Lyr ADD: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)

Subject: blow your whistle out across the lines
From: Daniel
Date: 18 Jan 97 - 08:34 PM

Does anyone know a song with a chorus something like:

Blow your whistle out across the lines
Way out 'cross the valley to the ?Lynchville? mines
Blow for better times
Way down the road.

I last heard this song in Ithaca, NY about six or seven years ago--there was a man with a bushy black beard who would be asked for it just about every sing.
Thanks.

Subject: Way Down the Road
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Jun 99 - 03:20 PM

I've had this ancient thread bookmarked for a long time, as you can see. I swear I've heard this song sung by a woman, maybe Sally Rogers, but I can't find it. Art Thieme has a similar song, Craig Johnson's "Way Down the Road," on his The Older I Get, the Better I Was CD, but I don't think it's the same. Can somebody tell us more about this song, and maybe post lyrics?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: blow your whistle out across the lines
From: Wolfgang
Date: 23 Jun 99 - 03:46 PM

the lyrics are so similar, I think it is a slightly misheard Way down the road.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: blow your whistle out across the lines
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Jun 99 - 04:34 PM

...but the version I heard is closer to what Daniel posted, so I'm wondering if the Craig Johnson lyrics are a variation on an earlier song.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: blow your whistle out across the lines
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 23 Jun 99 - 04:53 PM

This song was recorded by Sally Rogers with Howie Burson. We heard it on the KPFK in Los Angeles on March 6, 1983 and the DJ (who was presumably reading from the album notes) said it was written by Craig Johnson. We didn't catch the name of the album but a search might reveal Sally's home page and lead you to the lyrics.

Subject: RE: blow your whistle out across the lines
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Jun 99 - 04:54 PM

I was wrong - Sally Rogers and Claudia Schmidt recorded Craig Johnson's "Way Down the Road" on their 1987 CD called Closing the Distance. The rendition is very different from Art's, but the lyrics seem to be the same. Anybody got the lyrics to post, and any background information on the song?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: blow your whistle out across the lines
From: Art Thieme
Date: 23 Jun 99 - 05:30 PM

Joe--Hello,

Thanks for drawing me to this thread. Sal & Howie did it alcapone I believe (a capella). I chose to do it with guitar the night it was recorded by Tom Martin-Erickson for Wisconsin Public Radio at the Tripp Commons in the University of Wisconsin Memorial Union in Madison---1982 (That's the one I used on the recent CD you mentioned.) I think I might've taught the song to Sally back then. I just heard from Sal by E-mail yesterday; she's taking a year off from touring and is glad to be going home to be with Howie and the kids and to take on some projects dear to her heart!! I DO understand those feelings!!!

Craig Johnson is a good friend and a wonderful songwriter. I've put out 4 different songs of his on different albums over the years. He is a mainstay of the Double Decker Stringband along with Bruce Hutton and John Beam. Right now he's living in West, Virgina with his wife, Brenda, and 2 children, Alec and recently born Sally. Right Now Craig is way too busy going for his PHD to play much music. But he did write a fine song recently...

I still have a beard---now smaller (the beard, not me) and it's quite grey now. I keep saying I should let it grow out and get to bein' black again, but I'm a procrastonator.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: blow your whistle out across the lines
From: Art Thieme
Date: 23 Jun 99 - 05:42 PM

Daniel,

Would you believe that gig in Ithaca was more like FIFTEEN years ago!! (Maybe more)

Lrics to the chorus are:

Blow your whistle out through the pines,
Out across the mountains to the Clinchfield Line,
Blow for better times,
Way down the road.

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.

