An ode to ‘Our Town,’ and the pain of departure

Ordinarily, I like to kick off our Friday Travelin’ Music segment with something upbeat and rollicking to get things moving into the weekend.

But sometimes, I don’t. Awhile back I ran across this beautifully contemplative piece, written and performed by the great Iris Dement, with EmmyLou providing the backup harmonies, and set it aside for future use. In talented hands, music has as many moods as we do, and can make you nostalgic for things you never even experienced.



– Jay Bookman

278 comments Add your comment

JamVet

September 7th, 2012
3:47 pm

Jay, those West Virginny roots are showin’!

Jay

September 7th, 2012
3:49 pm

I try to hide them using “Touch of Fey” Jamvet, but sometimes it don’t work so good.

josef

September 7th, 2012
3:49 pm

How depressing….where’s Carlos?

josef

September 7th, 2012
3:52 pm

Big Daddy

Some of us wear those roots with pride…try it more often… :-)

Common Freaking Sense isn't very Common

September 7th, 2012
3:55 pm

FrankLeeDarling

September 7th, 2012
3:55 pm

JamVet

September 7th, 2012
3:55 pm

I’m a Lucinda fan.

Here doing an awesome Glen Campbell song…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4JZ3BPQtA0&feature=related

Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)

September 7th, 2012
3:56 pm

Well, I been thinking about how lucky we are to have all the great women that are on this blog. Ever since Sister Dusty left I’ve been more or more grateful for the women here. They’re real smart and those they’re a little uppity they add alot to this blog. So here’s one from old Ernest Tubb for Matti, Midori, DebbieDoAll, Mary Elizabeth, Aquagirl, Granny, moonbat betty, irun, Rockerbabe, Doggone and any other women I might of left out. Just listen in—and don’t pay no attention if the Texas Troubadour is a little off-key sometimes—and imagine you’re in my arms on the dance floor up at Billy Bob’s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9GTKJrLgYc

Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!

September 7th, 2012
3:57 pm

Jay

September 7th, 2012
3:57 pm

Too bad Harry’s life got cut short, Common. He had an interesting career going.

josef

September 7th, 2012
3:58 pm

josef

September 7th, 2012
4:01 pm

Okya, Big Daddy…here’s the Jersey version

one of his best…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77gKSp8WoRg

Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)

September 7th, 2012
4:07 pm

Well, I know I play this one alot, but you can’t talk about a home town without these boys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jg8jf9oTjw

Common Freaking Sense isn't very Common

September 7th, 2012
4:11 pm

Jay

September 7th, 2012
4:11 pm

Well, if we’re gonna mine this vein, you gotta include this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQVC2Ja3GUI&feature=related

Fred ™

September 7th, 2012
4:11 pm

I wonder if Redneck Convert realizes that there actually IS a place called Billy Bob’s? Of course they ain’t no dance floor and no Country music there…..

http://www.billybobssecrets.com/

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
4:11 pm

Love that song and that lady. Who knows the TV show that this song was used to close – forever?

No fair googling it!

josef

September 7th, 2012
4:11 pm

oh, hell, let’s get real weepy with our nostalgia, shall we…Emmy Lou knows how…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4bufWfOnuA

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
4:13 pm

I believe that is the incomparable Jerry Douglas on the dobro.

FrankLeeDarling

September 7th, 2012
4:13 pm

I was still crapping myself when this came out but i love it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOWX2-l788A

Fred ™

September 7th, 2012
4:14 pm

Well I want to “play” Old Friends” by Lacy J. Dalton but I cant’ find a version of it. If someone else can I’d be grateful.

one and only

September 7th, 2012
4:14 pm

where you going?

josef

September 7th, 2012
4:14 pm

Okay, Big Daddy, see your Allentown and raise you an optimistic view…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CVLVaBECuc

Common Freaking Sense isn't very Common

September 7th, 2012
4:18 pm

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
4:21 pm

josef: Me loves that Red Dirt girl.

A pretty voice singing about a little north Georgia town.

http://youtu.be/sZP5U6SW_08

Jay

September 7th, 2012
4:22 pm

Boy, Linda Ronstadt and EmmyLou. In their primes, it would have been a hard choice.

But hey, why choose if you don’t have to!?!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsS12fSKrM0

josef

September 7th, 2012
4:22 pm

and from Texas….

