, so authentic, they were unabashedly just who they were – it was really like looking in the mirror of truth. We felt like we knew them, and when we listened to the songs, it crystallized the possibility that two women could sing together.”

Dickens was the first woman to receive the Merit Award from IBMA and was presented with a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2001, the highest honor for folk and traditional arts in the United States. A tireless advocate for traditional music, Gerrard has earned numerous honors including an International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Distinguished Achievement Award, a Virginia Arts Commission Award, the North Carolina Folklore Society’s Tommy Jarrell Award, and an Indy Award. Dickens and Gerrard were inducted into the IBMA Hall of Fame in 2017.

Last fall Smithsonian Folkways released newly remastered editions of their first two albums Who’s That Knocking? and Won’t You Come and Sing for Me? The albums had been unavailable on vinyl for over 40 years. On the same day, Folkways released Pioneering Women of Bluegrass: The Definitive Edition, which included every track recorded by the duo for Folkways in addition to a bonus track. The CD features notes and an essay by Gerrard who is now 88 years old and still performing. Dickens passed away in 2011 due to complications of pneumonia. She is often referred to as the “First Lady of Bluegrass.”

Stay tuned! Next month’s I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music spotlight will focus on renowned Piedmont Blues guitarist and singer Etta Baker who performed music up into her 90s. The North Carolina native said she received chords for her music in her dreams. Artists such as Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd cite Baker as an influence on their own music.

To learn more about I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music, visit www.WomenInOldTimeMusic.com!

Instrumental History: Inspired by Jimmie Rodgers Martin 000-45 Guitar

Instruments Museum Music & Songs Radio

February 3, 2023

Posted on February 3, 2023May 2, 2023 by Kris Truelsen

Did you know that last year the Birthplace of Country Music Museum took in on loan one of the most important guitars in American music history – Jimmie Rodgers’ 1928 000-45 Martin? Yep, it’s true, and it’s currently on display here at the museum!

Jimmie Rodgers. From the John Edwards Memorial Foundation Records, #20001, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Over the years this guitar has become one of the most iconic symbols for country music, boasting a mother of pearl neck inlay touting Jimmie Rodgers’ name, an iconic hand-painted “THANKS” on the back of the guitar, the words “Blue Yodel” in inlay on the headstock, and a label on the interior with a message signed by C. F. Martin himself. Of course, the guitar was made famous by not only Rodgers – recognized as “the Father of Country Music” and also known as “the Singing Brakeman” and “America’s Blue Yodeler” – but also by honky tonk great Ernest Tubb, who was loaned the famous guitar by Jimmie’s widow Carrie Rodgers. Ernest went on to play the guitar for nearly 40 years, helping to solidify its importance in the history of country music.

Jimmie Rodgers’ 1928 Martin 000-45 on display at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. © Birthplace of Country Music; photographer: Ashli Linkous

To celebrate this iconic guitar in its temporary home here at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, Clint Holley – Radio Bristol DJ and host of “Pressing Matters” – has been working with museum and radio staff to create and share a three-episode program featuring perspectives from scholars and musicians from across the country. Titled “Instrumental History: Thoughts & Anecdotes on Jimmie Rodgers Martin 000-45 ‘Blue Yodel’ Guitar,” the program will air on Fridays at 6:00 pm ET on Radio Bristol for the next six weeks launching Friday, February 3 – each episode will be aired two week in a row. And so, in other words, tune in tonight for the first one!

To get us warmed up and ready for the series, we asked some of our knowledgeable Radio Bristol DJs to tell us about their favorite Jimmie Rodger’s songs, whether sung by him or a cover by another artist. Our DJs came through with some great, if not surprising, choices.

Crystal Gayle, “Miss the Mississippi and You”

“A thoroughly modern take on this classic song. Although NOT written by Jimmie, he made it his own and was the first to release it in 1932. The song has been recorded over 40 times, and Crystal’s version is the first I could find with a female singer as the main character. Produced with contemporary sounds in the late 1970s, this version shows how flexible and enduring the song truly is.”