Subject: RE: blow your whistle out across the lines
From: Art Thieme
Date: 23 Jun 99 - 05:48 PM

ONE MORE

For more info on Willow Run and the Clinchfield Line see: http://detnews.com/history/arsenal/arsenal.htm

Art

Subject: RE: blow your whistle out across the lines
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Jun 99 - 11:16 PM

Thanks a lot, Art. When I first saw this thread in 1997, I knew I was familiar with the song, but I just couldn't place it. It's nice to put it all together, after all this time.
It's a powerful song, isn't it?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: blow your whistle out across the lines
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Jun 99 - 12:14 AM

I had the good fortune to be around while Craig Johnson was new and getting known...and heard him sing his own songs back in 1978-88..(and a few times since) ..(he did a house concert in my basement once!) he has that 'voice' that is perfect for the stuff he wrote...and he does MANY MANY old time songs on guitar, fiddle and banjo, too...and he wrote a few things you'll never see on record...*grin* check out this little item..verse 3 by yours truly (oh...the word 'frightening' should be 'sprightly'...Dick transcribed a tape)

Craig also wrote a topical thing called "I want to be in Brooklyn for the Blackouts in the Spring"....

but he is a consummate musician...and a heck of a nice guy!

Subject: RE: blow your whistle out across the lines
From: Art Thieme
Date: 24 Jun 99 - 01:25 AM

That's an amazing song. Thanks Bill. It's a keeper.

A while ago I posted Craig's "I Want To Be In Brooklyn For The Blackouts In The Spring" in a thread about the original song, "I Want To Be In Texas For The Roundup In The Spring"

Art

Subject: Craig Johnson
From: Ferrara
Date: 24 Jun 99 - 10:30 AM

Craig lived in the Washington area for a time. Lots of us begged him to put out an album of his songs but he didn't think his singing was good enough (Bill and I love his singing, we would have been as close to first in line for the album as we could manage!) -- Also, I know at least one person who wanted to compile a computer- generated Craig Johnson songbook, just so the songs could be preserved and distributed.

Art, what do you think? Would you be willing to talk to him about it? His songs really are treasures, and I hate to see them lost. There wouldn't be a whole lot of money in it I guess, it's more for the love of the songs.

Craig wrote "KEWEENAW LIGHT" (sp?) ("and the stars they shine bright on the north shore tonight, / as the Keweenaw light shines over the bay ...") "NEW HARMONY" ("I've been sittin' by the Ohio, watching the towboats rollin' up slow..."), a song with the chorus line "You damned old piney mountain," these are the most likely to be familiar to some mudcatters.

Subject: RE: blow your whistle out across the lines
From: Art Thieme
Date: 24 Jun 99 - 06:25 PM

I did "Keweenaw Light" (actual spelling even though it's not pronounced that way--go figure) and Craig's "The Soo Line" on my first LP for Sandy. Great songs. "New Harmony" was a mainstay of my shows on the stemboat I've mentioned here too often. The cres of the Julia Belle Swain, who were always pairing off for love affairs, loved the song and wouldn't let me stop singing it.(Jim Ringer did "New Harmony" on his Folk Legacy album.)

Fond memories.

Art

Subject: RE: blow your whistle out across the lines
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Jun 99 - 05:43 AM

Art, you've been sounding mighty commercial lately, taunting us with all these recordings you mention. Any chance of another CD? I really enjoyed the first one, and I'll buy as many as you can put out (one of each, that is....).
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: WAY DOWN THE ROAD (Craig Johnson)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 19 May 00 - 10:29 AM

A transcription from Art Thieme's 'The older I get the better I was' CD. Don't praise me for the work, a native speaker did it for me. Thank you, Scott.

Wolfgang

WAY DOWN THE ROAD
(Craig Johnson)

Back in the year of '33
We were still down in Tennessee,
Gettin' by took all your time,
Way down the road.

The word went out in '41
Uncle Sam's gonna get the big job done,
We hired out at Willow Run,
Way down the road.

x: Blow your whistle, up through the pines,
Out across the mountains in the Clinchfield Line,
Blow for better times,
Way 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,
Way down the road.

The city folks didn't want us around,
Moved us out to the edge of town,
Salt box houses on the bulldozed ground,
Way down the road.

x

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,
Way 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 blackout skies,
Way down the road.

x

You try to pay the rent money, you try to save a buck,
Patching up the tires on a wore-out truck,
City folks pass and holler "Hey Kentuck",
Way down the road.