BIG DADDY

Success ain’t always what it’s cracked up to be, is it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dXR5Dk8YNw

Common Freaking Sense isn't very Common

September 7th, 2012
4:24 pm

fred

I can’t find that one but maybe this will do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDFgiKgfirc

Fred ™

September 7th, 2012
4:25 pm

godless heathen: She IS completely awesome. She sings like an angel and she’s not exactly hard on the eyes either. Here’s is another remake she did:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SCOimBo5tg

josef

September 7th, 2012
4:27 pm

well, I know I post it a lot, but Lucinda and my town of heart and soul…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRMRWp4oiq8

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
4:30 pm

NIce 1 Fred. No one does a sad pitiful song better than Ms. Krauss

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
4:34 pm

Well noone answered tonight’s TV Trivia question, so here is the answer. I miss this show.

http://youtu.be/YRlaZ5zBDjA

FrankLeeDarling

September 7th, 2012
4:34 pm

love me some Alison Krauss have you heard this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plFRyYVDw7I

Fred ™

September 7th, 2012
4:34 pm

Common: Lacy J is just pure unapologetic REAL Country. The type of Country music they rarely make anymore and that you sure as hell can’t hear on any Atlanta Station. Here’s a classic along the same lines:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPM7FmLtyPs

Common Freaking Sense isn't very Common

September 7th, 2012
4:40 pm

Fred

She can’t be country. SHE was born in PA. :-)

Sorry Jay couldn’t resist.

josef

September 7th, 2012
4:40 pm

Heathen

One of the ten best shows of all time, imauo….

JamVet

September 7th, 2012
4:44 pm

That Andrew McNight song was really great, Normal.

It’s got that old world(Irish/Scottish)/new world (Appalachia) sound that I just love. With thoughtful, important lyrics, no less! One I don’t recall having heard before. Thanks, brother…

Jay

September 7th, 2012
4:44 pm

Common, there are BIG chunks of Pennsylvania just as country as Alabama or Mississippi.

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

September 7th, 2012
4:45 pm

JamVet

September 7th, 2012
4:46 pm

Common Freaking Sense isn't very Common

September 7th, 2012
4:47 pm

Jya

I know. These are great people up here. BTW, you still working on my Steeler tickets? :-)

Eventually I will work in all 57 states.

:-)

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
4:48 pm

Another number featuring the delightful Ms. DeMent.

http://youtu.be/F5axlwCBXC8

Common Freaking Sense isn't very Common

September 7th, 2012
4:48 pm

Jay sorry , to much back and forth this afternoon.

St Simons - starring Kam Fong as Chin Ho

September 7th, 2012
4:49 pm

trying to tie in the themes of the last few threads – melancholia, and

“hey cons, we’re just not that into you anymore” – signed, Sane ‘Amerka

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swpHN97j8sE

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
4:51 pm

Jay, They eat scrapple all over PA?

Tom Middleton

September 7th, 2012
4:51 pm

Here’s one of my Emmylou favorites, Jay – “Boulder to Bimingham.” It was written about her friend and mentor Gram Parsons, and is actually one of my all time favorites of all the artists I love.

I’ve oftened wondered how many folks from Birmingham know that Emmylou is from here, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44JQce5o4L8

Common Freaking Sense isn't very Common

September 7th, 2012
4:51 pm

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
4:52 pm

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

September 7th, 2012
4:53 pm

T I T P B #?

63

josef

September 7th, 2012
4:54 pm

misery? Now this MOT can do that better than anybody…and how do you tell the success of one of her concerts? By the number of suicides the next day…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9-EMi87–Y

Jay

September 7th, 2012
4:54 pm

Great song, Common, thanks.

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

September 7th, 2012
4:55 pm

JamVet

September 7th, 2012
4:55 pm

JB at 4:11, one of BJ’s best!

JamVet

September 7th, 2012
4:58 pm

There are BIG chunks of Pennsylvania just as country as Alabama or Mississippi.

No kidding.

When I first got to Buffalo I had to go down there on business a few times and I thought I was in Alabama! What a shock!

Common Freaking Sense isn't very Common

September 7th, 2012
4:58 pm

Tom

I remember you said she was from B’ham a few weeks ago. I was always a fan just didn’t realize she was from my hometown till you told me.

Just can’t seem to find out how long she lived there. :-)

Tom Middleton

September 7th, 2012
4:58 pm

Kam

Cheftains!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
4:59 pm

Tip of the hat to one of our own. 2/28/1940 – 9/5/2012

http://youtu.be/AirBbS4R7Z0

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

September 7th, 2012
4:59 pm

Sounds like a couple of cats out on the back fence !

