Origins: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: MoorleyMan
Date: 10 Apr 23 - 07:28 AM

Well it looks as tho' we have finally solved the enigma of the Gunstick Laurel!
Melissa and I made contact thru Craig's Bandcamp page, and we received a really helpful reply from Brenda VanLunen (Craig's widow, I guess?) -
>>The lyrics were published in a song magazine in 1983, and said "gumstick". I actually think that's an error and it should be "gunstick", since gunstick laurel is an actual Appalachian plant: check out the Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/browse/search/guide-to-the-great-smoky-mountains-national-park-18679/search-ob
<< She also attached the lyrics (below)... >> as I have them. They're not exactly the same as in the magazine, but close enough... Craig probably sang it a little differently each time<<

So here we have it:

I remember back in '33
When we were still down in Tennessee,
Just gettin' by took all your time,
Away down the road.
The word went out in '41
Uncle Sam said get the big job done,
So we hired out at Willow Run
Away down the road.

Blow your whistle up through the pines
Out across the mountains and the Clinchfield Line
Blow for better times
Away down the road

Well we come from the mountains and the damp coal mines,
Started in to working on Henry's lines,
Eight hours steady and overtime,
Away down the road.
The city folks didn't want us 'round,
So they moved us out to the edge of town,
Salt box houses on the bulldozed ground,
Away down the road.

Chorus

We were strong backs bending in the welder's light,
Rivet guns pounding on a windy night,
A rich man's war, a poor man's fight,
Away down the road.
Punch in, punch out, make your time,
Hurry with the turret boys, you're getting behind,
The bombers roared low in the blacked-out skies,
Away down the road.

Chorus

You try to pay the rent man, try to save a buck,
Patching up the tires on a wore-out truck,
City folks pass and holler "Hey Kentuck",
Away down the road.
You say you'll move back south when the war gears down,
But your dreams die easy when your check comes round,
Caught between the mountains and a factory town,
Away down the road.

Chorus

Now the plant's closed down and the gates are closed,
New cars rust in the rain and snow,
Let me sleep where the gunstick laurel grows,
Away down the road.
You can bury me down in Tennessee,
'He lived for a dollar' - let my tombstone read
And died unknown in a strange country,
Away down the road.

Chorus

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: cnd
Date: 10 Apr 23 - 10:31 AM

Thanks for getting in contact with them, MoorleyMan.

The link to which Ms. VanLunen references is here, page 99 of Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (1933) by George M. McCoy and George Masa. Unfortunately, the reference here is still to a place, and not a plant. And perhaps more frustratingly, the reference still seems to originate with Mr. Kephart -- it's not so direct here as in other places, but it's pretty clear from the numerous references to him that the writers relied on Kephart a good deal for place names and guidance; additionally, I know for a fact Masa and Kephart were close acquaintances. Here's an excerpt from pages 97-99:

"Dr. Cain says that there seem to be three catastrophic factors influencing the formation and maintenance of heath balds in tin Great Smoky Mountains. They are: Windfall, landslide and fire. Of these factors fire, he says, is by far the most important. Horace Kephart of Bryson City, with many other woodsmen and mountain people, believed that fire is a very important if not universal factor in the initiation and maintenance of heath balds.

Huggins' Hell, one of the largest of these heath thickets, is in the Hazel Creek section. It contains possibly four or five hundred acres of rhododendron and laurel thickets. Irving Huggins, who lived in the Hazel Creek section, was herding cattle on Siler's Bald one day and wanted to reach another knob. He thought he could cross the intervening "slick" but was trapped there for a number of days before he could find his way out. There is another heath thicket called "Hug- gins' Hell" in the Alum Cave Creek section.

The slicks have interesting names. There are Devil's Race Path, Devils
Court House, Woolly Ridge, Gunstick Laurel, Rip Shin Thicket, Wooly Head Slick, Big Slick, Cage Drive Slick, Ivy Stalks, Little Slick and many others.

PS: George Masa is a very fascinating character to look into if you ever get the chance. I just bought a book showing his photography of the region, and it provides what is known of his biography.

Subject: ADD: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: RickMohr
Date: 10 Sep 24 - 12:06 PM

Here's what Craig Johnson sings on his album "Away Down The Road". You can hear/buy it on Bandcamp.

