Appalachian music is famous for its high, lonesome sound, eerie harmonies and themes of doomed love, faith and longing for the wild beauty of a region extending from Southern New York down into Georgia and Mississippi.
When it came to planning a concert that featured traditional and new Appalachian sounds, MUSE, Cincinnati’s Women’s Choir, turned to the legendary Ma Crow and the Lady Slippers, one of the few all-women Bluegrass bands in the region — or anywhere else. Each member brings outsize talent and years of experience: Ma Crow on guitar and lead vocals, Trina Emig on banjo and mandolin, Margie Drees on fiddle and vocals and Vicki Abbott on upright bass and vocals.
Valleys Rivers Mountains: Our Life’s Journey is the concert title — one that has special resonance for Crow, who last performed with MUSE in 2002.
“I was born here, but every summer my parents sent me to my aunt’s home in Norma Mountain, Tenn.,” she says. Although a beautiful place, Crow remembers the mountain already scarred by years of strip mining.
“In the ’70s, they came back with more powerful machinery to finish the job,” she says, sadly. “I went away for three months, and when I came back, I couldn’t believe the changes.” Norma Mountain became one of more than 500 victims of mountain-top removal.
In a 2011 interview, Crow told CityBeat’s Brian Baker, “I just want to sing about foggy mountain tops.” Two years later, singer, songwriter and activist Mark Utley asked Crow to contribute an original song for a benefit to stop mountain-top-removal coal mining (later recorded as Music for the Mountains).
Crow turned to her fiddler Drees, who says, “I didn’t know much about it, but I got books and documentaries from the library and I jotted down phrases as I was researching.”
The result was “Memory of a Mountain,” performed at the benefit, and the title track for Ma Crow and the Lady Slippers’ second CD. The song laments the lost beauty that “will take 10,000 years to heal the scars.”
When asked how audiences respond, Drees says that it depends on the location. “Lots of people are moved, but others don’t want to hear about it,” she says.
“We were warned not to sing it in Pineville, Kentucky,” Emig recalls. “And we were yelled at somewhere else.”
“At least they were listening,” Crow adds, laughing.
MUSE Artistic Director Rhonda Juliano heard the recording and contacted Crow. “The song is a perfect fit for our concert,” Juliano says. “I asked if we could have it arranged and they happily agreed.”
Crow, Drees and Emig first heard the arrangement by Steve Milloy at a MUSE rehearsal three weeks ago. “Too fast,” Crow says. “They had to put the sorrow back into it. But the second time around, it was like, wow, these women are professionals!”
“Steve Milloy did a fabulous arrangement,”
Drees says, with murmurs of agreement
from the band members. “He’s almost a co-writer at this point.”
Crow and her band will perform three songs from their latest CD, including two originals by Drees, and will accompany MUSE for sing-alongs.
Playing with MUSE in 2002 was life changing for both Crow and Emig; they were joined by Bluegrass icon Katie Laur and other female musicians. “I never felt so good about playing anywhere in my life,” Crow says. “It lifted you up.”
Four years and two CDs later, the band
maintains a busy schedule. But the MUSE concert is the gig they’re most excited about.
“I’d never heard MUSE before and I was so impressed,” Drees says. “I’m so honored they’re doing ‘Memory of a Mountain.’ ”
“Having the opportunity to be part of this is wonderful,” Crow says. “We appreciate so much that MUSE is featuring us.”
With a sly grin, she adds, “It’s about time.”
MA CROW AND THE LADY SLIPPERS perform with MUSE Saturday at Northern Kentucky University’s Greaves Hall and Sunday at St. Anthony Parish in Madisonville. Tickets: musechoir.org.
This article appears in Nov 11-17, 2015.