USMC

September 7th, 2012
4:59 pm

I try to hide them using “Touch of Fey” Jamvet, but sometimes it don’t work so good.

“Yeah, you know how JAY and his people cling to their guns and religion; hatred for immigrants…” :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTxXUufI3jA

Fred ™

September 7th, 2012
5:00 pm

Here is a song for all the whiners, all the hippies, all the racists, all the Irish, and all the lovers of good music. oh, and it’s another one of them Yankee chicks or a damn canuck or something:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9lUG4gBjSE

Tom Middleton

September 7th, 2012
5:01 pm

Born here, Common Freaking Sense, but she was an Air Force brat! :)

skydog

September 7th, 2012
5:01 pm

Well, ya`ll left me and Oscar downstairs. We thought we had won our discussions since there were no more star shells.

Fred ™

September 7th, 2012
5:01 pm

Damn I hit enter too soon. LOL I know she was born in Texas. :lol:

josef

September 7th, 2012
5:02 pm

TOM

One of my very favorites of hers…

and nobody can do melancholia with just the right touch of optimism quite like Emmylou…if I had to choose just one from her, it’d probably be this one..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzxqzHueqdg

Common Freaking Sense isn't very Common

September 7th, 2012
5:03 pm

Jam

stop talking bad about Alabama LOL.

At least we ain’t from the hills of WV. OOPS

DID I SAY THAT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN86d0CdgHQ

JamVet

September 7th, 2012
5:04 pm

Frank, that early Airplane was some of the greatest early head music ever made.

And great advice for this forum:

Stay out of the way of the long-tongued liars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfnCSoAIAOE&feature=related

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
5:04 pm

the number of suicides the next day…

LOL. Can I laugh at that?

The Onion reported that Stouffers was going to start printing suicide hotline numbers on their single serving microwave meals.

Common Freaking Sense isn't very Common

September 7th, 2012
5:05 pm

Tom

I was an Army Air Corp brat myself. Ask some here and they will tell you I’m still a brat :-)

Fred ™

September 7th, 2012
5:06 pm

This one is nowhere near on topic but my 10 year old daughter asked me to play it. Id never heard it or of her before, but this is pretty damn good:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWOyfLBYtuU

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

September 7th, 2012
5:07 pm

Tom

Who?????????????????????????? ( :wink: )

I’m too busy oogling these fine lasses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eBkXXSbwlE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dougie MacLean and Kathy Mattea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFCudS3QwGw

JamVet

September 7th, 2012
5:08 pm

Common, it was really bizarre. I was just so unprepared for how “red” it was! The roads sucked, many of the towns were just little chicken villages with busted down businesses and shuttered homes and more than a handful of the people there tended to be drunken, fanatical deer hunters.

Hey. look, I’m from Nowheresville Kansas, so I’m not looking down my nose at anyone! But I just had this altogether different image of Pennsylvania in my mind!

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

September 7th, 2012
5:08 pm

Here’s a similar one from someone we recently lost ……….. Joe South. He wrote a lot of good ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bsR1k453SA&feature=related

“Don’t it make you wanna go home now don’t it make you wanna go home
All God’s children get weary when they roam
Don’t it make you wanna go home don’t it make you wanna go home

Oh the whippoorwill roost on the telephone poles when the Georgia sun goes down
Well it’s been a long time but I’m glad to say that I’m
Goin’ back down to my hometown
Goin’ down to the greyhound station gonna buy some oneway fare
Good Lord’s willin’ and the creeks don’t rise watch it for I’ll be right there
Don’t it make you wanna go home now…

There’s a six lane highway down by the creek where I went skinny dippin’ as a child
And the driving show where the meadow used to grow
And the strawberries used to grow wild
There’s a drugstore down by the riverside where my grandma’s cow used to grace
Now the grass don’t grow and the rivers don’t flow like they did in our childhood days
Don’t it make you wanna go home now…
Don’t it make you wanna go home now…”

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

September 7th, 2012
5:11 pm

Turd In The Punch Bowl came in at 59.

Common Freaking Sense isn't very Common

September 7th, 2012
5:12 pm

jam

Since I am it Pittsburgh many here come intotown to work. But since so many businesses have shut down here it has some parts that are run down.

Great people here and optimistic for the future without being trickled down on.

Great many steelworkers around and their children that have fallen on hard times since the 80’s.

