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(clarinet music)
- [Voiceover] The following program
is a production of Pioneer Public Television.
(clarinet music)
Funding for this program has been provided by
the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund
through a vote of the people of Minnesota
on November 4th, 2008.
(fast banjo)
- [Voiceover] Grass Land Jam
recorded during the annual Minnesota Bluegrass
and Old Time Music Festival at El Rancho Manana
near Richmond, Minnesota.
(banjo music)
Grass Land Jam showcases
the main stage performances
presented during the four day festival
by regional and national bands.
Now from the main stage,
Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out.
I was born the son
Of a southern share croppin' man
Born with the reins and the plow
And the calloused hands
I was workin in the fields
With my Dad when I was age two
By ten I could do what my Dad could do
My Daddy was a hard workin' man of the land
His name was John
Little John I am
Well my Mama took sick and died
When I was 13
It was just Dad and the dogs and the crops and me
We'd work six days from sun up to sundown
And on Sunday prayed for the rain to come down
Daddy was a God lovin' Christian man
His name was John
Little John I am
Oh my Daddy taught me how to work hard
And how to live right
Taught me how to promenade the girls
On a Saturday night
He said never hit a man
Til you know that all's been said and done
I never liked to fight
But every fight I won
My Daddy had hands of steel
And the heart of a lamb
Oh his name was John
Little John I am
(fiddle solo)
I was born the son
Of a southern share croppin' man
And like my father before me
I worked the land
And my only born son Jonathan is just turn three
And he's a'weedin' out the cornrows
Kneeling next to me
My Daddy was a hard workin' man of the land
His name was John
Little John I am
(audience applauds)
(fast bluegrass music)
Gonna get out my sycamore
Shine up my shoes
Call my baby and tell her the news
I bet my bundle on a swayback nag
Came home winner with a plenty o'swag
One foot two foot slew foot drag
Swing your honey to the sugar foot rag
Wiggle and a jig and a zig and a zag
And listen to us play the sugar foot rag
Got a big jug o'cider and a bottle of wine
One's for my honey and the other is mine
Sip on the cider and sip on the wine
They both sip together and a have a good time
One foot, two foot slew foot drag
Swing your honey to the sugar foot rag
Wiggle and a jig and a zig and a zag
And listen to us play the sugar foot rag
Gonna spend all my money and a git on a jag
Swing my honey to the sugar foot rag
Walk right up and stomp on the floor
And swing up the middle with a shoofly four
One foot two foot slew foot drag
Swing your honey to the sugar foot rag
Wiggle and a jig and a zig and a zag
And listen to us play the sugar foot rag
(fast fiddle and mandolin)
(audience applauds)
- Well, good evening Minnesota,
how we doin' tonight?
(audience applauds)
(cheering)
Well you sound wonderful and uh,
if I could see ya, I'd probably tell you
you look wonderful, too.
But I saw you out before the sun went down
and everybody looks great.
Even everybody up there in the--
In the uh, what would you call that?
The uh, the woods?
(laughing)
OK. (laughing)
That works for me.
Well, we're so proud to be here with you.
We've been looking forward to comin' over here
and playing and singing
a few songs for you here tonight.
We don't get in this area very often,
so it's a treat for us as well when we do.
So we wanna thank you all
for spending some time with us here this evening.
We're really looking forward
to doing the songs that we have picked out for you.
- We'll try for you guys now.
It's called Spindell.
Y'all ready?
One, two, one, two, three.
(fast bluegrass)
(mandolin solo)
(audience cheering)
- Wayne Benson on the mandolin, folks!
- [Voiceover] Up next,
Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers.
There's a girl in the mountains
That I call my mountain honey
I love her like the flowers love the dew
All the fellers try to tame her
But some day I'm gonna claim her
'Cause my wild mountain honey loves me too
She's my wild mountain honey
And I love her yes I do
She's as sweet as any honey in the comb
She's as pretty as the flowers
That are blooming in the mountain
And I'm gonna marry her and bring her home
(fiddle solo)
Well I met her in the Smokey Mountains
Down in Tennesse
Where the mountain laurel
Was a'blooming in the spring
Everything was bright and sunny
And I'm saving up my money
For my wild mountain honey's wedding ring
She's my wild mountain honey
And I love her yes I do
She's as sweet as any honey in the comb
She's as pretty as the flowers
That are blooming in the mountain
And I'm gonna marry her and bring her home
- Oh pick it, honey!
She's my wild mountain honey
And I love her yes I do
She's as sweet as any honey in the comb
She's as pretty as the flowers
That are blooming in the mountain
And I'm gonna marry her and bring her home
(audience applauds)
Appreciate that very much!
That's been a hit
for bluegrass traditionalists this year
and what a thrill to be partnered with Junior Sisk.
Junior is the male volcalist of the year
for the international bluegrass music association.
Pardon me.
Junior, you think we're hillbillies.
(laughing)
Junior's a Blue Ridge Mounatin boy
that sings with all heart and soul
and it's been fun to be partnered on a CD
called Hall of Fame Bluegrass.
We went to work for Rebel Records last year
and came up with a 13 song album that pays tribute
to almost all the members of Bluegrass Hall of Fame
in some way or another
when you connect all the dots.
We have that CD with us.
Wild Mountain Honey is the tune
that folks have enjoyed off that album.
Me and Dwayne doin' the singin' for you right there.
This song in the album pays tribute
to the Osborne Brothers and Red Allen.
And they've been long time
Bluegrass Hall of Fame members
and when I mentioned Southwestern Ohio,
the closest big town to where I live
is Dayton, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati
about 50 miles.
Our area's really rich in bluegrass history
and when I mentioned the Osborne Brothers,
that little Wild Mountain Honey tune
was in their early days back in the mid 50's.