~ Clint Holley, Pressing Matters

Jorma Kaukonen, “Prohibition Blues”

“I want to nominate Jorma Kaukonen’s version of Jimmie’s never-recovered master of “Prohibition Blues” from his album Blue Country Heart as my favorite…both for its rarity and its timely nature. The fact that he had the writer, Clayton McMichen, play on his recording of it is even more interesting and shows how much respect Rodgers had for his fellow musicians. As a collector’s aside, can you imagine finding that master sitting in a dusty storeroom somewhere today? Talk about your Holy Grail! It would probably be worth more than the 000-45 that we are so lucky to get to display!

Jorma’s version is, of course, outstanding as well with a superb lineup, and he does it justice with humor and flawless musicianship. I will admit to prejudice here, because Jorma is a good friend whose music is a large part of my repertoire…but his choice of that song is a rare treat for us all.”

~ Marshall Ballew, Off the Beaten Track

Jimmie Rodgers, “Waiting for a Train”

“Two of Jimmie Rodgers’ tunes that I have always connected with are “Waiting for a Train” and “Miss the Mississippi and You.” Jimmie wrote his version of “Waiting for a Train” based on an English tune from the 19th century. He recorded it in 1929 for Ralph Peer’s Victor label on the back side of “Blue Yodel #4.” I have always liked the horns at the beginning; they resonate with my traditional jazz roots. “Miss the Mississippi and You“ was recorded later and has that feeling, to me, that Jimmie knew his time was increasingly short. I think Jimmie was able to translate a number of types of music into his own unique style, which is why he was so popular. I hear the music of Western styles in his yodel and jazz in his singing, coupled with the Delta blues and Appalachian sounds. It is a compelling combination. He also recorded long enough that his later songs were technologically better recorded than his early stuff. He was a true artist who died way too young.”

~ Bill Smith – Crooked Road Radio Hour

Jimmie Rodgers, “Last Blue Yodel”

“A part of Jimmie Rodgers’ final group of recordings, performed during the sessions that took place in New York City just 48 hours before his untimely death, “Last Blue Yodel” is a poignant soliloquy relinquishing personal thoughts on heartbreak. Following a 12-bar-blues format paired with Jimmie’s trademark yodeling, which Rodgers employed on all of his series of 13 Blue Yodels, this last one has become my favorite for its directness and intensity. The tag of each verse admits “The women make a fool out of me.” Rodgers known for his intimate solo guitar style is also one of the first singers to display confessional songwriting, which has deeply shaped country music as a genre, and my own personal approach to creating songs.”

~ Ella Patrick, Folk Yeah!

Leon Redbone, “T.B. Blues”

“My personal favorite cover version of a Jimmie Rodgers song is Leon Redbone’s rendition of “T.B. Blues.” The song itself always stood out to me because of the unique perspective of writing so specifically about one’s own mortality. It was covered by several bluesmen that I took to when I first started researching the blues, but Redbone’s version has the perfect amount of his own style while still paying homage to the original.”

~ Scotty Almany, Scotty’s Tune Up

Kris Truelsen is the Radio Bristol Program Director.

The World of Marty Stuart: Country Music’s Legacy in Mississippi

Collections History Museum

December 10, 2022

Posted on December 10, 2022December 10, 2022 by Guest Blogger

Today we welcome guest writer Miriam Meeks to the BCM Blog as she shares stories and objects from a wonderful special exhibit currently on display at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) in Jackson until December 31. Focused on Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion favorite Marty Stuart and his collection of country music artifacts, this exhibit is sure to be of interest to Birthplace of Country Music fans and friends! Enjoy!

As the year begins to wind down, many people are feeling nostalgic for the past. Until December 31, fans of country music will be able to take a walk down memory lane through the golden age of country music at The World of Marty Stuart, a collaboration between Grammy-winning musician Marty Stuart and MDAH to tell the story of country music with emphasis on its lasting role within Mississippi. The World of Marty Stuart exhibit covers his life and legacy of preserving country music’s stories, photographs, instruments, costumes, and more.

Marty Stuart with his electric guitar. Photo by Alysse Gafken; courtesy of Mississippi Department of Archives and History

As a young boy, Stuart began playing music in his hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi. He joined The Sullivans, a family bluegrass gospel group based in Alabama, after being drawn to bluegrass and gospel music. He played guitar and mandolin with them until eventually meeting bluegrass musician Roland White, who invited Stuart to back Lester Flatt’s band.

