Feb 2022 banjo haunted-banjo clawhammer appalachia
I couldn’t resist the Haunted Banjo challenge at https://fawm.org/forums/topic/12615/ . (Check out the fun songs other folks have posted in that thread.)
I had a spooky mountain tale in mind. (One grandfather was a hillbilly from eastern Tennessee.) But, on the way to writing something silly and fun, something else happened.
Hanging on the wall of my studio, directly behind my computer, is a quilt my great-grandmother made in her South Carolina mill village home nearly 100 years ago. Although I can’t be certain, I believe it is a “mourning quilt,” made from shirts that had belonged to my great-grandfather, who died young. As I was noodling on my banjo, looking for a song, I was staring at that quilt.
This song is dedicated to the memories of Rufus Sullivan and Mynie Robinson Sullivan.
I’ll Return for Thee
©️2022 words & music by Sharon Stepler
Just another mountain gal come down from the hills
To work the spinning room at Herndon’ s cotton mill
Everything she owned she carried in a flour sack
Except the battered banjo she had slung across her back.
She looked thin and haggard in her faded cotton dress
Whether she was young or old was anybody’s guess
She kept mostly to herself, never much to say
After supper every night, she sat down to play
Oh, my darling, do not sorrow
Though we must parted be
Come some bright tomorrow
I’ll return for thee
She’d hold the banjo tenderly, playing sweet and clear
Sometimes down her weathered cheek there flowed a single tear
In a voice so pure and mournful she’d sing all evening long
And just before she said her prayers, she’d sing the same sad song
CH
They found her one cold morning, still in her cotton dress
Slumped across her narrow bed, the banjo at her breast
No more songs of heartache, no more earthly trials
They said it was the only time they’d ever seen her smile
CH 2x
@mandolinda Apr 2022
Oh, i really like your banjo song. I have been trying to play my banjo bluegrass style for many years, but i really like your strumming. Such a story in your lyrics.
@gardeningangel1 Feb 2022
The chorus feels like a song within a song, like listening in on the character's singing. The way the melody shines on the word "bright" is so effective. Haunting song, wonderful story. A banjo, a quilt, and a glimpse into family history.
@darcistrutt Feb 2022
Sad tale. Lovely banjo playing. Smiling in death. The echo vocal in the end did add a spooky feeling of waiting for her return.
@chipwithrow Feb 2022
Brilliant! What a wonderfully poignant tale, and your playing and singing so sweet. Timeless tale with such personal meaning. Wow!
@berni1954 Feb 2022
What a sad, but somehow triumphant tale. Is there another genre other than song that can get you to so quickly empathise with the person in a story? I was really feeling for your protagonist and was filling up with tears at the last verse.
"a voice so pure and mournful" - sums up your vocal here too.
@liz561 Feb 2022
What a sad and beautiful story! I am such a sucker for clawhammer too- great job. Chorus is killer!
@cindyrella Feb 2022
Oh gosh, this is so sad and full of love! I love this story and I bet the quilt is beautiful! Incredible!
@mahtowin Feb 2022
This is so sad! And also beautiful.
And it has a kind of magic for me, too.
Its the magic to feel like sitting in your studio looking at that quillt and watch you sing.
Thank you for let me / us listen to a part of your story.
@tseaver Feb 2022
Oooh, what a sweet take on the HB challenge! I love hearing the frailing here: it suits the old-timey / mountain feel of the lyric perfectly. Wonderful background harmonies on the out-choruses.
And maybe a "traditional ballad" candidate, as well:
https://fawm.org/forums/topic/12223/
@timfatchen Feb 2022
This is just so sad, haunted indeed. It's a jaunty banjo which makes the contrast and emphasis on the sad melody and lyrics even more. (Also being familiar with family history in the 19thC, it must have been harrowing, the early deaths, the hardships, the sheer harshness and sadness of "earthly trials". I don't believe most people now have any understanding or empathy at all for those days or their forebears who lived them. You obviously do.) Applause!
@elainedimasi Feb 2022
The haunted banjo challenge is a brilliant idea in the first place, but what a cool inspiration you found. There's a grandmother gone to work sewing clothes in a factory in my family too, so I really enjoyed this. Love the way the vocal harmony is saved for the very end. It's amazing how much richness there is in seemingly simple folk songs isn't it?