Hardcore honkytonk bluegrass,
industrial strength from downtown Dayton.
The Osborne Brothers started their career
when Bobby first sang Ruby on the radio
at a station just south of Dayton in Middletown, Ohio.
My dad became an announcer on that same station
about 15 years later
and I started there over 30 years ago.
So from the neighborhood
where the Osborne Brothers started,
that's where I grew up.
And so many other great bluegrass bands
are from our part of the country.
Like Larry Sparks and the Dry Branch Fire Squad
and Jim McCall and uh, NewFound Road recently.
We're from a great neighborhood.
We're gonna stay with a little bit
of bluegrass history here and sing you a medley
of some of those Osborne brothers songs
that I grew up hearing on the radio.
They forged a new harmony style
in the 50's and 60's
that put 'em on the Grand Ole Opry stage
50 years ago this week.
So very appropriate timing and paying tribute
to the Osborne Brothers.
Now if you're new to bluegrass,
I want you to act like that you recognize
every one of these and go hog wild.
It's a medley, when we go from one song to the next,
you shake the leaves off the trees
and we'll do our best to sing this
in tribute to Bluegrass Hall of Famers
the Osborne Brothers.
We'll start with this one right here.
(slow banjo)
Windy city
You're holding my baby
With your bright lights
And your avenues so wide
Windy city
Turn loose of my baby
If you don't give her back
I'll lose my mind
(banjo solo)
You say tomorrow you're goin'
It's so hard for me to believe
I'm making plans to be lonesome
'Cause you're makin' plans to leave
I'm makin' plans for the teardrops
'Cause you're makin' plans to leave
(up-tempo bluegrass)
Come all ye fair and tender ladies
Take warning how you court young men
They're like a star
On a summer morning
They first appear
And then they're gone
Kentucky
You are the dearest land outside of Heaven
To me
Kentucky
Your laurel and your redbud trees
When I die
I want to rest upon some peaceful mountain
So high
For there is
Where God will look for me
(cheering)
(fast bluegrass)
Well the foreman liked to push me around
He can't get my spirits down
I'm out of work and every day
I've got a lot of bills to pay
Got the blue collar blues
Empty pockets steel-toed shoes
It's too late to change me
And I'm too tired to try
Be a blue collar worker til the day I die
Well the money slips right through my hands
At night I pray to see the Promised Land
Tell my babies to go to school
So they don't have to do the things I do
Got the blue collar blues
Empty pockets steel-toed shoes
It's too late to change me
And I'm too tired to try
Be a blue collar worker til the day I die
(upbeat bluegrass)
It got a gold watch paid for me
And soon the man will set me free
I'm workin' til my body's gone
I guess I'll go and sit at home
With the blue collar blues
Empty pockets steel-toed shoes
It's too late to change me
And I'm too tired to try
Be a blue collar worker til the day I die
Be a blue collar worker til the day I die
Be a blue collar worker til the day I die
Be a blue collar worker til the day I die
(audience applauds)
- That's a little working man's song.
Hopefully you're not gonna have to
rush outta here tomorrow
'cause you gotta punch that time clock
first thing on Monday mornin'.
If you do, bless your heart.
Maybe you did that for 40 years
and now you're livin' the dream.
Great big RV, little bitty dog.
(laughing)
We wanna be just like you when we grow up.
We probably play 30 or 40 bluegrass festivals
every summer and those are the happiest people
in the world.
Great big RV, little bitty dog.
Everybody's...
That makes them all happy, right there.
That'll be on a new album.
We'll have next month.
The Blue Collar Blues.
Well, let's get into that Hall of Fame CD again.
Hall of Fame Bluegrass from me and Junior Sisk.
We do several of those tunes from that.
And here's a good story song.
With this, we want to acknowledge all the veterans
that are here in the concert area
and on the grounds for the weekend.
If you have served honorably in any branch
of the armed forces,
yeah, let's hear it for 'em.
(audience applauds)
We thank you for your service
and your families for their sacrifice.
This is a wartime story song,
I think originally from the World War I era.
Fortunately or unfortunately,
this song is still relevant
and it's one of the story songs
in that Hall of Fame CD that I get to do the singin' on.
Mike Terry helps out on this.
This is called, I'll Be There, Mary Dear.
Goodbye Mary I must go
Said a lad now don't grieve so
For it's duty that calls me
Far across the sea
Take this autumn leaf of gold
Said the maid we'll never grow old
Always wear it near your heart
And think of me
Meet me yonder down the lane
When I come back home again
'Neath the tree where this autumn leaf
Once grew
Kiss me Mary then we'll part
Said the lad with a broken heart
When the leaves begin to fall
I'll be with you
I'll be there Mary dear
I'll be there
When the fragrance of the roses
Fills the air
'Neath that oak tree grand and tall
When the leaves begin to fall
I'll be there, yes, I'll be there
Sweet Mary dear
See the lad with empty sleeve
And his comrades taking leave
They're now home again
The transport has come back
If she loved you then I know
She won't love you less I know
And one arm will do to hold her to you, Jack
It was autumn time again
As he wandered down the lane
There beneath that old oak tree
He found a grave
And there he knelt in silent prayer
For the one he loved slept there
And the tears fell on the golden leaves she gave
I'll be there Mary dear
I'll be there
When the fragrance of the roses
Fills the air
'Neath that oak tree grand and tall
When the leaves
- [Voiceover] Thank you for watching
Grass Land Jam.
Join us next time for more bluegrass
and old time music.
- [Voiceover] Funding for this program
has been provided by
the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund
through a vote of the people of Minnesota
on November 4th, 2008.
I'll be there, yes I'll be there