After touring with Flatt, Stuart recorded his first solo album, With a Little Help from My Friends, and performed with various artists like Vassar Clements and Doc Watson before joining Johnny Cash’s band in 1980. Stuart collected memorabilia from shows played by fellow musicians, many of whom were friends and mentors of Stuart. His greatest passion to safeguard the legacy of country music strengthened as he continued to produce solo albums.

Over the years, Stuart’s trove of treasures grew as he recognized the importance of preservation. “Somewhere along the way, about the early ‘80s, those artifacts were being discarded,” said Stuart. “So it became a self-appointed mission to curate, protect, and preserve that end of country music: authentic, traditional country music. The people and their treasures.” Hundreds of these priceless artifacts are currently housed at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson as part of The World of Marty Stuart exhibit.

Drum set used by Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives. Artifacts courtesy of Marty Stuart; photography by Mark Geil

Stuart and the MDAH worked together to curate a truly timeless exhibit, one that gives a small glimpse into Stuart’s dedicated collection. A plethora of pieces from the golden age of country music are on display, including Stuart’s first guitar; original manuscripts from Hank Williams; guitars that belonged to Merle Haggard and Pops Staples; and costumes worn by Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, and Johnny Cash, including Cash’s “Walk the Line” performance suit.

Eagle-eyed visitors will recognize the connection to the namesake for Stuart’s second solo album from 1982. Stuart first experienced rhythm and blues as a young boy at the Busy Bee Café, now the Busy Bee Suites, in Philadelphia. Virgil Griffin and the Rhythm Kings frequently played there, and now the group’s original bass drum head rests at the Two Mississippi Museums. A school essay also hangs in the halls of the exhibit. A young Stuart was asked by his teacher, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” to which Stuart wrote, “a musician.” Now his answer has come full circle. The exhibit is the living embodiment of Stuart’s musical journey resting in the state that raised him.

Various performance costumes featured in The World of Marty Stuart exhibit. Photo courtesy of Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

What you see in the exhibit is only the tip of the iceberg – in actuality, Stuart has collected over 20,000 pieces of country music memorabilia and historic items, which will settle in the future home of Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music in Philadelphia. This Congress will be a celebration of country music and a culmination of the musician’s ultimate goals.

The World of Marty Stuart exhibit is brought to you by the title sponsor, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, as well as by AT&T and Visit Mississippi. The World of Marty Stuart runs through December 31, 2022, with regular exhibit hours: Tuesday—Saturday, 9:00am—5:00pm and Sunday, 11:00am—5:00pm. For more information, visit www.mdah.ms.gov. You can also check out Stuart’s memoir, The World of Marty Stuart. The book covers his life with photographs and artifact reproductions straight from his collection. It was published by MDAH and distributed by the University Press of Mississippi.

Finally, check out the interview with Nan Prince, Director of Collections at MDAH, that we conducted last week on the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s Museum Talk radio show.

Image at top of page: Marty Stuart and his acoustic guitar. Photo by Alysse Gafken; courtesy of Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Miriam Meeks is the Content Writer of Moore Media Group in Jackson, Mississippi.

Radio Bristol Book Club: The Star Fisher

Museum Radio

December 2, 2022

Posted on December 2, 2022November 27, 2022 by Rene Rodgers

Welcome to Radio Bristol Book Club where readers from BCM and the Bristol Public Library come together each month to celebrate and explore books inspired by our region’s rich Appalachian cultural and musical heritage! We invite you to read along and then listen to Radio Bristol on the fourth Thursday of each month at 12:00 noon when we dig deep into the themes and questions raised by the books, learn more about the authors, and celebrate the joys of being a bookworm!

This month’s book is The Star Fisher by Laurence Yep, a book featured in Reading Appalachia: Voices from Children’s Literature, a special exhibit that was on display at the museum in 2019. Based on Yep’s mother’s childhood, The Star Fisher tells the story of 15-year-old Joan Lee, a Chinese-American girl who moves to West Virginia from Ohio in 1927. Joan and her siblings speak English but her parents only speak Chinese, and while she knows that they are all Americans, no one else seems to see her and her family that way. As they struggle to put down roots in their new town and run their laundry business, Joan encounters prejudice and racism but also kindness. Amidst these experiences, Joan believes that her desire for respect and acceptance mirrors the Chinese legend of the star fisher, a half-bird/half-human creature that sees with two sets of eyes – and so Joan sees life as an Asian and as an American. Aimed at upper elementary and lower middle school readers, this book wonderfully explores the story of an Asian American’s experience and the importance of treating everyone with empathy and respect.