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
5:16 pm

Did someone say, female “real country” singer? Did someone say sad and pitiful song?

Catch EC at Eddie’s Attic on 10/3.

http://youtu.be/vFArKWnFWIg

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
5:17 pm

Turd In The Punch Bowl came in at 59.

Getting later. Maybe that’s a good sign.

Tom Middleton

September 7th, 2012
5:18 pm

Josef

Good one, Josef. And for sheer melody, harmony, and presentation, this was one of my early favorites of hers and remains so to this day.

It’s not meant to be a commentary on anyone we know, Josef, including me. It’s just a good ol’ southern classic that’s more than exceptionally done! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygNvDznExJQ

JamVet

September 7th, 2012
5:18 pm

Alison Krauss did a great (slow) cover of this one, but back in the day, this one really got the kids dancing…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgGqv-H4LxQ

skydog

September 7th, 2012
5:20 pm

Ry Cooder says, “John Lee Hooker for President”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8kSpZhinVE

Tom Middleton

September 7th, 2012
5:20 pm

Kam

The Chieftains, Kam, that you posted with The Corrs. They’ve been at it forever. Maybe I should post them with Earl Scruggs again.

Tom Middleton

September 7th, 2012
5:23 pm

The Chieftains with Earl Scruggs doing “Sally Goodin’.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByYSkRGrMqw

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

September 7th, 2012
5:26 pm

Yes Tom, I am fully aware of The Chieftans.

You ever catch Fiona Ritchie’s Thistle and Shamrock on WABE?

getalife

September 7th, 2012
5:29 pm

josef

September 7th, 2012
5:29 pm

TOM

@ 5:18

That’s another of my “top” Emmylou ones…and this one in the same vein…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjetG31Jh1Y

Tom Middleton

September 7th, 2012
5:29 pm

Oh yeah, Kam. Love her brogue (SP?).

Tom Middleton

September 7th, 2012
5:30 pm

In my next life, I’m going to be backup in Emmylou’s band. She just doesn’t know it yet…lolol!

skydog

September 7th, 2012
5:30 pm

I saw these “Presidents” live one night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB2vMwvqIyk

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
5:32 pm

Here’s the red dirt girl with a “decent” guitar player.

http://youtu.be/ey9kdeOjT3o

Jay

September 7th, 2012
5:37 pm

Common, I went to college with a lot of those steelworker kids. Some of them just blew off the opportunity, partying heavy and thinking in the back of their heads that they would end up back in the steel plant with Dad, making big bucks.

And then everything changed.

skydog

September 7th, 2012
5:40 pm

Here is a “decent” guitar player with a “decent band”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SEULZIHru0

Tom Middleton

September 7th, 2012
5:40 pm

Thanks, Josef. Tried to find one of her doing “Las Vegas,” but there were none good enough to post. Bummer!!!!

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

September 7th, 2012
5:42 pm

josef

September 7th, 2012
5:42 pm

some good melancholia…born in NYC, grew up in Boulder, and moved to Nashville…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRj77qOCPSc

josef

September 7th, 2012
5:49 pm

TOM

Some more Emmylou “theme song music…” Back in the day I was something of a pin ball boy (hey, I had that stance down pat and some, uh, suggestive moves!) Anyway, this was Unmentionable’s for me….

“…I got him past that redhead in Atlanta, L-rd, I walked all over that black-eyed Cajun queen…”

:-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYgsJ9yIb8s

Tom Middleton

September 7th, 2012
5:50 pm

That actually sounds like fun, Josef. I had a friend who left out of here for Boulder (back when you could only get Coors in the West), and as far as I know, he’s still there. :)

Martin the Calvinist

September 7th, 2012
5:55 pm

speaking of pain, this is going to happen to anyone who plays UGA….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMSTIePQri0

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
5:56 pm

skydog: If you haven’t seen this, it’s worth the hour to watch.

http://youtu.be/tGlGBIzN2ls

Tom Middleton

September 7th, 2012
5:57 pm

OK, my all-time favorite Emmylou hands down. Wore the grooves out on this one…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbaz_T6BN3g

godless heathen

September 7th, 2012
6:02 pm

I wonder how the YouTube decides which sample icons to put up after the video plays. After the Sultans of Swing, there was a bunch of stuff about tattoo removal and Brazilian waxes to choose from.

skydog

September 7th, 2012
6:05 pm

Here are some local buds who get up and down the east coast. Delta Moon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G75nEwtMhto