FYC - AMERICAN ROOTS SONG: The Genesis of “Maya Angelou (Songbird)”

In 1987, three celestial songbirds, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton & Emmylou Harris produced Trio – a celebrated album of traditional and contemporary songs. In the 21st century, Ms. Ronstadt’s magnificent voice has been cruelly silenced by Parkinson’s Disease. Deeply affected

FYC - AMERICAN ROOTS SONG: The Genesis of “Maya Angelou (Songbird)”

In 1987, three celestial songbirds, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton & Emmylou Harris produced Trio – a celebrated album of traditional and contemporary songs. In the 21st century, Ms. Ronstadt’s magnificent voice has been cruelly silenced by Parkinson’s Disease. Deeply affected by the loss of perhaps, the greatest singer of a generation, I was moved to write an old-timey mountain song that harkened back to the days of traditional songwriters Steven Foster (b.1826) and Jimmy Bland (b.1854), the African American composer best known for “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny.” I imagined Linda, Dolly & Emmylou harmonizing on my song in some alternate universe in which the trio is miraculously resurrected. And I’d ask them to sing the chorus which begins…

Why does she sing -when no one can hear her – why does her music go on?

A song comes in…and it doesn’t leave me alone until it’s, shall we say, “solved.” Carrying bits—phonemes-- of a song that’s counting on me to tune it, I stopped by the post office in the Catskill Mountain hamlet of Callicoon. For stamps. There was a sheet of stamps that stilled me. Maya Angelou, beautiful poet, dancer, singer, activist and scholar, had been honored posthumously with her own USPS stamp. Next to her portrait, the stamp quotes from her powerful memoir, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings:

“a bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a Song.”

I didn’t expect to get more than a sheet of Maya Angelou postage stamps. But I received a much greater gift: I got to stitch together this song…to honor Ms. Angelou and this trio of musical goddesses.

FYC- AMERICAN ROOTS PERFORMANCE. You might know this chick – or one of her ilk. And, by chick, I don’t mean it as a put down. She’d be happy to hear you call her that. Born into a Small Rural Town below the Mason Dixon Line, at 13 she borrowed some makeup, pretty clothes, the entrance fee and entered the local teenage beauty contest. She won. And

FYC- AMERICAN ROOTS PERFORMANCE. You might know this chick – or one of her ilk. And, by chick, I don’t mean it as a put down. She’d be happy to hear you call her that. Born into a Small Rural Town below the Mason Dixon Line, at 13 she borrowed some makeup, pretty clothes, the entrance fee and entered the local teenage beauty contest. She won. And kept winning. In 1990 she represented her state in a national contest. She came in fifth. Not bad, right? Blessed with natural beauty, a glorious singing voice and, with the help of a nip of bourbon here and there, ambition, she won the lead in a Big Broadway Musical. Life was great. Men chased her. When the show closed, she took it hard. Her marriage to her sweet hometown boyfriend miscarried. What to do with the last of her cash? That bottle of bourbon she’d always kept on the floorboard of her car was empty. She could use some moisturizer and a meal. Screw it. Evan Williams Kentucky Bourbon ($12) will do fine, thank you. Later tonight she’ll charm some old guy into buying her a burger at the local tavern. It was painful to watch my friend spiral downward. But there was no breaking through. Believe me, I tried. She was unconcerned. “When yer over the hill, ya pick up speed,” she cackled in my face. So, all I could do was write this song. There’s a faded memory - That flickers through her night - Love can take her home again - But until she sees the light...