Born in San Francisco in 1948, Laurence Yep published his first story – a science fiction piece – when he was only 18 years old. Yep has said that he often felt torn between mainstream American culture and his Chinese roots when he was growing up, and this theme has often come to fore in his writing throughout his career. Focused on children’s literature, Yep has written over 70 books and other works, including two Newbery Award winners in his Golden Mountain series. The Star Fisher was published in 1991 and was followed by a sequel called Dream Soul in 2000.

Portrait of Laurence Yep from a 2001 article in the Seattle PI.

Please make plans to join us on Thursday, December 22 at 12:00pm for our discussion of The Star Fisher. You can find us on the dial at 100.1 FM, streaming live on Radio Bristol, or via the Radio Bristol app. The book is available at the Bristol Public Library, so be sure to pick up a copy and read it ahead of time – the librarians will be happy to help you find it! We look forward to exploring this book on-air, and if you have thoughts or questions about the book that you would like to share with our readers, you can email ebarker@birthplaceofcountrymusic.org (Subject line: Radio Bristol Book Club) – your book insights might appear on air with us!

Looking ahead: Our book pick for January 2023 is Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy; we’ll be discussing it on Thursday, January 26. Check out a full list of the books we will read in 2023 here, where you can also listen to archived shows.

Rene Rodgers is Head Curator at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum and an avid reader.

Radio Bristol Book Club: Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow

Museum Radio

October 3, 2022

Posted on October 3, 2022October 3, 2022 by Rene Rodgers

Welcome to Radio Bristol Book Club where readers from BCM and the Bristol Public Library come together each month to celebrate and explore books inspired by our region’s rich Appalachian cultural and musical heritage! We invite you to read along and then listen to Radio Bristol on the fourth Thursday of each month at 12:00 noon when we dig deep into the themes and questions raised by the books, learn more about the authors, and celebrate the joys of being a bookworm!

Cultural historian Karl Hagstrom Miller’s first book, Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow, combines cultural, economic, and intellectual history to chart the development of a segregated commercial music industry in the early 20th century. Segregating Sound examines popular music in the United States through the intersections of race, gender, sound, and money. A musical color line, corresponding to the physical color line of southern segregation, emerged as both commercial record companies and academic folklorists scoured the south for new songs and categorized them according to the racial ideologies of the day. This book gives readers a more nuanced understanding of the making of musical genres and the impact on these delineations on the music industry. After its publication in 2010, Segregating Sound received the Woody Guthrie Award for the best annual book on popular music from the International Association for the Study of Popular Music.

Dr. Karl Hagstrom Miller is an Associate Professor in the Department of Music at the University of Virginia, focusing on Critical and Comparative Studies. He received a Ph.D. in history from New York University and has received fellowships from the Smithsonian Institute and the American Council of Learned Societies. His writing on various pop music topics has appeared in Wax Poetics, Texas Observer, American Music, American Historical Review, and PopMatters, among other venues. Miller is particularly interested in how transformations in commercial markets and music technology changed the ways people used music to forge their conceptions of race and region, imagine their relationship to the broader world, comprehend the past, and dream about the future.

Please make plans to join us on Thursday, October 27 at 12:00pm for the discussion of Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow. You can find us on the dial at 100.1 FM, streaming live on Radio Bristol, or via the Radio Bristol app. The book is available at the Bristol Public Library, so be sure to pick up a copy and read it ahead of time. The librarians will be happy to help you find the book. We look forward to exploring this book on-air, and if you have thoughts or questions about the book that you would like to share with our readers, you can email info@birthplaceofcountrymusic.org (Subject line: Radio Bristol Book Club) – your book insights might appear on air with us!

