Shady Grove for The Modern Woman (2016)

Musical Composition

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An updated version of a classic American old-time song. Lyrics passed down through oral transmission are put into conversation with the author’s current experience of romance in the 21st century. How can traditional music transmit and tell stories in the present context? Shady Grove for the Modern Woman attempts to inhabit the space between a traditional claw-hammer banjo old-time sound, and questions about millennial dating rituals, reverence for the broken-down, and a return to folkways following the economic recession.

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Selected lyrics:

Shady grove my little love,

Shady grove my darlin’

Shady grove my little love,

I’m goin’ back to Harlan

Best he be a married man,

Best he be a rover

Best he be a felon lord

with a chip on his shoulder

I believe in pretty little things,

I believe in stories

and your kind of derelict

kind of makes me horny