You say you'll move back south when the war gears down,
Your dreams die easy when your check comes round,
Caught between the country? and a factory town,
Way down the road.

x

Now the plant's closing down and the gates are closed,
New cars rust in the rain and snow,
Let me sleep where the gum-stick laurel grows,
Way down the road.

You can bury me down in Tennessee,
You live for a dollar - let my tombstone read
"He died unknown in a strange country,
Way down the road".

x
x

Subject: Lyr Req: Lyric/Discography for Way Down The Line.
From: GUEST,Meadow Muskrat
Date: 01 Aug 04 - 07:24 PM

I'm looking for the lyrics and any recording information for a song called Way Down The Line. I saw Sally Rogers and Howie Burson perform it many years ago.They said the writer was a fiddler from Kentucky. The song is about the people in the area migrating to the
Industrial cities of the upper midwest after World War 2 in order to find work.The chorus went something like:
   " Blow it on high on through the pines,
    Way down yonder on the Clinchfield Line
    Blow for better times
    Way down the line"

Subject: Lyr Add: WAY DOWN THE ROAD (Craig Johnson)
From: Stewie
Date: 01 Aug 04 - 09:57 PM

It is a song by Craig Johnson titled 'Way Down the Road'. You can find a recording of it on Art Thieme's CD 'The Older I Get the Better I Was' Waterbug WGB 0045. I transcribed the lyrics recently because I used it in a presentation. Below is what I hear. Hopefully, Art may be along soon to make any corrections and give you some further info about the song and its writer:

WAY DOWN THE ROAD
(Craig Johnson)

Back in the year of '33
We were still down in Tennessee,
Gettin' by took all your time,
Way down the road.

The word went out in '41
Uncle Sam's gonna get the big job done,
We hired out at Willow Run,
Way down the road.

Chorus:
Blow your whistle, up through the pines,
Out across the mountains and the Clinchfield Line,
Blow for better times,
Way 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,
Way down the road.

The city folks didn't want us 'round,
Moved us out to the edge of town,
Salt box houses on the bulldozed ground,
Way 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,
Way 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,
Way down the road.

Chorus

You try to pay the rent man, you try to save a buck,
Patching up the tyres on a wore-out truck,
City folks pass and holler "Hey Kentuck",
Way down the road.

You say you'll move back south when the war gears down,
Your dreams die easy when your check comes round,
Caught between the mountains and a factory town,
Way down the road.

Chorus

Now he plant's closed down, the gates are closed,
New cars rust in the rain and snow,
Let me sleep where the gum-stick laurel grows,
Way down the road.

You can bury me down in Tennessee,
'He lived for a dollar' - let my tombstone read
"He died unknown in a strange country,
Way down the road".

Chorus (x 2)


--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lyric/Discography for Way Down The Line.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Aug 04 - 02:33 AM

Stewie's transcription is almost exactly what Wolfgang posted above. Two threads on a song can tend to confuse a discussion, so I'm going to combine the two threads.
Muskrat, I think Craig Johnson is a Michigan songwriter, since most of his songs seem to be about Michigan. Don't know if he moved to Michigan from somewhere else.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: balladeer
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 08:03 AM

For years, I've been listening to my friend Sue Goldberg inspire Toronto's Friday night song circle with her haunting a cappela arrangement of Way Down the Road. It was my great pleasure to sing along with her. Now that Sue has entered the final phase of her magnificent life, I plan to learn the song myself and dedicate it to her every time I sing it.

I continue to be very, very grateful to the folks who keep the Mudcat up and running, providing us with a matchless resource for lyrics, knowledge, and general entertainment.

Joanne

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 09:10 PM

Joanne Balladeer,

If I find the willpower to keep out of the B.S. and political threads department, maybe Mudcat will have a chance to stay the way you describe it!

---------------------------------------------------------

The words I sang on my CD were a bit different from what Wolfgang deciphered back in them dark ages:

"Caught between the country and a factory town" refers to rural America as opposed to life in an urban big-city factory area. As a German language speaker mainly, our friend Wolfgang didn't understand the rural alternative meaning of the word country. To him it meant a country like England or France---and it didn't seem to fit the context.

And the "gun-stick laurel" is a plant that I believe kids used to pretend they had rifles.