Looking ahead: Our book pick for November is Voices Worth Listening: Three Women of Appalachia by Thomas Burton; we’ll be discussing it on Thursday, November 17. Check out our full list of 2022 Radio Bristol Book Club picks here, where you can also listen to archived shows! We will also be releasing our 2023 reading list in November!

Tonia Kestner is the Executive Director of the Bristol Public Library.

From the Vault: In Memory

Collections Museum

September 20, 2022

Posted on September 20, 2022 by Julia Underkoffler

Museums build their collections by purchasing items, receiving donations, and getting objects or images on loan, some of which may later turn into a permanent part of the collection. When something enters our permanent collection, it becomes “accessioned” and is given an accession number, entered into the collections database, and stored safely in the museum’s secure storage or put on display.

The Birthplace of Country Music Museum (BCMM) has two separate collections where we accession items:

The museum collection, which serves as a place to preserve important items related to the museum’s content, many of which will be used in our permanent or special exhibits at some point
The education collection, which includes items that we will take out and use as hands-on examples when we go to schools or for outreach activities

Both collections are very important to our mission, which states that the museum will “develop programs of exhibitions, education, research, and publications and events that engage our audiences.”

A large percentage of BCMM’s collections come from donations, and we are always very grateful for these gifts. However, we have a very strict collection policy and limited storage space, and so each potential donation has to be assessed carefully before it is accepted and accessioned into the museum. BCMM’s collections policy states that our permanent collection should consist of, “items that help tell the story of the Bristol Sessions, most notably instruments, photographs and negatives, audiovisual materials, paper items (songbooks, sheet music, letters, and ephemera), legacy playback and recording machines, and items related to radio in the Tri-Cities and upper Southeast. The museum also houses its institutional archives, including items related to the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion festival.” We also keep items relating to and about Tennessee Ernie Ford and radio equipment. A visitor to our website can find out more about our collections, including a detailed list of the types of items we accept as donations. However, if you are interested in possibly donating an item to a museum you should always contact their collections department to see if the proposed item fits into their collection and that they have space to store it in the correct conditions.

People decide to donate to museum collections for a variety of reasons. For instance, some people may want to donate objects that have been found while decluttering their house. Another reason is that the donor values the item, but no other family member may be interested in it as much as the donor. Wanting the item to go to a good home and be preserved is another reason behind museum donations. Finally, the donor may recognize the item’s historical importance or see how the story it tells connects in an interesting way to the museum’s content.

When donating artifacts, many people choose to do so in memory of a loved one who has passed. At the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, we receive a lot of country music records and other items donated in memory of a friend or family member. In these cases, the donors want a place where the items will be cared for and cherished as much as their loved one did, and the donation process is often poignant as they share the stories of their loved ones with museum staff. This recognition is an important part of the donation for the donor and is reflected in the credit line they provide for use in the museum’s collections database and on any labels when the item is on display or used for other purposes, such as social media or a blog post like this one!

Here are just a few of the items in BCMM’s collections that have been donated in memory of loved ones:

In Memory of Carolyn Clark

In June 2022, the museum received a donation of three records in memory of Carolyn Clark from her sons. The records were brought to the museum by Mrs. Clark’s husband and included Arthur Smith’s Singing On The Mountain, The Carter Family Album, and Dolly Parton’s As Long As I Love. These records will enhance the museum’s collections, especially in the connections that can be made between two of them and an upcoming special exhibit on women in old-time music, and the donation gives the family the chance to remember their wife and mother in a meaningful way.

In Memory of W. A. Wilson

In October 2021, we received multiple items related to W. A. Wilson, the founder and first president of WOPI-AM, a well-known Bristol radio station and the first radio station between Knoxville and Raleigh. From his family, we received a framed record, medal, and program from Wilson’s induction into the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame providing a wonderful piece of Bristol’s radio history for our museum.

In Memory of Ernest Phipps

In 2017, we received multiple items that belonged to Ernest Phipps. Phipps recorded six songs on July 26, 1927 at the Bristol Sessions. His granddaughter donated Phipps’s military dog tags, his marriage license with Minnie Douglas, five family photos, a typed list of his recordings, and a copy of Charles Richard Phipps’s birth certificate at the 90th anniversary celebration of the 1927 Bristol Sessions. This year, for the 95th anniversary of the 1927 Bristol Sessions, we put Phipps’s dog tags and a photo on display.

