I know next to nothing about bluegrass
But I heard this in the movie Winter’s Bone
In the movie, there’s a live music scene in a house where this song is sung
It’s performed by Marideth Sisco, a contemporary bluegrass performer and her group
The scene seems gratuitous
As if they threw it in there as a somewhat condescending nod to Ozark and Appalachian culture
Like “of course, there’s also this rich musical tradition!”
But the song is amazing
It was written by Ola Belle Reed
Most famous rendition is by Del McCoury
But she wrote it
Her banjo style is “clawhammer”
Picking down instead of up
She was born in Appalachian North Carolina but her family moved to the PA/MD border during the depression
Carried with her the “mountain music” of her native region
Wonder if we’ll start seeing mass migrations in the coming years
I don’t really know the difference between Ozark and Appalachia musically
Apparently the director didn’t see that much of a difference, to put the Appalachian music in a movie all about the Ozarks
I never read the book but loved the movie
And I loved discovering Ola
Ola Belle’s Blues is also dope
This, too:
https://youtu.be/LM4pkAwBPcs
Undone in Sorrow
Winter’s Bone spends a lot of time on the role of women in the Ozark family and social systems
Ola is a very strong female figure
And very strong voice
https://youtu.be/otqn2mXzr7w
This kinda sums it up
