Release Date: September 6, 2005
On Blues and Lamentations, Kate mines the veins of country, folk, gospel, and pop with the blues as the ever-present understory.
Guest vocalists on the album include Guy Clark, Verlon Thompson, Maura O’Connell, and Mac McAnally. The CD cover art is by Michelle Mackey.
“She is an important American voice, and a true one.”
– Jeremy Searle, Americana UK
From the Blues and Lamentations CD liner notes.
Quotes
“The mind is a blue guitar on which we improvise the song of the world.”
–Annie Dillard
“Pianos living three lifetimes in one, blues made and used right on the spot, dancing, fighting, singing, crying, laughing, winning and losing love every hour. Work all day for money, fight all night for love.”
–Zora Neale Hurston
“I believe it was June before I needed blue.”
–Georgia O’Keeffe
“Come again blue queen and wish love but live on an island.”
–Remy Davis
Notes about the CD Cover and Poster Art
A storm blew the Ezekiel Airship off the train; it never flew again, and very few people know Burrrell Cannon’s story. My paintings aren’t meant to illustrate that story, or any story, really. My paintings are direct: wood, road, structure, the circle…evidence of a life lived. I want traces of past attempts: where you have been as a person and where we have been as a people. The blues can be a state of mind, both abstract and specific. Thoughts interconnect, history cycles, and a soul journeys in the abstraction of the blues.
–Michelle Mackey, artist
Title of CD cover painting: Nightflying
Title of poster painting: Flying Road
Notes about the Album
When I was a little girl I loved to hear my mother sing and play “The St. Louis Blues” on the piano in our living room. So in many ways it feels like the blues have always been with me. On this recording I continue to mine the veins of country, folk, gospel, and pop with the blues as the ever-present understory.
I first heard “Mining Camp Blues” from an album by Hazel & Alice that I bought in 1985 at a used record store (Village Music) in Mill Valley, California. I played that song over and over and one of the reasons I liked it so much was because Ira’s great grandfather was a coal miner in Birmingham. Later, I met Alice at a songwriting camp and she told me that the song was from an old 78 record by Trixie Smith.
Guy Clark played “Pans of Biscuits” for me about ten years ago and I’ve been waiting for the right opportunity to record it. A deejay in Louisville, Kentucky told me about Jessie Mae Hemphill and her very unique style of Mississippi Blues.
I would like to say a special word of thanks to Dan McGregor who introduced me to Rev. Cannon’s Ezekiel Airship, which unbeknownst to him fell right in with the songs and ideas I was working on for this record. Thanks also to the incredible musicians who helped to lay down these blues. My deepest and sincere thanks to Michelle Mackey, Guy Clark, Verlon Thompson, Maurel O’Connell, Mac McAnally, Kevin Gordon, Mark Narmore, Heather Davis, Mary McCleary, Deborah Lynn, Aimee Roberts-Mazurek, Steve Wilkison, Kissy Black, Leslie Rouffe, John and Dorothy Graveling, Joe Mackey, Tamara Tillman, Todd Heifner, and especially Walt who for many years has been a part of my journey in these miles of blues, and of course, always Ira.
Peace come stealing,
–Kate
Album Credits
Produced by Walt Aldridge
Engineered by David Hall
Assistant Engineer: Adam Dye
Recorded at Emerald Studios in Nashville, Tennessee
Additional Recording at Switch Studio in Nashville, Tennessee
Mastered by Hank Williams at MasterMix in Nashville, Tennessee
Photography by Tony Baker
Kate Campbell: Vocals, Tambourine
Walt Aldridge: Guitars, Bouzouki, Harmony Vocals
Carl Jones: Mandolin, Banjo, Acoustic Guitar
Dave Jacques: Upright Bass
Jim Hoke: Clarinet, Accordion, Autoharp, Harmonica
Larry Franklin: Fiddle
Randy Kohrs: Dobro
Doug Stokes: Percussion
Neil Rosengarden: Trumpet
Bill Huber: Trombone
Ron de la Vega: Cello
Mark Narmore: Piano
Maura O’Connell: Harmony Vocals (Appears courtesy of Sugar Hill Records)
Guy Clark: Harmony Vocals
Verlon Thompson: Harmony Vocals
Mac McAnally: Harmony Vocals
Cindy Walker: Harmony Vocals
Graphic Design by Aimee Roberts-Mazurek/Luna
1. miles of blues
i’ve been down a lot of roads
seems like everywhere i go
there’s blues
miles and miles of blues
the delta ain’t the only place
you might find sorrow on some face
there’s blues
miles and miles of blues
chicago to st. louis
down to new orleans
trouble has no trouble
finding everywhere between
might be in the country
might be in the town
might be cause the news just came
the factory’s shutting down
up in west virginia
in the cold coalmines
they got blues
miles and miles of blues