In Memory of Ruth Hamm

Also in 2017, Dorothy Horne donated 54 shape note songbooks from the mid-1900s singing schools, in memory of her mother, Ruth Hamm. These songbooks are a great resource to see how people learned to sing – and find the correct pitch for – the many popular sacred songs of the era. Hamm went to a lot of singing schools and bought most of the shape note songbooks when they were released.

In Memory of Bill Inscho

In 2018, Lawrence Inscho donated 11 photos taken at the Grand Ole Opry by his father, Bill Inscho, in 1945 and a photo of his father Bill. These photographs are a wonderful personal record of several famous stars performing on the stage at the Opry, including Pee Wee King, Uncle Dave Macon, and Zeke Clements.

We love getting to preserve the wonderful pieces that families have enjoyed for years and hearing the stories of why they want them to be preserved. If you have any artifacts that may be of interest to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s collectio,n please reach out to collections@birthplaceofcountrymusic.org.

* Image at top of page: The dream of visible collections storage as seen at the Brooklyn Museum. Photograph by Mark B. Schlemmer

Julia Underkoffler is the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s Collections Specialist.

Rosanne Cash: Americana’s Renaissance Woman

Exhibits Festival Museum Personalities

September 13, 2022

Posted on September 13, 2022September 13, 2022 by Charlene Baker

Voice Magazine for Women, a free, monthly publication distributed regionally in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia to 650 locations, partners with the Birthplace of Country Music to promote our annual music festival, Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion. In August and September of each year, Voice generously allows us free rein to produce cover stories for the magazine highlighting upcoming acts performing at the event. With their permission, we have duplicated the cover article for this month – we hope you enjoy it! To read this month’s issue in its entirety, click here.

Voice Magazine for Women
Rosanne Cash: Americana’s Renaissance Woman
A Q&A on Family Ties to Southwest Virginia, Her First Trip to Bristol, and Fun Stuff You Didn’t Know and Would Likely Never Ask
By Guest Contributor Charlene Tipton Baker
Photo Credits: Michael Lavine

Rosanne Cash is one of the most revered artists in Americana music. At 67, she has an amazing career as a multi-GRAMMY Award-winning songwriter and performer. A born writer, Cash was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015 and is a bestselling author and poet. Her fiction and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Oxford-American, among others, and she is frequently invited to teach classes in English and Songwriting at various colleges. Additionally, Cash is an advocate for creators’ rights and children’s causes, including education and gun violence prevention.

This September, Rosanne Cash headlines Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion on the 95th Anniversary of the legendary 1927 Bristol Sessions recordings. Rosanne’s familial connection to our region’s music heritage makes her visit extra special; she is the eldest daughter of country music legend Johnny Cash and his first wife Vivian. She also enjoyed a close, loving relationship with Johnny’s second wife, June Carter Cash. June is the daughter of Mother Maybelle Carter of the Carter Family, the “First Family of Country Music.” The 1927 Bristol Sessions included the very first recordings of The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers, the “Father of Country Music,” and catapulted country music into the mainstream.

Ralph Peer recorded the 1927 Bristol Sessions in the Taylor-Christian Hat & Glove Company building on the Tennessee side of State Street. The building was long gone by the summer of 1971 when Johnny and June traveled to Bristol, alongside Maybelle Carter, Sara Carter Bayes, and other members of the Carter clan, to dedicate a monument to the 1927 Bristol Sessions at the site where they took place. Ralph Peer II (son of Ralph Peer) and members of Jimmie Rodgers’ family were also present. Thousands of people from the community gathered for the occasion. On that day, Johnny expressed to them how he would love to see a museum dedicated to the music history that had been made in Bristol.

Decades later in 2001, the annual Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion music festival was established to honor the legacy of those seminal recordings. The Birthplace of Country Music Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, opened its doors to the public in August 2014. One year later, WBCM Radio Bristol went live on the air, broadcasting from the museum.

I relayed the story above to Rosanne’s manager, Danny Kahn, along with a request for this interview and extended an invitation for the artist to tour the museum while she is in town for the festival. He quickly replied, “Rosanne realizes how significant her visit to Bristol is. She has never been. She wants to do as much as possible regarding your requests.” From everything I had read, I was not at all surprised by her generosity.

