Kate Campbell - Songs From The Levee

Click any song to listen.

  1. Mississippi And Me -:-- / -:--
  2. Lanterns On The Levee -:-- / -:--
  3. Wild Iris -:-- / -:--
  4. Like A Buffalo -:-- / -:--
  5. Locust Years -:-- / -:--
  6. A Cotton Field Away -:-- / -:--
  7. Jerusalem Inn -:-- / -:--
  8. Trains Don’t Run From Nashville -:-- / -:--
  9. South Of Everything -:-- / -:--
  10. Bury Me In Bluegrass -:-- / -:--
  11. Like A Buffalo (Alternate Take) -:-- / -:--
  12. Lanterns On The Levee (Acoustic Mix) -:-- / -:--
  13. A Cotton Field Away (Acoustic Mix) -:-- / -:--
  14. Trains Don’t Run From Nashville (Acoustic Mix) -:-- / -:--
  15. Bury Me In Bluegrass (Acoustic Mix) -:-- / -:--

Songs From The Levee

Artist
Kate Campbell
Released
1994
Genre
Singer-Songwriter

Release Date: April 5, 1994

Songs From The Levee (re-issue) is digitally re-mastered and contains five previously unreleased tracks, including an alternate take of “Like A Buffalo” and acoustic mixes of four other songs from the album.

The song “Bury Me In Bluegrass” was honored as “Farm Song Of The Year.” The CD cover artwork is by Carrol Cloar.

Songs From The Levee is an inspiring collection of well-crafted songs, clear vocals and simple direct arrangements. Kate Campbell is an intriguing and enthusiastic storyteller. She gives her listeners ample reason to look forward to album number two.” – NPR’s All Things Considered

Songs From The Levee notes are from the debut editon of the Large River Music newsletter (1994).

1. Mississippi and Me

(Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce)

Acoustic guitar – Johnny Pierce, Kate Campbell
Electric guitar – Johnny Pierce
Viola – Kris Wilkinson
Bass – Johnny Pierce
Keyboards – Howard Laravea
Acoustic slide guitar – Dan Dugmore
Background Vocals – Johnny Pierce

“Mississippi and Me” is an autobiographical song. It serves as a backdrop for the rest of the CD. My earliest memories are rooted in the small delta town of Sledge where my dad was a pastor. I remember cloud-like cotton fields behind the parsonage that seemed to go on forever. How could I have known then how much those early years in Mississippi would shape my life? I used to hear people say, “Don’t forget where you came from.” As you can tell from this song, I haven’t. It is dedicated to Mississippians everywhere. The Delta blues feel and viola lines are reminiscent of Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billy Joe.”

2. Lanterns on the Levee

(Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce)

Acoustic guitars – Johnny Pierce, Kate Campbell
Dobro – Al Perkins
Bass – Johnny Pierce
Keyboards – Howard Laravea
Mandolin – Johnny Pierce
Viola – Kris Wilkinson
Background Vocals – Johnny Pierce

I call “Lanterns on the Levee” the mood song on the CD. The title is from a William Percy book about the flooding of the Mississippi River in 1927. On the surface it may appear as a simple love song about commitment in times of adversity. A deeper meaning for me lies in the undercurrent feeling that some things are eternal. The arpeggio movement of the acoustic guitar and the weaving melodic lines of the viola and dobro further enhance this feeling.

3. Wild Iris

(Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce)

Acoustic guitar – Johnny Pierce, Kate Campbell
Acoustic slide guitar – Dan Dugmore
Dobro – Al Perkins
Bass – Johnny Pierce
Keyboards – Howard Laravea
Accordion – Joey Miskulin
Mandolin – Johnny Pierce
Background Vocals – Johnny Pierce

“Wild Iris” is my favorite song on the CD. I wrote it after seeing a photograph of my grandmother that my grandfather kept in his wallet for over sixty years. It made me wonder what she was like as a young woman. I realized I had always thought of her as an old person. I wanted to write a song that portrayed her in a different light and also told of my grandparents’ love for each other. I like the contrasting sounds of the accordion and slide guitar.

4. Like A Buffalo

(Kate Campbell, Johnny Pierce)

Acoustic guitar – Johnny Pierce, Kate Campbell
Electric guitar – Johnny Pierce
Accordion – Joey Miskulin
Bass – Johnny Pierce
Keyboards – Howard Laravea
Mandolin – Johnny Pierce
Background Vocals – Johnny Pierce

“Serious and toungue-in-cheek” may sound like a misnomer, but that’s how I describe “Like a Buffalo.” Fun and upbeat, the mandolin gives the song a “live” feel. It is one of my favorites to perform with the band.

