Appalachian Mountains

The motto of the state of my birth, West Virginia, is “Montani Semper Liberi” (A Mountaineer is Always Free).  One of my favorite lyricists is Alabama native, Pierce Pettis, whose song of the same title, co-written with Tim O’Brien, I think captures perfectly the Appalachian spirit:

A Mountaineer is Always Free

From the album State of Grace

I’m one of the few, proud to be standing
I walked up the pier from the coffin ships landing
My clothes were just rags, no use in this weather
But my back was strong, my hands tough as leather

I climbed up these hills till I came to the spot where I stand
I cleared these fields and I pulled up the stumps with my hands
No more a wanderer, no more a refugee
A mountaineer is always free

Took a Cherokee bride, she gave me five babies
I sang at the wakes, I cried at the weddings
I taught all my children the songs of my youth
To dance to the fiddle and practice the truth

I carried them up on my shoulders to where they could see
The whole world before them just so they would know what it means
No more a wanderer, no more a refugee
A mountaineer is always free

No kings and no landlords to treat us like beggars and thieves
There’s no one but God here to fear or to look down on me
No more a wanderer, no more a refugee
A mountaineer is always free

The last stanza came to mind this morning as I thought about the direction our country is heading.  We have made for ourselves a king, or at the very least a landlord (quite literally).

I have just read one of the most brilliant pieces on director, Sam Peckinpah.  It is written by Benjamin Kerstein, a young writer from Israel.  Check out the article at Senses of Cinema.  Peckinpah is the key to the poem and video City, which is based on the massacre depicted in I Samuel 22:6-23.  The poem is a twist on the notion of “common grace”, the “rain falling on the just and the unjust”.  In a fallen world, there is also common wrath.

Here are the music sources for the HillShadow videos.

The first video, Ramah, is scored by the very talented Fernando Ortega with his recording of the old hymn If I Flee On Morning Wings.  It is from the album Fernando Ortega, the breaking of the dawn.

The second video, Calling, includes music from the epic concert Yanni Live at the Acropolis.  The cut is Until the Last Moment.

Video number three is Inquiry, which features one of the greatest film composers, Elmer Bernstein, with his soundtrack from To Kill A Mockingbird.

Finally, the last video, City, includes music from the achingly beautiful music compilation entitled Streams.  The featured track is For Cova performed by the Irish Film Orchestra.