So much has been written about Rosanne Cash and by her, so in this interview I chose to focus on her ties to our region’s music heritage, while adding a few trivial zingers à la Bop and Tiger Beat to satisfy my inner, pre-teen geek. Rosanne: if you are reading this, my apologies for that – but thank you for kindly playing along! I’m so grateful for the opportunity to make this connection for my hometown, and excited for you to experience Bristol and the festival. I hope you love them both as much as I do.

Below are my questions answered by the artist via e-mail:

This will be your first time performing at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion and your first time visiting the museum. Knowing that your dad’s dream of having a museum dedicated to the legacy of the 1927 Bristol Sessions is now a reality, what are your thoughts?

He was right. I’m grateful that he spoke those words that day, and that a ripple of enthusiasm went out and planted the seed to create the museum, although, honestly, it seems like it was destined! Such a historic moment and location in the cultural makeup of our country deserves to be forever immortalized. I’m thrilled to be going to perform in Bristol and see the museum for the very first time. I’ve actually sent people there, but never been myself!

When tourists come to visit the museum in Bristol, we make it a point to encourage them to visit the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, VA. We consider it hallowed ground, and it is poignant that your dad’s final performance was there. In the beautiful eulogy you wrote for June Carter Cash after her death in 2003, you mention that Johnny hosted a “grandkids weekend” for June on her birthday one year someplace in Virginia on the Holston River. Do you have any more memories of visiting there growing up?

In 2001, we visited the Maybelle and Ezra Carter house in Maces Springs, where June grew up, and which she and my dad owned in their later years. We went canoeing on the Holston River and had a celebration for June’s birthday on the property. All the children and grandchildren had to give her something that was not a physical gift— a song, a story, a wish of some kind. I remember I sang “The Winding Stream.” We visited A. P.’s grave and sang together on the porch. It was a wonderful weekend. When I was young, I remember going with Dad and June to visit some of her kin in the Valley and eating the best biscuits I’ve ever had.

This year is the 95th Anniversary of the 1927 Bristol Sessions, which many consider to be the most influential country music recordings in history. The themes in those old songs are universally timeless. Given your family ties, it makes sense that the music of the Carter Family would impact your own music, and in the past, you have cited them as an influence. Can you point to a particular Carter song – or songs – that most resonate with you?

Helen Carter spent a lot of time with me, teaching me the Carter Family canon, when I was 18 and 19 years old. It was an invaluable education. I loved “Black Jack David,” “Hello Stranger,” “I Never Will Marry,” “Sinking in the Lonesome Sea,” “Banks of the Ohio,” “Bury Me Beneath the Weeping Willow”— all classic and essential songs— but most of all, I loved “The Winding Stream.” I recorded that, and I also recorded “Bury Me Beneath the Weeping Willow” on my album “The List.” I still perform that song in concert and will be singing it with added poignancy in Bristol!

I once ran across an old video of a Carl Perkins concert from the 1980s.The Stray Cats were his backing band, and there you were – along with Eric Clapton, Dave Edmunds and George Harrison and Ringo Starr. You were the only woman on that stage, and you absolutely rocked “What Kinda Girl.” You have collaborated with so many amazing artists over the course of your career. What is it like to meet your heroes and to be respected as a peer among them?

As a pre-teen and teen Beatles obsessive, absolutely in love with and deeply affected by the Beatles, I couldn’t, in my wildest dreams, imagine being on a show with George Harrison, or becoming friends with Elton John, and singing for him at his birthday party, or so many other instances where I met the heroes of my youth, or a contemporary artist who inspires me. At some point, as a musician, after 40 plus years, you seem to run across everyone who is out there doing the same thing as you, like a person in a multi-national corporation who meets her colleagues in other branches of the company. 😉

You have been a big advocate for change on many issues, including artists’ rights to get paid fairly for the use of their music by tech companies like Spotify and Apple Music. You serve on the board of Content Creators Coalition, an artist-run nonprofit advocacy group for musicians. You have testified before the House Judiciary Committee in defense of artists rights on behalf of the Americana Association, as your dad had done in 1997 in support of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. With so many artists, artists unions, and political leaders pushing to enact reform, do you see change coming any time soon? Does more need to happen?