from buffalo to baltimore
talk about hard times
they got blues
miles and miles of blues
ain’t just kansas city
or memphis, tennessee
take the time to look around
i guarantee you’ll see
the blues are in miami
the blues are in st. paul
dirt roads to the l.a. freeway
the blues they find us all
the good news is there’s music
to ease your worried mind
when you got blues
miles and miles of blues
and there’s nothing like a guitar
crying in the night
when you got blues
miles and miles of blues
everywhere there’s blues
miles and miles of blues
kate campbell / walt aldridge
© 2004 large river music (bmi)
cross key publishing co. inc./waltz time music inc. (ascap)
2. pans of biscuits
i saw an honest farmer
his back was bending low
picking out his cotton
as hard as he could go
he piled it in the rail pen
until the merchant came
that he might attach his cotton
that he should pay his claim
it’s pans of biscuits
bowls of gravy
pans of biscuits
we shall have
i saw him in the evening
his back was against a tree
his poor ole head was aching
he rolled up on his knee
i’ll be compelled to go home
or surely i will die
my head has commenced aching
i heard the farmer cry
it’s pans of biscuits
bowls of gravy
pans of biscuits
we shall have
i’ve toiled all my lifetime
and still i find i’m poor
without an education
my children’s left my door
traditional
arranged by kate campbell
© 2005 large river music (bmi)
3. genesis blues
they say god walked in the garden
between the tigris and Euphrates
they say god walked in the garden
between the tigris and euphrates
but we all know that eden
is down in the delta south of memphis
eve and adam ate the apple
stood there naked in the sun
eve and adam ate the apple
stood there naked in the sun
but when god came looking for them
oh they knew what they had done
jesus is lord of picayune
and mississippi welcomes you
jesus is lord of picayune
and mississippi welcomes you
just remember when you’re passing thru
everything started with the blues
there’s a place that they call witchdance
where not one blade of grass will grow
there’s a place that they call witchdance
where not one blade of grass will grow
something awful bad went down there
or so the story goes
you can read all about it
on a sign by the side of the road
you can read all about it
on a sign by the side of the road
but sometimes the way things happened
ain’t the way the story’s told
jesus is lord of picayune
and mississippi welcomes you
jesus is lord of picayune
and mississippi welcomes you
just remember when you’re passing thru
everything started with the blues
he broke his nehi bottle
and laid it cross the strings
he broke his nehi bottle
and laid it cross the strings
then he took that sears & roebuck silvertone
and really made that guitar sing
that’s all right mama
any way you do
that’s all right now mama
any ole way you do
we all feel it too
cause everything started with the blues
kate campbell / mark narmore
© 2002 large river music (bmi)
march family music/caketaker music/sony atv tree music (bmi)
4. freedom train
moses stood on the mountain
looked over to the promised land
took his people through the valley
said i hope you understand
i may not get there with you
keep on marching just the same
there ain’t no turning back
it’s a one-way track
when you jump that freedom train
they were running through the darkness
they were bleeding from the briars
drowning out those howling dogs
they heard miss tubman’s cry
now i’m not worried about anything
i’m not fearing any man
i have stood on the mountain
i have seen the promised land
kate campbell / kevin gordon
© 2003 large river music (bmi)
little rain music, administered by bug music (bmi)
5. new blues
same ole rain
on my roof tonight
same ole feeling
something just ain’t right
lord you know i could use
some new blues
same ole troubles
at my door
same ole misery
coming back for more
right about now i could use
some new blues
same ole heartache
since the day i was born
same ole notes
from the same ole horn
same ole tune
rolling round my head
will i have to hear it
til the day i’m dead
same ole dog
in the same ole pen
round bout midnight
he’ll be howling again
lord i bet he could use
some new blues
lord sometimes
i feel like ole job
with all this suffering
down here below
and i don’t know
if it’s fate or it’s chance
but it just gets
so hard to understand (why the)
same ole mockingbird
is in the same ole tree
same ole song
he keeps on singing to me
don’t he know i could use
some new blues
kate campbell / walt aldridge
© 2005 large river music (bmi)
cross key publishing co. inc./waltz time music inc. (ascap)
6. free world
i’m going out into the free world and farm
i’m gonna paint me a big red barn
don’t wanna do nobody else no harm
