Lyr Add: Momma Oh - re trail of slaves

Subject: Lyr Add: Momma Oh re trail of slaves
From: mg
Date: 03 Sep 19 - 05:37 PM

best song i have heard in two years. greatly singable..country style. tragic story of slaves (and ex slaves) looking for family

heard it at tumbleweed festival by group named appaloosa..it is on a cd and not expensive. best to buy cd to hear tune. i do plan to do record on my cell phone..so people can get the tune but much better to get it from them.

here are words as i heard. undoubtedly needs corrections.

re trail of slaves end of civil war

i was sold to joseph brennan
he took me down to new orleans
my name then was hanna person purcell?
it is now hanna jean
it is now hanna jean

momma oh you read that good book
you got your marker and it sings the blues
momma oh you want to go and dance
i'm singing this in dead girl shoes?

momma oh you're a shooting star
drift on so fast like the poor folks do
momma oh you want to hold our hand
not a rabbit's foot nothing left to lose

i was sold to someone other
brother sam and annabelle jo
who were left without our mother
if they're alive i'd like to know

momma oh you read that good book
you got your marker and it sings the blues
momma ohyou want to go and dance
i'm singing this in dead girl shoes?

momma oh you're a shooting star
drift on so fast like the poor folks do
momma ohyou want to hold our hand
not a rabbit's foot nothing left to lose

they're all gone and i'm alone now
swept away down the trail of slaves
we can write to all the papers
praying mama ain't in her grave

momma oh you read that good book
you got your marker and it sings the blues
momma oh   you want to go and dance
i'm singing this in dead girl shoes?

momma oh you're a shooting star
drift on so fast like the poor folks do
momma oh you want to hold our hand
not a rabbit's foot nothing left to lose

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Momma Oh re trail of slaves
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Sep 19 - 05:48 PM

Hmmm. Sounds familiar, but I can't find it. It sounds like it was inspired by several of the powerful songs written by Rhiannon Giddens, formerly of Carolina Chocolate Drops.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Momma Oh re trail of slaves
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 03 Sep 19 - 06:09 PM

Lyrics here.

https://appaloosamusic.wordpress.com/lyrics-2/momma-oh/

Subject: ADD: Momma Oh (recorded by Appaloosa)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Sep 19 - 06:15 PM

Bingo! Good find, Starship!

MOMMA, OH
(recorded by Appaloosa, songwriter-?)

B A E F#

B A E B
I was sold to Joseph Brennan
B A E F#
He took me down to New Orleans
B A E B
My name then was Hannah Person
B A E B
It is now Hannah Jean x2

B F# B

CHORUS:
Momma, Oh…….You read that Good Book
E F# B
You got your marker And it sings the blues
Momma, Oh…….You wanna go and dance
I’m saying this Leaves dead girl shoes
Momma, Oh…….You’re a shooting star
Drift gone so fast Like the poor folks do
Momma, Oh…… You wanna hold our hand
Not a rabbit’s foot Nothin’ left to lose (x2 at end w tag)

Pa was sold to someone other
Brother Sam and Annie Joe
Who were left without our Mother
If they’re alive, I’d like to know x2

CHORUS…………………….SOLO

They’re all gone, I’m alone now
Swept away down the Trail of Slaves
We can write to all the papers
Prayin’ Momma ain’t in her grave x2

CHORUS

https://youtu.be/2DXSJ4x9Oo4

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Momma Oh re trail of slaves
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 03 Sep 19 - 06:23 PM

Songwriters seem to be Dottie and Eli Ashley.

https://www.bendbulletin.com/entertainment/6928696-151/appaloosa-expands-on-first-live-album

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Momma Oh re trail of slaves
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Sep 19 - 06:25 PM

I got a nice facebook message from Dottie Ashley of Appaloosa:

Nice... "Momma Oh" and it is indeed about the Trail of Slaves. Got the idea for the song from a story in the Smithsonian magazine I think. Over 4 million were bought, sold,and traded, and after the war was over and people were trying to find their families, not many could read or write so they had other folks write to the newspapers for help. Of course, so many names were changed, so many people had moved, families torn apart...so tragic.
We write so many socially conscious songs. One of my other tunes was picked up by a radio station in Arlington VA for MLK weekend. It's called "Uncivil War". About Freddie Gray and Emmett Till...and Ferguson and Baltimore and how things haven't changed.
Anyway, let me know how I can help.
Dottie Ashley
Appaloosa

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Momma Oh re trail of slaves
From: mg
Date: 04 Sep 19 - 03:03 PM

i think we should assemble a list of songs about this topic...best of course would be from those who experienced this. I should say that I am descended from slave ?? what is a good word..not owners. I am on ancestry.com and apparently have many cousins from Cameroon due to the abuses of slavery..also said to be related to those who ran a "bride" "plantation". I am also related to the williams of jasper county georgia, book by same name.

Irish and undoubtedly others used the papers to find missing family also.

song reminds me somewhat of lily of the valley as sung in cornwall. something about the shoes..the shoes i wear are gospel shoes and you can wear them if you choose. Dead girl shoes...very sad but when times were very awful no pair of shoes probably went unused.