5. The Locust Years

(Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce)

Acoustic guitar – Johnny Pierce, Kate Campbell
Viola – Kris Wilkinson
Bass – Johnny Pierce
Keyboards – Howard Laravea
Mandolin – Johnny Pierce
Background Vocals – Johnny Pierce

“The Locust Years” is very personal to me because I identify with the lyrics so much. Other people as well have been deeply moved by this song. The subtle percussion and haunting viola create just the right mood.

6. A Cotton Field Away

(Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce)

Acoustic guitar – Johnny Pierce, Kate Campbell
Acoustic slide guitar – Dan Dunmore
Electric guitar – Johnny Pierce
Viola – Kris Wilkinson
Bass – Johnny Pierce
Keyboards – Howard Laravea
Background Vocals – Johnny Pierce

“A Cotton Field Away” is another autobiographical song. I was in the fourth grade when they desegregated the schools. This change had a profound impact on my life. The organ solo in the fade is my favorite musical section of the whole CD.

7. Jerusalem Inn

(Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce)

Acoustic guitar – Johnny Pierce, Kate Campbell
Electric guitar – Johnny Pierce
Bass – Johnny Pierce
Keyboards – Howard Laravea
Mandolin – Johnny Pierce
Background Vocals – Johnny Pierce

“Jerusalem Inn” reflects my memories of some people in the church who looked down on folks different from them. This kind of intolerance has always bothered me. The song has a good groove and pulls you in immediately.

8. Trains Don’t Run From Nashville

(Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce)

Acoustic guitar – Johnny Pierce, Kate Campbell
Piano – Dennis Burnside
Accordion – Joey Miskulin
Bass – Johnny Pierce
Viola – Kris Wilkinson
Background Vocals – Johnny Pierce

I wrote “Trains Don’t Run From Nashville” from a personal experience. I wanted to take the train from Nashville to the northeast but realized I couldn’t. The trains stopped running in the early seventies and except for a remodeled hotel in the front of the building, the old Nashville train terminal now stands decrepit. The droning “open D” guitar tuning conveys a yearning for the return of the trains and the loneliness of a long-distance love.

9. South of Everything

(Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce)

Acoustic guitar – Johnny Pierce, Kate Campbell
Electric guitar – Johnny Pierce
Viola – Kris Wilkinson
Bass – Johnny Pierce
Keyboards – Howard Laravea
Background Vocals – Johnny Pierce

I actually wanted to write a song called “West of Everything” but my producer said “South of Everything” would better suit the theme of the CD–and he was right! I was working on a traveling song at the time and we ended up combining the two ideas into one song. I love the dobro in the second verse because it matches the feel of the lyric so well.

10. Bury Me in Bluegrass

(Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce)

Acoustic guitar – Johnny Pierce, Kate Campbell
Accordion – Joey Miskulin
Viola – Kris Wilkinson
Bass – Johnny Pierce
Keyboards – Howard Laravea
Dobro – Al Perkins
Mandolin – Johnny Pierce
Background Vocals – Johnny Pierce

“Bury Me in Bluegrass” weaves the stories of my maternal and paternal roots. Whenever we gather for family reunions, I like to walk across the field to an old family cemetery. It is there I am reminded of my own history and also realize that the ways and land of my forebearers will one day be gone from us forever.

1. Mississippi And Me

Daddy was a preacher in Sledge
We were living on Gospel and beans
Every Sunday night Deacon Jones
Would give a silver dollar to me
On the way home my poor momma
Would pry it from my hand
And say it fell from heaven

Way down in me a river runs deep
Reminding me just who I am
Good or bad, it’ll always be
Mississippi and me
Mississippi and me

Cissy was a beautician next door
She had the worst hairdo in town
She always smoked Pall Malls and drank Tabs
And hung out at the Delta Lounge
But I heard she finally found herself
She runs the best motel
In West Memphis, Arkansas

Mr. Thomas Lee ran the bank
And made a fortune on catfish farms
Every time you’d try for a loan
You had to twist his arm
I heard one night in Tupelo
He stepped out of a window
He thought he was Elvis

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1994 Large River Music (BMI) / Fame Music (BMI)
Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

