Thursday, October 17, 2013

30 Songs in 30 Days, Day 5 - A song that reminds you of someone

McHargue's Mill - London, KY
(That's Chelsea waving from inside the cabin)

Man, this 30 Day Song Challenge has quickly grown into a Commitment, and I hate Commitments!

At first it's all fun and games, your favorite this, happy that, but all of a sudden we're down to the nitty gritty, and I want, no I NEED a month or two to procrastinate about this!

So I guess it's not that I don't like Commitments...I just like to think about things in my own time.

Dwayne and I HAVE been together for more than 17 years, right?! Just, you know, not married, yet. :)

I have been committed to this blog since 2004, right?! With a whole 356 posts to show for it, LOLOLOL!!!!

Sorry, just venting. I always keep my Commitments when I am dumb enough to make them.

When my grandparents first got married, my grandpa had a huge painting commissioned of my grandmother sitting on the wall above the Little Laurel River at McHargue's Mill (pictured above) in Levi Jackson State Park in London, KY. 

My grandpa understood my grandma and her love for Laurel County. He was truly my grandma's soul mate. They were each other's best friend, and they went everywhere together.

So, Moma and Popa came back one day from...somewhere, some bluegrass festival, or maybe Renfro Valley, talking about a new duo they'd heard of called Dailey and Vincent, and a song they sang called By The Mark.

They made us sit in the family room while they played it for us, over and over.

Every time we visited, they played it for us.

My grandparents had sort of figured out CDs, but they didn't know about copying them. They bought at least five copies of the same CD...one for the truck, one for the van, one for the living room, one for upstairs, one for downstairs...

Jamie Dailey & Darrin Vincent, of course, became a big huge name in bluegrass circles, and my grandparents went to every show they could. The last show they went to, Moma was pretty sick from the chemo, and Jamie & Darrin, who by now recognized Moma and Popa the Super-Fans, were so sweet to her...our whole family is eternally in their debt.

By The Mark, 
written by Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, 
performed by Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent


17 comments:

  1. As I recall, the film of novel,"The Commitments", by Roddy Doyle has a whole bunch or wonderful, lively songs in it. Personally partial to "Mustang Sally".

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    1. I wondered if that was a movie! I'll have to look it up, thank you!!

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    2. me too! It was so soulful...didn't it make you want to get up and shake your tail feathers?

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  2. I have never heard of this song BUT I am only 20 minutes north of London (I live in Berea) so I must visit McHargue's Mill sometime.

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    1. You should! It's a working mill so if you come during certain hours you can see the miller at work...

      Berea is a beautiful town! We usually stop there on our way back from London, we all love it there.

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  3. I liked how you turned that song challenge post into a Michelle post. :-)

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    1. Thanks Susie! I didn't know if anyone would notice that, lol!

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  4. First time I've heard this one, not bad. lol a commitment aphobe geez

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    1. Hi Pat! Hey, I'm not phobic! It's just these commitment-things go down a lot easier when you don't realize they're happening! LOL

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  5. I'm enjoying doing 30 SONGS IN 30 DAYS. It's made me put my thinking cap on.

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    1. That's awesome! I just figured out how to find your blog (I'm slow like that), so I'm headed over there now! :)

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  6. What a fantastic post, Mitch. So many strands that you artfully pulled together in a totally conversational way. I love it.

    It is incredibly endearing that Moma and Popa have 5 CDs for the assorted places in which they listen to 'By the Mark.'

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    1. Thank you so much, Suze!

      I know, when we found out about the CDs it was the most adorable thing! LOL

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  7. Replies
    1. Oh, me too. I rebelled against at first, because I was brought up and schooled in it...but I finally accepted that I really did love it. :)

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  8. So you're a songwriter. That's interesting. My wife Jilda and I are singer songwriters.
    We just played the Johnson City Folk Festival in Johnson City Tennessee.
    How can I hear some of your songs?

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  9. Oh no, I just love the music! My favorite music is folk and singer/songwriter type music... I'm not creative enough to write songs! I play guitar, piano and violin, but never my own stuff! That is awesome that you all play out, I would love to hear your music!

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