WAY DOWN THE ROAD
(Craig Johnson)

I remember back in '33
When we was still down in Tennessee
Just a'gettin' by took all your time - Away down the road
Then the word went out in ‘41
Uncle Sam says "Get the big job done"
And we hired on at Willow Run - Away down the road

    Chorus:
    Blow your whistle up through the pines
    And out across the mountains and the Clinchfield line
    Blow for better times - Away down the road

We come from the hills and the damn coal mines
Started in to workin' on Henry's lines
Eight hours steady and overtime - Away down the road
But the folks up North didn't want us round
They moved us out on the edge of town
Shoebox houses on the bulldozed ground - Away down the road

    Chorus

We was strong backs bendin' in the welder's light
Rivet guns poundin’ on a windy night
A rich man's war and a poor man's fight - Away down the road
Well you punch in, punch out, make your time
And hurry with the turret boys you're gettin' behind
And the bombers roared low in the blacked-out skies - Away down the road

    Chorus

You're tryin' to pay the rent man, tryin' to save a buck,
Patchin’ up the tires on a wore out truck
And the city folks passin’ holler "Hey, Kentuck' - Away down the road
Oh we’ll move back South when the war gears down
But your dreams die easy when your check comes 'round
And you're caught between the mountains and the factory town - Away down the road

    Chorus

And the plants are shut down the gates all closed
The new cars rust in the rain and snow
Let me sleep where the gunstick laurel grows - Away down the road
You can bury me down in Tennessee
"He lived for a dollar" let my tombstone read
"And died unknown in a strange country" - Away down the road

    Chorus

Subject: Origins: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Aug 25 - 02:57 PM

Thread #174273   Message #4227368
Posted By: GUEST,Jim Bean
19-Aug-25 - 02:20 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Craig Johnson's Way Down the Road
Subject: Origins: Craig Johnson's Way Down the Road

Does anyone know if Craig Johnson wrote Way Down the Road from family history or from anyone he knew's personal history?

---

Hi, Jim,
Rick Mohr's post above has a link to Craig Johnson's recording of the song, which he calls "Away Down the Road." It has this explanation:

During World War II thousands of people from Kentucky, Tennessee, and other parts of the rural South moved to the Detroit area to work in the factories that supplied aircraft, tanks, munitions, and other necessities to the military. When I wrote this song, I thought of it as primarily the story of other people who had lived in proximity to me. As I've grown older, and learned more about my own family and their migration north in the 1920's, I've come to realize that "Away Down the Road" was our story as well.

credits from Away Down the Road, released September 5, 2009

https://craigjohnson3.bandcamp.com/track/away-down-the-road

---

When I was a kid, Willow Run was the main airport for Detroit. I remember Mom and the five of us kids taking Dad to the airport for business trips in the 1950s. I went back to Willow Run a few years ago, when I was in Detroit for a family reunion. Some of the magnificent buildings for the Ford B-24 aircraft factory are still there, but there's not much going on at Willow Run anymore. Detroit moved its main airport closer to town - Willow Run is a long, long way from Detroit.

Subject: RE: Origins: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GerryM
Date: 19 Aug 25 - 06:51 PM

There are roughly seventy-leven sets of lyrics posted to this thread. The most recent one (From: RickMohr - PM Date: 10 Sep 24 - 12:06 PM) is the only one that refers to "shoebox houses", all the rest have it as "saltbox houses" or "salt box houses". I had been wondering, as I read those other versions, what a "saltbox house" might be. I don't claim to know what Craig Johnson actually wrote, or sang, or whether he sang the same thing every time he sang it, but "shoebox" makes more sense to me than "saltbox".

Would anyone like to defend "saltbox", and maybe explain what it might mean in the context of "houses"?

Subject: RE: Origins: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Aug 25 - 09:00 PM

Hi, Gerry - Craig Johnson was the songwriter, and he sang "shoebox" (I listened).
https://craigjohnson3.bandcamp.com/track/away-down-the-road

Wikipedia says a Saltbox House looks like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltbox_house

Subject: RE: Origins: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Jon Bartlett
Date: 26 Aug 25 - 11:45 PM

Can anyone give me glosses for "Henry's line" and "the Clinchfield line"? I'm presuming that the whistle marks the end of shift. Nu?

Jon Bartlett

Subject: RE: Origins: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Aug 25 - 12:38 AM

Hi, Jon - Art has an answer for you way up top: "THE CLINCHFIELD LINE railroad was almost 300 miles long and sent trains from the coalfields of Kentucky to the North Carolina piedmont. It ran through 6 states and is now a part of CSX."
And "Henry's Line" at Willow Run - the aircraft plant at Willow run was built and owned by Henry Ford. I'm guessing the whistles were on the trains on the Clinchfield Line.
I suppose it's this song that motivated me to visit Willow Run a few years ago. Although my memories of Willow Run were from when it was Detroit's airport in the 1950s, this song kept going through my head as I drove around the airport.
The aircraft factory was designed by Albert Kahn, Detroit's most famous architect. I've studied his architecture all my life.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Origins: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GUEST,Jon Bartlett
Date: 27 Aug 25 - 12:30 PM

Thanks fore this, Joe!

Jon