2. Lanterns On The Levee

You can fall like the rain
And I will be a river
Winding forever

You have always been a rock
A silent hurricane
A light of focus when I could not see
Now I want you to know
If there comes a need
You can count on me

You can fall like the rain
And I will be a river
Winding forever
Strong and true
I’ll carry you away
To the peaceful water
And lanterns on the levee
Will shine for you

There are storms on the horizon
That you won’t even see
Until the cold, relentless winds appear
But you won’t have to worry
No you won’t have to fear
There’s shelter here

No, you won’t have to worry
You won’t have to fear
I’ll be here

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1994 Large River Music (BMI) / Fame Music (BMI)
Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

3. Wild Iris

She wore lace white as snow
Under a lavender dress it would show
When he gave her his ring
For him she’d do anything

He used to call her wild Iris
If you said don’t, she would
He had a love for her pure as diamonds
Back when good times were really good

Every night they would run
From behind the law would soon come
She’d hold on to him so tight
And they’d disappear into the night

He used to call her wild Iris
If you said don’t, she would
She had a love for him pure as diamonds
Back when good times were really good

Now she’s eighty and he’s gone
To her grandkids she’s always been old
But in her mind she’s with him
Forever young, chasing the wind

He used to call her wild Iris
If you said don’t, she would
They had a love so fine pure as diamonds
Back when good times were really good

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1994 Large River Music (BMI) / Fame Music (BMI)
Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

4. Like A Buffalo

It sounded like a thousand hooves
Running ‘cross the plains
It felt like an earthquake
When I first saw your face
You were standing like a rock
And suddenly I knew
From that moment on
I belonged to you

Like the sound of distant thunder
Your heart beats next to mine
With love strong enough to stand the test of time
And I will follow you no matter where you roam
I like a man like a buffalo
I like a man like a buffalo

Where have all the real men gone
Did we run ‘em off
In searching for a better way
Did we just get lost
When I look around these days
I thank the Lord for you
You’re a field of open range
And I’m the sky of blue

Kate Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1994 Fame Music (BMI)
Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

5. Locust Years

He built his life with his hands
Put all he had into the land
They came from nowhere on a cold dark wind
The harvest disappeared
But he survived the locust years

It hurt to hear her baby cry
Worked two jobs to get by
Convinced herself she never needed a man
Holding back the tears
She survived the locust years

When I lay next to you in your arms
I know the world can do us no harm
And like the thorns protect the rose
I am safe with you

I know a place inside a dream
Where rivers run through fields of green
A quiet valley that never lives in fear
I will meet you there
If we survive the locust years
If we survive the locust years

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1994 Large River Music (BMI) / Fame Music (BMI)
Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

6. A Cotton Field Away

A child of three
Reaches out to touch
And only sees
Pretty powder puffs
Down the road
A black child plays
But the dreams he holds lie
A cotton field away

The fires burn bright
A window breaks
Another one dies
A momma’s heart aches
Behind locked doors
A white man prays
And thanks the Lord he lives
A cotton field away

If we could see
Beyond the clouds
We both might be
On common ground

We met in school
By court’s decree
I learned real soon
You were a lot like me
Across the land
They say things have changed
But still we stand
A cotton field away

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1994 Large River Music (BMI) / Fame Music (BMI)
Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

7. Jerusalem Inn

If you’re traveling down a dead-end road
And need a place to lighten your load
I know a spot on the edge of town
With all you need to go around

There’s always room at the Jerusalem Inn
For lonely hearts without a friend
Just open the door and walk right in
You’re welcome at the Jerusalem Inn

I once had a friend who’s prettiest dress
Was not good enough for Sunday’s best
They said she was different, not like us
So they showed her the way to the bus

Oh, I knew a man who had a dream
To take the truth and set men free
But no one listened, no one saw
And so they nailed him to the wall

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1994 Large River Music (BMI) / Fame Music (BMI)
Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

8. Train’s Don’t Run From Nashville

I’m sittin’ in a restaurant drinking coffee black
They call it Union Station but it ain’t got no tracks
I’m thinking ’bout my baby, stuck somewhere up north
And the trains don’t run from Nashville anymore

This used to be where people stepped aboard a dream
Now it’s just an old hotel, people come to see
If I could buy a ticket I’d be in his arms once more
But the trains don’t run from Nashville anymore