Also:

Bury me down in Tennessee,
"He lived for a dollar" -- let my tombstone read,
And he died unknown in a strange country,
Way down the road.

also, no big thing, but...

The bombers roared low in the blacked out skies
Way down the road.

----------------------------------------------------
I met Craig Johnson first when he was living in Washington D.C.---- a big house where many musicians lived--in the 1980s. Cathy Fink lived in that good house too then. And there was a grand party one day with mucho moonshine galore. (To see photos from that day with Craig, Cathy wearing her monkey mask (dumping a hollowed-out watermelon carved like a pumpkin by craig onto Craig's head), Mike Seeger, Alice Girrard and several others, look into my folk photos site at:

http://rudegnu.com/art_thieme.html

Craig and I sat down at their diningroom table there and I recorded a whole slew of his great songs. That is how I first heard and got Craig's "The Keweenaw Light" and "Fire In The Jackpines". The first time he sang "The Keweenaw Light" I was so emotionally tear-ed up that I forgot to turn on my recorder. What a great song it was and is. There are no better songs than Craig Johnson's to evoke the feelings of the people and the land of those both good and hard times in the iron and copper country of the Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan.

And there are tapes around that Craig made for a possible album---but he never really liked 'em much I don't think. Cathy Fink produced it back in those other times... (But I loved them.)

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 08:58 AM

I only posted someone else's transcription, but however it was, I'm as grateful for the correction as I am for the story you tell, Art. Please tell us such stories whenever they cross your mind. They give the song(s) even more life than they already have.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 11:22 AM

Wolfgang,

Now I understand better. I didn't mean to misrepresent you. ---- It is fun to put reminiscences of those other times up here when I happened to be at the right place at the right time to shed some extra light on things Mudcatters have asked about in these threads. Other than reacting to the threads, I don't get motivated to write stuff since I really don't think what I have to say would otherwise be of any interest to anyone.--- Matter of fact, I'm darn certain of that.

Thanks for all your input and knowledge over the years here.

Art

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 06:54 PM

Nice to see this, again. I have loved all of Craig's songs, too, ever since I heard Art do them! (Sorry, Wolfgang and Art, if it was I who got the lyrics a bit off. I enjoyed helping, but was really new to such things back then.:-)

kat

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Fortunato
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 05:50 PM

Surely one of the greatest and least recognized modern composers of old time songs. And a fine person as noted above.

chance

Subject: Lyr Add: WAY DOWN THE ROAD (Craig Johnson)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 07:20 AM

Since I've inserted Art's corrections in my private version, I may as well copy it in here to make the collecting easier for anyone passing by by this thread.

Wolfgang

WAY DOWN THE ROAD
(Craig Johnson)

Back in the year of '33
We were still down in Tennessee,
Gettin' by took all your time,
Way down the road.

The word went out in '41
Uncle Sam's gonna get the big job done,
We hired out at Willow Run,
Way down the road.

x: Blow your whistle, up through the pines,
Out across the mountains in the Clinchfield Line,
Blow for better times,
Way 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,
Way down the road.

The city folks didn't want us around,
Moved us out to the edge of town,
Salt box houses on the bulldozed ground,
Way down the road.

x

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,
Way 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,
Way down the road.

x

You try to pay the rent money, you try to save a buck,
Patching up the tires on a wore-out truck,
City folks pass and holler "Hey Kentuck",
Way down the road.

You say you'll move back south when the war gears down,
Your dreams die easy when your check comes round,
Caught between the country and the factory town,
Way down the road.

x

Now the plant's closing down and the gates are closed,
New cars rust in the rain and snow,
Let me sleep where the gun-stick laurel grows,
Way down the road.

Bury me down in Tennessee,
"He lived for a dollar" -- let my tombstone read,
And he died unknown in a strange country,
Way down the road.

x
x

Subject: Way Down the Road
From: GUEST,pe
Date: 03 Sep 07 - 01:28 PM

Does anyone have the lyrics to Way Down the Road- from Sally Rogers and Claudia Schmidt cd. The attribute the song to C. Johnson.

