John McCutcheon does a few (The farmer is the woman, This Time Of Year)

There's also a local Vermont poet named Mac Parker who does wonderful stuff about rural culture. He has some recordings out. I am not sure if they are self produced, but I'll check into them. It's mainly poetry, but his delivery and his poems are great. David Budbill also does some great stuff. His play Judevine gives as good a sense of rural Vermont as anything I have ever seen. I know that Bear Pond books Main St. Montpelier VT. carries his stuff. They probably carry Mac Parker's as well.

Also, I put this one together a few years ago, Yet another reason to get a tape recorder going.

I grew up where the maples stood,
Back in the days of the dusty roads
I knew my neighbors and life was good
Up and down the valley
The work was hard and the seasons passed
We split the wood and we hayed the high grass
And I never dreamed it wouldn't last
Up and down the valley

I'd walk home past the old Farr farm
Back in the . . .
And the fields were green and the sun was warm
Up and down the . . .
But old Mr. Farr was a gettin' on
His taxes were high and his kids were gone
Now there's pre-fab homes and well kept lawns
Up and down . . .

I've grown and married and made my home
None too far from the dusty roads
And there still are fields where the hay is mown
Up and down the valley
But the pavement covers more and more
There are fewer farms than there were before
And an ache and a loss I can't ignore
Up and down the valley.

Mr. Farr ran a ski tow on his hillside pasture when I was small, and I used to buy chicken feed from him when I ran out (when I hadn't planned ahead for the limited feed store schedule) Now his big meadow has become a development named Hargrace (for Harold and Grace Farr) Drive. We've lost a farm, a farmer, a man who shared his land with his community, and a gorgeous piece of open land, and he's just one among many.

Susan
Gone the days of the dusty roads

HTML line breaks added. -JoeClone 13-Mar-01.