The Content Creators Coalition dissolved and morphed into the Artist Rights Alliance, on whose board I serve. Change comes, change is slow. I realize I’m working in a garden I may never see bloom, but we do have some small successes piled up lately, and intellectual property rights’ issues seem to have bipartisan support in Congress, which is hopeful.

The pandemic and the political climate in the U.S. for the past several years has forced many of us to re-evaluate our lives and careers. Artists were forced to get creative to keep their audiences engaged and are only just starting to recover from months of not touring. What effect has the pandemic had on you personally and as an artist?

I wrote—both songs and essays— and I enjoyed being at home. I realize I’m very privileged to be able to say that. I thought a lot about what I want to do in the next phase of my life—less touring, more strategic, important events, more writing, more staying put. I got Covid on the road, and it’s become an occupational hazard for touring musicians. It’s not just that, however— it’s that the lifestyle is not sustainable for me. I love the audience so much, and the community and connection, but the other 22 hours of the day are hard!

I follow you on Twitter and you are brilliant at it. You have an amazing sense of humor; your barbs are witty and razor sharp. It takes skill to effectively diss in a concise and timely manner and you nail it. When are you going to take the plunge to Tik Tok? You don’t have an account, but you are definitely in that space – people from all walks of life are dancing and singing to “Seven Year Ache” and “Tennessee Flat Top Box.” It’s a beautiful thing. Search your hashtag and give me your thoughts. I’ll wait…

Oh wow. My daughters send me Tik Toks all the time, and I enjoy them, but… it will be a learning curve for me, and also… how much time does one give to social media before it starts taking back from you…??

Because I rarely get the opportunity to fully embarrass myself in front of my heroes, I’m gonna go ahead and ask the hard-hitting questions nobody but me really cares about:

You’re alone in the house and it is on fire. You can only grab one thing before fleeing. What do you take?
Irreplaceable photos of my kids that aren’t digitized and family scrapbooks. It would be hard to leave behind my guitars and diamond earrings, but….

If you could have one superpower (that you don’t currently possess), what would it be?
Heal the trauma of every child in the world. (Then… play guitar like my husband.)

What is your recurring dream?
Giant waves are coming toward me.

What book are you reading right now?
“One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

What music is in your current rotation?
Wilco, the Avett Brothers, and Annie Lennox

What do you always keep in your purse?
A guitar pick, lipstick, and Pepcid.

What is your least favorite household chore? Favorite?
Emptying the dishwasher is my least favorite. I love sweeping and cleaning out drawers.

What is your favorite movie?
Hmmm… probably “All About Eve.”

Are you a cat person or a dog person?
I have a cat I love, but I like dogs better, generally.

Do you believe in ghosts? Aliens?
The jury is still out. Ghosts…not traditional-type ghosts, but energy that survives, and the resonance of people and places that survive death or destruction. I believe that because energy doesn’t die. Aliens…? It’s a statistical impossibility that we are alone in the universe, but I have no idea what form that takes.

Marvel or D.C. Comics?
Ooh. I don’t know. Not my area.

Toilet paper rolled out or under?
No opinion on that.

What is your spirit animal?
The ocean.

Favorite toy as a kid.
Chatty Cathy doll

You really are a Renaissance woman. You continue to accomplish so much and seem to have a deep well of creative reserves. What’s next for Rosanne Cash?

I’m the lyricist on a new musical called “Norma Rae,” based on the bio of the real woman who became Norma Rae in the film starring Sally Field. We are staging a workshop with full cast in September, and I’m excited. I love working collaboratively like this.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration! I really appreciate this opportunity!
See you in Bristol!

I highly recommend reading Rosanne Cash’s memoir, “Composed,” and “Bodies of Water,” a collection of short fiction stories. Catch her performance on the State Street Stage on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 5:15 p.m. EDT during Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion. The Stage is located right beside the monument to the 1927 Bristol Sessions on the “Tennessee side” of State Street. Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion is scheduled for September 9-11, 2022, on State Street in Historic Downtown Bristol. Visit BristolRhythm.com for lineup and ticket information.