Subject: RE: Way Down the Road
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Sep 07 - 01:52 PM

A sound clip at Amazon.com, album "Closing the Distance." Under copyright.

Any relation to "Hard Travelin'" by Woody Guthrie?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Sep 07 - 02:16 PM

I moved the two messages from today to the original thread, one of the oldest threads we have. Wolfgang's post just above is the definitive transcription, with help from Art Thieme. To me, Art's recording will always be the definitive version of the song - although I learned it from the Sally Rogers and Claudia recording.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Art Thieme
Date: 03 Sep 07 - 06:15 PM

Joe, Thanks.---
Art

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GUEST,Eric
Date: 04 Sep 07 - 01:01 AM

Way back in 1997 the original poster wrote:
>I last heard this song in Ithaca, NY about six or seven years ago--there was a man with a bushy black beard who would be asked for it just about every sing.
The man with the beard was surely Phil Shapiro, host of WVBR's Bound for Glory radio show. He's a regular at the Ithaca sings and has been singing this song for many years.
'night
Eric

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Dec 09 - 12:50 PM

Here's the Sally Rogers version --

I remember back in '33
We were all down in Tennessee,
Just gettin' by took all your time,
Way down the road.

Word got out in '41
Uncle Sam says get the big job done,
So we hired out at Willow Run,
Way down the road.

---------------------

x: Oh, Blow your whistle, up through the pines,
Out across the mountains to the Clinchfield Line,
Blow for better times,
Way down the road.

---------------------

We came from the mills and the damn coal mines,
When we started in to working on Henry's line,
Eight hours steady and overtime,
Way down the road.

Folks up North didn't want us around,
So they moved us out on the edge of town,
Salt box houses on a bulldozed ground,
Way down the road.

---------------------

Strong backs bending in the welders' light,
Rivet guns pounding on a windy night,
Another rich man's war and a poor man's fight,
Way down the road.

Now it's punch in, punch out, make your time,
Hurry with the turret boys, you're getting behind,
And the bombers roared low in the blacked out skies,
Way down the road.

---------------------

Tryin' to pay the rent, tryin' to save a buck,
Patchin' up the tires on a worn out truck,
City folk passin' yellin' "Hey Kentuck,"
Way down the road.

Said we'd move back south when the war geared down,
But your dreams die easy when the check comes round,
And you're caught between the mountains and a factory town,
Way down the road.

---------------------

Now the plant's shut down, the gate's all closed,
New cars rustin' in the rain and snow,
Let me sleep where the gum-stick laurel grows,
Way down the road.

Bury me back in Tennessee,
"Lived for a dollar" -- let my tombstone read,
And died unknown in a strange country,
Way down the road.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Art Thieme
Date: 16 Dec 09 - 08:03 PM

When I could still do it, I sang this fine song over and over--at every gig. I never tired of it. Thinking of it will always kind of bring Craig back for me.

Art

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Jan 10 - 12:40 PM

I remember it also as played by a person, who said he was the author, at The Ark in Ann Arbor Michigan. (The old one in the house.) He had just written it at the time and said that he hoped that it would gain popularity with book and made-for-TV movie about an Appalachian family moving to Detroit. I remember that the lyrics were very like the Sally Rogers version. The book/movie might have been titled The Basket Maker, I can't remember for certain.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Jan 10 - 04:29 PM

?? I would be more concerned to see how near "the Sally Rogers version" comes to the way(s) Craig sang it.

It 'can' happen that a song can be done by someone else in ways that make more impact than the author's original, but in Craig's case, it would be difficult.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GUEST,Al
Date: 13 Jan 12 - 10:54 PM

Just returned from Sally Rogers and Claudia Schmidt concert where they sang this (Nelson Town Hall). Had to look it up so I can learn it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Oct 17 - 06:35 PM

I first heard Craig Johnson sing "Way Down the Road" at the North Country Folk Festival in Ironwood, Michigan, where I was also performing. I was sitting next to Sally Rogers, and we both became excited when we heard it.

Claudia Schmidt and Sally Rogers have a version of Way Down the Road on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2m-wQO-lHw.

