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| Folklife Festival 2003 > Appalachia> Performers > Occupational Songs |
| occupational songs | |||
| [sign 2] | |||
| SONGS AS SOCIAL COMMENTARY | |||
| From
the earliest days of settlement to now, Appalachian people have created
music that has evoked everyday life in the region. Today, traditional
as well as popular songs and tunes from Appalachia depict such old-time
trades as hunting, foraging, farming, herding, blacksmithing, and
moonshining and such modern occupations as railroading, coal mining,
timbering, and truck-driving.
Song has been used in the region to accompany work itself, but equally important is its use as social commentary. Workers, especially those in the "coal fields," used songs as a rallying cry and response to the frequently inhuman conditions they were forced to endure. These songs were created by local writers such as the Garland family in Kentucky or taken from Union songbooks. Union struggles in mine country were accompanied by such songs as "Which Side Are You On?" and "I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister." |
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Coming to the festival... |
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The Buckingham Lining Bar Gang |
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| —Railroad work crews
wrote songs to help them get through their day-to-day work. Rhythmic
work chants were used to help time out the laying and lining up of
railroad track before the process was taken over by machines. The
Buckingham Lining Bar Gang is made up of retired railroad workers
from Buckingham County, Virginia, who demonstrate this process. www.arts.state.va.us/Tour2004/buckingham.htm |
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| Elaine Purkey, Ranger, West Virginia, guitar | |||
| —Elaine Purkey began to write songs while involved in the Pittston Coal Strike in 1989-90. She began to perform at festivals in the 1990s and impressed all those who heard her, including the great labor songwriter Hazel Dickens. | |||
| Carl Rutherford, Warriormine, West Virginia, guitar | |||
| —Carl Rutherford worked
the mines as a youth until bad health forced him to find another line
of work. He is a composer of strong mining songs including "Tops
Off Our Pretty Mountains." Rutherford is also a fine guitar player
in the style of country music pioneers Dick Justice and Frank Hutchison. www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/rutherfd.htm |
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