i’m going out
i’m going out into the free world and farm
buy me a mule won’t need no car
don’t wanna grow nobody else’s corn
i’m going out into the free world
i’ll put my hand to the plow
won’t let them keep me down
i’m going out
i’m going out into the free world and farm
have me some chickens in my front yard
don’t wanna fight nobody else’s war
i’m going out
i’m going out into the free world and farm
i’m gonna spin me some very fine yarns
don’t wanna be where i can’t see the stars
i’m going out into the free world
i’ll put my hand to the plow
hold my head up proud
i’m going out
kate campbell
© 2004 large river music (bmi)
7. wheels within wheels
east texas town
1902
that’s when the witnesses
said that it flew
up to the sky
like a chariot
headed for home
it all started back
a few years before
a vision came knocking
at burrell cannon’s door
writing his sermon down
reading the word
all alone
suddenly
all of the mysteries
made sense
god let him in
on his master blueprints
there was no doubt
in his mind
what he had to do
ezekiel saw wheels within wheels
and burrell seen them too
he went to work
building his dream
raising the cash
and giving it wings
loaded it up
on a train
for the st. louis fair
just out of texas
the wind and the rain
blew burrell’s airship
right off that train
he turned his back
walked away
left it all laying there
everyone asked him
how could you quit
burrell told them
god had a hand in all this
he never meant man to fly
we read him
all wrong
kate campbell / walt aldridge
© 2004 large river music (bmi)
cross key publishing co. inc./waltz time music inc. (ascap)
8. shallow grave
you killed my love
you were the one
bit by bit
the deed was done
by your calloused
heartless ways
and buried it in
a shallow grave
with each faithless
lie you told
i felt the knife
still deeper go
til my spirit
could not be saved
you left it in
a shallow grave
but one night
the hounds will find
the trail of clues
you left behind
and you will answer
for your sin
but i promise
until then
i will not rest
i won’t forget
i’ll haunt you
every chance i get
for the way
my heart was laid
so careless in
a shallow grave
from this cold
hard bed i pray
somehow you’ll meet
the same dark fate
someone will take
the love you gave
and put it in
a shallow grave
no stone to mark
a shallow grave
kate campbell / walt aldridge
© 2004 large river music (bmi)
cross key publishing co. inc./waltz time music inc. (ascap)
9. mining camp blues
once i had a daddy
and he worked down in a hole
once i had a daddy
and he worked down in a hole
digging and hauling
hauling that birmingham coal
many times i wondered
when they took my daddy down
many times i wondered
when they took my daddy down
will he come back to me
will they leave him in the ground
something like the pitcher
that they sent down in the well
something like the pitcher
that they sent down in the well
wondering will they break it
lordy lordy who can tell
it was late one evening
i was standing at that mine
it was late one evening
i was standing at that mine
foreman said my daddy
had gone down for his last last time
now he was a coalminer
from his hat down to his shoes
now he was a coalminer
from his hat down to his shoes
and i’m nearly dying
with these mining camp blues
trixie smith / public domain
arranged by kate campbell
© 2005 large river music (bmi)
10. fade to blue
every night
it’s the same routine
he has some hurting
he’s got to do
sets up a shrine
to her memory
so he can
fade to blue
he takes her picture
from its hiding place
tells it he loves her
a time or two
carefully touches
her unchanging face
watches her
fade to blue
blue as the flame
in the candle he lights
bluer than indigo ink
bluer than beale street
on saturday night
blue as her eyes used to be
every morning
he wakes up from the dream
puts on a mask
no one else sees through
goes through the motions
of being free
drives home to
fade to blue
seems like
the right thing to do
sit down and
fade to blue
kate campbell / walt aldridge
© 1995 fame publishing co. llc (bmi)
house of fame llc/makin’ friends music (ascap)
11. lay back the darkness
how many times
have i stood by the river
and could not see
to the other side
hoping like moses
the clouds would be lifted
stretch out my hand
the waters divide
lay back the darkness
let in the light
take all the wrongs
make them all right
and if i could
lay down these blues
for good
for so long i’m standing
alone at the crossroad
praying for someone
to give me a ride
watching as slowly
shadows come crawling
but nobody knows me
they all pass me by
we’re all born to trouble
in troubling times
this world has a way
of wearing us down
but the earth keeps on turning
night turns to day
and every new morning
mercies come round
