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THE OLD ROAD

Janice and I have a long standing love of local Civil War history and have spent several decades researching the exact march route that Gen. Sherman’s several corps took through our area on the “March to The Sea.” One of his corp commander’s headquarters was just across from our property.

Most of the folklore and even many of the historical markers are simply wrong regarding the routes. I’m fond of saying that if Sherman had actually camped on every site that family stories indicate then he would still be on his way to the coast! What we have found from reading march diaries, daily journals and hours of walking through woods with metal detectors is that frequently the roads used on the march are no longer in use and, often, are unknown -- even to locals. Many, many times we have discovered that the actual road is as much as a mile from its modern counterpart and will have very mature timber growing in the bed. Most of these routes were abandoned when motorized traffic began as they were too deeply worn and eroded to sustain.

We wrote this tune to reflect on the years we spent on these searches and to attempt to express the feelings that one gets when walking these forgotten roads and reflecting on the families that lived out their lives along the way. FWIW, I certainly do not romanticize the Civil War and am grateful that a man of President Lincoln’s convictions and determination was at the right place at the right time in history to reunite all Americans. I think the song and video “Dear Mama” that we did a while back best expresses our feelings about the tragedy of the Civil War and the 650,000 lost lives.

Thanks for listening and pardon the historical ramble!

Realtracks:
Guitar # 376 Country
Bass # 538 Pop
Banjo (half time): composite of several # 591 Bluegrass tracks
Fiddle (half time): composite of several # 596 Bluegrass tracks
Mandolin: # 616 Country
Vocals: Rodes NT1 interfaced with iMac via Blue Icicle
Mixing and effects: GarageBand


The Old Road

There was an old deep cut road
that wound around Prospect Mountain
Long since abandoned and forgotten,
the bed lay covered up with jasmine

Chorus:
But that old road saw it all
from settlers’ hopes to Sherman’s horrors
And for years when the wind blew
you might hear the jangle of the spurs

Battles left only chimneys to
mark the sites of old homes
Iron fences stand all around family graves
and white iris’ bloom beneath the headstones

Chorus

Now the road is filled with trash
from all of the houses nearby
And one more memory fades away
from a time thought to never die

Chorus

Just wonderful! You guy's are great! I really love Janice's voice! I think I say that every time.

Greg

You guys are at the top of my list . . . well done!

later,

Another good one guys. Thanks for keeping this important period alive. I do prefer it to "Marching Through Georgia".


Regards,


Bob

Your song writing skills are impressive. The vocal is exceptional as well as the backing track. Thanks for sharing!

We have the same situation in the UK. I am interested in the old WW2 airfields in the UK and so very often find that they have literally been wiped off the face of the earth, as if we are now embarrassed by the Heroes (RAF and USAF) who flew from them.
I can hear the same sentiment here - an interesting song about your old History and the way in which we abandon it to Nature and the "modern" times.
Excellent.
cheers
ian

"I remember the RAF # 74 Squadron and those Mark IIa Spitfires they flew in the Battle Of Britain."

Indeed. They flew Mk1s out of RAF Coltishall (now sold to the local Norfolk Council for just £4million to turn into "Business Units" and "Housing" !!!) until Sept 1940 when they got their Mk2s. Shortly after this they moved to RAF Biggin Hill. We owe these guys and all the other Battle of Britain pilots and ground crew a long term debt of gratitude.

cheers
ian

Hi Janice and Bud,

great voice and good mix as always.

Guenter

As always, very good work! I love bluegrass, and you guys always do real quality music. Janice, great job on the vocals (as I have come to expect).

Thanks for sharing this.

Steve

Great sound guys.

I especially liked the pretty melody which was interesting and moved the lyric story along quite nicely.

Bud and Janice,

When a song is written from the heart.. it shows - as is the case here. There is such an "originality" to this. It speaks to the listener.

And one more memory fades away
from a time thought to never die

What a great line!

The production and mix are impeccable - like it always is. Everything in just the right place at just the right time. So it never gets in the way of the song.

Janice's vocals are gorgeous - as always. The harmonies are especially wonderful. Such a joy to hear!

Great job.

floyd

Thanks everybody for the kind remarks!! I struggle writing lyrics but can more readily squeeze some out when they are grounded in personal experiences. I probably mentioned it before but bluegrass master and originator, Bill Monroe, refers to them as "True Life" songs.

Very nice tune. Excellent marriage of music and words.

You might consider dropping the banjo out of the 1st half of the last verse. It'd be an easy way to draw attention to the lyric and add spice to the arrangement.

I really like this.

Peace,

Ian

Hi Bud and Janice,

It always perks me up to listen to your songs. I saw this one when it first popped up in the forum but circumstances at the time didn't allow me to have a listen, so I saved it up for when could just put my feet up, close my eyes and enjoy the experience

... and I REALLY enjoyed it!

Bud: when I read that you struggled with lyrics, I had to flick my eyes back to make sure I'd read right. These lyrics are excellent. In fact, I suspect a number of forum members who have just finished the Pat Pattison course would look at these lyrics and see how they exemplify creating emotion through use of Pat's "stable versus unstable" principle. For example, the consonance rhyme of verse 1 (i.e. the final "n" on the weak syllable of 'Mountain', 'forgotten', 'jasmine') is very "unstable" and it establishes excellent lyric emotion that colours everything else that follows. You set the tone of the song incredibly well with verse 1. Whatever you might think, there's no denying that you have a great ear for lyrics.

Janice: once again the clarity and tone of your voice works its magic. I never ever tire of hearing your sing.

Ok, I'm ready for the next one now!
Noel

hi guys great production as always love your stuff plus +10 thanks for sharing eric great vocal janice i think i have said that many times myself!!!!!