The Parting Songs thread sparked a memory of Won't You Come and Sing For Me?, a song we used to close the proceedings with at a Bluegrass jam (after we burned out on Circle Be Unbroken) I was a part of until about 25 years ago. It was sung by 2 young ladies and everyone joined in on the chorus, even the banjo players. Our voices echoing off the roof of the pavilion would give me chills but we always left with a warm feeling. The chorus went like this:

Sing the hymns that we sang together,
In that plain little church with the benches all worn.
How dear to my heart, how precious the moment
We stood shaking hands and singing the songs.

Won't You Come and Sing for Me?

Hazel Dickens wrote the song and she had this to say about it:

“I’m really not religious, to tell the truth. However, when I was growing up, I was impressed by the love and kindness that was openly shared and displayed among the brothers and sisters of the old Primitive Baptist church. It was that and the singing of the old songs that stayed in my memories down through the years (not the preaching). Particularly at the end of the service after they sang the parting song, they go around and shake hands and greet each other, humbling themselves before each other with smiles and hugs and invitations to go home with them and share a meal. This kind of humility and harmonious spirit of a common people inspired me to write this song as a tribute to that place and time tucked away in the corner of my memory.”

I can relate to her words as a non-believer who regularly attended a local UU church back then. Hazel recorded the song with her musical partner Alice Gerrard on a Folkways album of the same name which was released in 1973. It featured other-worldly singing and the playing of budding mandolin genius David Grisman.

Among the reasons I'm drawn to songs like this and other Bluegrass and Old Time songs is that they don't shy away from uncomfortable topics like dying, death, grief and remembrance. I used to sing a song or two at the Jams and one was Larry Spark's Love of the Mountains, written by Allen Mills, which whenever I hear it makes me think of my folks with a bit of sadness and a lot of gratitude. Larry is flat out one of my favorite singers. Love of the Mountains.