Just one more time I’d like to hear
The rumble and the roar
Taking lonely hearts like mine
From here to every shore
Lord, I miss my baby like I never have before
And the trains don’t run from Nashville anymore

Momma waved goodbye to daddy as he went off to war
She stood right here crying back in sixty-four
And now it’s me that stands here all alone on this old platform
And the trains don’t run from Nashville anymore

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1994 Large River Music (BMI) / Fame Music (BMI)
Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

9. South Of Everything

No one up here seems to know me
And I don’t like the ones that do
Everyone is as cold as the weather
It’s time to buy some traveling shoes

I don’t need to pack a suitcase
No map to show me where to go
Give me one change of clothes and a box of Oreos
And endless miles of open road

I’m going south of everything
Where the air is sweet and church bells ring
Back where I come from, back where I belong
Down where the sun shines in the rain
And life goes by from a front porch swing
You can keep the bitter cold
I’m gonna go south of everything

Why is everyone in such a hurry
No one ever wins a rat race
And they wonder why so many go crazy
I gotta get out of this place

When I hear someone ask how I’m doing
Or see a stranger wave behind the wheel
Then I’ll know I’m headed in the right direction
By the peaceful way I feel

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1994 Large River Music (BMI) / Fame Music (BMI)
Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

10. Bury Me In Bluegrass

Huey was a captain with Andy Jackson
He settled in Kentucky on a soldier’s pay
It was two hundred acres and for almost as many years
The land has borne my family name
You can count the generations
Like circles in a tree
On tombstones you can barely read

Will you walk with me across the blue-green pastures
I wanna see horses run one more time
You can lay me down beside the ones gone before me
Bury me in bluegrass when I die

Uncle Henry sells computers, he never learned to farm
So he sold his part to daddy when grandpa died
And mom and dad are old now, they say they’re gonna move
Where the weather is always warm and dry

The buyers signed the note today
They’re gonna build a mall
With plans to break ground before the fall

Will you walk with me through the fields of burley
I wanna see leaves of gold one more time
You can lay me down beside the ones gone before me
Bury me in bluegrass when I die

They nailed the sign up yesterday
And I don’t understand
To me it’s more than just a piece of land

Will you walk with me through the peaceful valley
I wanna see the harvest moon one more time
You can lay me down beside the ones gone before me
Bury me in bluegrass when I die

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1994 Large River Music (BMI) / Fame Music (BMI)
Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

Kate Campbell’s debut album, Songs From The Levee, on the Compass Records label, addresses social issues, paints pictures of her past and conveys her stories along with straightforward melodies. Whether the album cut is autobiographical or a homespun tale, they convey an understanding of the nuances of southern living. Although she is from the Mississippi Delta, she is not a blues singer. She sings her own folk songs and plays guitar with a back-up band.

Kate Campbell’s songs create beautiful musical folklore by weaving a tapestry of tales with trains, rivers and landscapes. The universal images used in Songs From The Levee triggered memories from my childhood: camping on Valcour Island with my family and skipping stones across the Brandywine River.

Kate Campbell was born in New Orleans, but spent her early years singing Sunday services at her father’s Baptist church in Sledge, Mississippi. After receiving a Masters Degree in Southern History, she moved to Nashville to teach college history and work on her songwriting skills.

“Jerusalem Inn”, one of the most uplifting cuts on the Songs From The Levee album was influenced, both in theme and imagery by Campbell’s early diet of gospel music. ” Wild Iris”, another of my favorites, is a playful story of one woman’s lifelong love for her mate.

Kate Campbell’s lyrics reflect her talent as both historian and songwriter. She is able to blend history, memories and music into each song she writes. “A Cotton Field Away” takes a personal look at integration. “Trains Don’t Run From Nashville” laments the brutal effects of technology on the culture, and “Bury Me In Bluegrass” which appears to be a protest song about family farms turning into shopping malls, is actually a love story about a family, which deeply cares for their land after they sell it.

Songs From The Levee is an inspiring collection of well-crafted songs, clear vocals and simple direct arrangements. Kate Campbell is an intriguing and enthusiastic storyteller. She gives her listeners ample reason to look forward to album number two.

– NPR’s All Things Considered

“It is said that the blues were born in the Mississippi Delta. Kate Campbell’s music starts there, but then goes so much further. Her genius is to create a hauntingly beautiful sound that captures the very soul of the deep south. No one does it better, only Bobbie Gentry was close”

– A.W. (Jack) Longmire