kate campbell
© 2005 large river music (bmi)
12. lord help the poor and needy
lord help the poor and needy
in this land
in this land
lord help the poor and needy
in this land
in this land
when we all rise together
and face the rising sun
lord help the poor and needy
in this land
in this land
lord help the gambling man
in this land
in this land
lord help the gambling man
in this land
in this land
when we all rise together
and face the rising sun
lord help the poor and needy
in this land
in this land
lord help the sinner man
in this land
in this land
lord help the sinner man
in this land
in this land
when we all rise together
and face the rising sun
lord help the sinner man
in this land
in this land
lord help the motherless children
in this land
in this land
lord help the motherless children
in this land
in this land
when we all rise together
and face the rising sun
lord help the motherless children
in this land
in this land
lord help the war-torn peoples
in this world
in this world
lord help the war-torn peoples
in this world
in this world
when we all rise together
and face the rising sun
lord help the war-torn peoples
in this world
in this world
jessie mae hemphill
© 1984 music river publishing company (bmi)
13. peace comes stealing slow
he was twenty-one
if you believe what he wrote down
on the paper that the sergeant
made him sign
he never held a gun
never been too far from home
and he’d never had a night
like this in mind
they moved him to the front
and left him with one order
don’t give up that hole
we made you dig
he took a picture out
and then he read some letters
closed his eyes
said the lord my shepherd is
peace comes stealing slow
falls like silent snow
swings down sweet and low
peace comes stealing slow
she was on the street
and looking for some shelter
beaten down
and weary of this world
shivering from the cold
and crazy from the voices
she dreams of summers
when she was a girl
we live in a world
of trials and tribulations
people filled
with hatred everywhere
so we bow our heads
and we raise our voices
offer our petition
in this prayer
peace come stealing slow
fall like silent snow
swing down sweet and low
peace come stealing slow
kate campbell / walt aldridge
© 2004 large river music (bmi)
cross key publishing co. inc./waltz time music inc. (ascap)
“Palms of Victory” is a pre-Civil War gospel hymn recorded by the Carter Family and the Country Gentlemen; Bob Dylan rewrote the tune as a Civil Rights anthem called “Paths of Victory,” and an anonymous 19th-century singer rewrote it as “Pans of Biscuits,” the tale of a farmer who can’t afford meat for dinner. It’s the latter version that Kate Campbell sings in a Delta warble on her new album, Blues and Lamentations. It provides the template for the whole project. The 10 songs that Campbell wrote or co-wrote for the album are drawn from the deep wells of Carter Family hymns and Delta blues and adapted with a Dylanesque sensibility and an appreciation for such domestic details as biscuits and gravy. Backed by an all-acoustic string band, she sings with the patient drawl of her North Mississippi childhood, the sharp-eyed skepticism of the university balanced by the yearning hope of the church. Bluegrass mandolin pushes along “Freedom Train,” a song about Harriet Tubman co-written with Kevin Gordon, and Dixieland horns undergird “New Blues,” co-written with the album’s producer, Walt Aldridge. On “Peace Comes Stealing Slow,” the verses sketch vivid images of a young soldier crouched in a foxhole and an old woman sleeping on a sidewalk. But the chorus reaches back to another gospel hymn, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” and employs the swelling harmonies of Campbell and Maura O’Connell to offer solace to even these lost souls.
– Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post
Kate Campbell’s latest album sounds like a collection of dusty memories from a half-century ago. Maybe it is. Campbell writes in the liner notes about how, as a little girl, she loved listening to her mother play “St. Louis Blues” on piano. These eleven originals and two traditional covers reflect that old-time ethos with a mix of rootsy arrangements and searing lyrics that have more to do with lamentations than blues. Campbell has a way with throw-back tunes: The stark “Shallow Grave” could have come straight from an Appalachian holler circa 1930, and “Freedom Train” borrows biblical imagery for a song that would have fit the ’60s civil rights struggle. It’s not all lean times and watery grits, though. She takes up a different cause with “Free World” and “Peace Comes Stealing Slow”, songs with a levelheaded anti-war bent clearly based on the current political climate.