- Brian Humphrey, Wilton Manors, FL

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Oct 17 - 02:06 PM

October 10, 2017

The version of "Way Down the Road" that I transcribed from Craig's set at the North Country Folk Festival is quite close to the version attributed to Sally Rogers, above.
The differences are minor, mainly in syntax and punctuation.

Since I was sitting next to Sally during Craig's performance, it is reassuring to know that our versions are nearly identical.
Although I lost my transcription a while ago, I was able to reconstruct it from the information on this thread.

Thanks to everyone who posted, above,

Brian Humphrey
Wilton Manors, FL

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GUEST,Fyldeplayer
Date: 10 Oct 17 - 05:10 PM

I have been learning this recently, It appears on the UK vinyl LP by Bread & Roses. I think Sarah Morgan brought it to the groups attention - my wife was part of that quartet and we hope to take it out as a duo. Great song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GUEST,dulcimerbob
Date: 19 Oct 22 - 02:34 PM

I have done this song for years . I first heard it on an album by Leo Kretzner , Bold Orion , in 1983 .

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Oct 22 - 03:02 PM

{no you didn't. Leo Kretzner had nothing to do with the song we've been discussing}

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GUEST,George Stephens
Date: 24 Oct 22 - 01:07 AM

Hi, Bill,

Actually, yes, Leo Kretzner did record this on "Bold Orion".

George

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Oct 22 - 11:09 AM

**running down to the catacombs to check on the album I haven't played in years**

Well, I'll be @#^%#... I flatly don't remember having noticed! I guess hearing Craig do it in person several times... plus friends learning it... was all I needed.

Embarrassed, but educated!

thanks, George.

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Oct 22 - 12:32 PM

I 'think' I was worried that folks would think Kretzner wrote it.

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: GUEST,George Stephens
Date: 30 Oct 22 - 06:13 PM

I thought attribution was probably the issue.

George who's sung both "'Way Down the Road" (note apostrophe!) and "Bold Orion" probably hundreds of times.

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Apr 23 - 06:33 PM

Any further enlightenment on the meaning of "gum-stick laurel"?

https://antiqueadvertising.com/free-antique-price-guide/vintage-gum/wrigleys-sweet-laurel-gum-sign/

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: cnd
Date: 04 Apr 23 - 08:52 AM

"Gum stick laurel" means nothing to me, beyond (sweet)gum and laurel sometimes growing in forests together. I'll have to look some more into this

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: cnd
Date: 04 Apr 23 - 09:11 AM

Listening to Craig's recording, he definitely says gunstick laurel. I've found evidence of a place in the NC mountains by that name, but all references seem to point back to Horace Kephart. My copy of the otherwise-expansive North Carolina Gazetteer does not include a location named Gunstick Laurel, and a search of Tennessee gazetteers doesn't have a town by that name either.

So it seems to be some sort of tree or another, but which, I'm not sure.

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Apr 23 - 09:54 PM

I contacted Martha Burns, who did a lot to promote the recordings of Craig Johnson in his final years. Here's what she said:

Good question. I looked in my plant apps and on the web. The nearest things to an explanation I could find was in Merriam-Webster's. I've attached a screenshot, since you may not subscribe. sticky laurel
noun: a buckbrush (Ceanothus velutinus) with gummy twigs and evergreen leaves
            Less encouraging, I found this list of twenty-five types of laurel. No stick, sticky, or gum-stick laurel there. https://homescopes.com/garden/types-of-laurel/
            I think the Merriam-Webster's reference is probably closest to what Craig was envisioning.

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And that makes sense to me, since I live in a house in the Sierra Foothills that's surrounded by buckbrush, a ceanothus with white flowers. It's pretty when it's in bloom, but it's noxious to people with allergies and it's a fire hazard when it dries out a bit. My stepson was allergic - every Spring was tough until he moved out of the house.

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson)
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 09 Apr 23 - 11:37 PM

I LOVE the smell of Ceanothus velutinus! I wish I could grow it where I live. But it's a plant that's from the American West, where it wants a fairly dry climate, lots of sun, and grows only at higher altitudes.

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.