– Eric R. Danton, No Depression
Southern singer crafts blues collection with uplifting harmonies: A title like Blues and Lamentations might easily foreshadow a collection of mopey dirges, but Kate Campbell never makes it sound that depressing. Her upbeat instrumentation makes “Miles of Blues” inviting, and a duet with Guy Clark gives an appetizing richness to the traditional “Pans of Biscuits.” Campbell addresses the dark side of the blues, too: her full voice —; a twangy blend of both Indigo Girls —; drips with melancholy on “Shallow Grave.” But even after such a wearying journey, she returns to her silver lining, hinting at changes on the horizon with “Peace Comes Stealing Slow.” ***1/2
– Catherine P. Lewis, Paste
Kate Campbell’s recent releases included collections of country covers and re-recordings of songs from her early albums. On this set, though, she reminds us that she is still one of the finest and most literate of Southern singer-songwriters. Combining strains of country, folk, gospel and Dixieland jazz, all with an underpinning of the blues, Campbell songs capture the emotions and concerns of the people she’s writing about and provide insights into the varied connections – the land, history, class and racial oppression, spirituality, etc. – that give people their identities. Most of these songs tell stories and all of them have layers of subtext that are revealed with repeated listening. Several songs, including New Blues, Lay Back the Darkness and a version of Jessie Mae Hemphill’s Lord, Help the Poor and Needy seem particularly topical in the days following Hurricane Katrina. ****1/2
– Mike Regenstreif, The Montreal Gazette
It’s perhaps understandable if Kate Campbell fans have pictured her as standing—; in an artistic manner—; still for the last several years. Her most recent albums have either consisted of covers (Twang on a Wire) or the re-recordings of early material (Sing Me Out and The Portable Kate Campbell). So the release of Blues and Lamentations is a welcome return to fine, deep albums like Wandering Strange. Campbell’s warm Southern vocals wrap themselves around the lyrics of “Miles of Blues” and “Pans of Biscuits” as though they were old friends, and the country-folk arrangements offer the perfect underpinning. There are also nice touches like spiritually tinged background singing on the choruses of “Genesis Blues and “New Blues.” It would be easy to mistake Campbell’s song titles—; “Shallow Grave” and “Lay Back in Darkness”—; as depressing and gain the idea that Blues and Lamentations was a downbeat affair. A spiritual quality underlines each lyric, however, and Campbell’s vocals inject each song with a hopefulness that remains despite life’s obstacles. These songs, filled with good melodies and understated instrumental work, are brought to life by the deep resonance of Campbell’s lovely vocals. Blues and Lamentations is much more than another album by another singer-songwriter about how rough life is; it’s a deep welcome from Campbell’s fans. ****
– Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide
Hope shines through in Southern chronicles of everyday despair. Kate Campbell’s latest takes as its theme the universality of the blues, and she demonstrates said theme by including some New Orleans flavouring, some Delta, some Mississippi and plenty more,all melded into her trademark unadorned and open Southern musical style. It’s more lamentations than blues though, and it’s more desperation than lamentations, as a casual listen will reveal a series of truly heartbreakingly characters and situations. To name but two, “Fade To Blue”’s protagonist is trapped in a cycle of remembrance of his lost love as each day “he has some hurting he has to do“ until he ends up “bluer than Beale Street on Saturday night”, and “Shallow Grave”’s wrecked woman, who curses her former lover for destroying her love and her life and swears to haunt him forever, is astonishingly powerful and all the more memorable for the matter-of-fact way in which she presents her threats. Campbell is a religious person and while she never forces her religion on the listener, all her albums have a deeply spiritual core to them that even a confirmed atheist cannot help but find uplifting. Here, despite the dark overall theme, “Freedom Train” urges “I may not get there with you / keep on marching just the same” and album closer “Peace Comes Stealing Slow” offers a powerful prayer for redemption in the face of hatred and fear. In Blues and Lamentations Campbell has fashioned an album fit to stand with her masterpiece Monuments. Her palette is darker and her shadows deeper than of late, but her vision is the same, the chronicler of the extraordinary ordinary. She is an important American voice, and a true one.
– Jeremy Searle, Americana UK
Sounding somewhat reminiscent of a very subdued Janis Joplin or a more soulful Allison Krauss, Kate Campbell is the real thing. There are thousands upon thousands of artists playing bluegrass/folk/blues music…but rarely are they as genuine and as effective as Ms. Campbell. Blues and Lamentations features thirteen enchanting compositions that will stand the test of time. Campbell is fond of telling stories with her songs…and the veins are usually threaded with tales of the rural South. What is perhaps most impressive about Kate’s tunes are how sincere and genuine they sound. For such a young artist, this lady has some real depth to her soul. Songs like “Pans of Biscuits” and “Wheels Within Wheels” easily stand up to some of the best bluegrass classics ever recorded. A truly magical album from an engaging new artist… (Rating: 5+)
– Babysue, LMNOP