The Wreck of the Old 97

The Old 97 wrecked near Danville Virginia in 1903.  It's a true story, not fictional.

     The Wreck of the Old 97 tells the true story of a horrific train wreck which occurred on a Southern Railway train which ran from Washington DC to Atlanta, Georgia. On September 27, 1903 the Old 97 jumped the track near Danville Virginia while en route from Monroe to Spencer, North Carolina.  The engineer, Joe Broady (usually called “Pete” or “Steve” in the song) was killed along with ten others, and another seven injured.  The train was hauling mail for the US Post Office and had the reputation for being always on time.  When the train fell behind by an hour in Monro, Broady increased speed in order  to compensate (probably under company orders).  As a result the train was travelling too fast and jumped the track.

     So why would anyone like a song about a terrible accident which caused so many deaths and injuries?  Especially a song that has such a bright melody?  That's difficult to say, but our tradition is to record events that effect our lives, both happy and sad.  It's a way to create a memorial for the people who suffered and died, and to pass their memory on to future generations. 
 

     I first heard this song on an LP from the 1960s that my Dad had, which featured Mac Wiseman, a terrific  vocalist.  My Dad and I were lucky enough to hear Mac perform this song and others at festivals in southern Ohio in the early 1980s.  Perhaps Flatt and Scruggs made the most famous version, however, so WOTO97 is known as a bluegrass song. But in reality the song was composed in the 1920s, thus predating the Bluegrass Era, with the authorship being claimed by several persons.  The Wikipedia article identifies Charles Noell as the most likely original author, though the 1924 copyright was assigned to F. Wallace Rega.

    As far as I can determine, the first known recorded version was  in  1923  by Henry Whittier and G. B. Grayson ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b8fUJT_ZNA ), followed shortly  by Vernon Dalhart in 1924 ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b8fUJT_ZNA ).  Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers had a version in 1927.  Other versions of note come from the aforementioned Flatt & Scruggs,  Johnny Cash, Woodie Guthrie, Pete, Seeger and others.  I’m partial to a version by Norman Blake, which contains two extra introductory verses (I suppose Norman wrote these, as I haven’t heard them on any of the earlier versions).  Below is a really nice version based on Norman's. 

 This is really nice version based on the Norman Blake version.

You might like this Youtube video, which slows down the song a tad, and shows the left hand to play this in the key of C, Norman Blake style (hint:  intermediate guitar players will probably go mad if they try to play exactly like Norman Blake.  A better plan is to pick up some of his basic crosspicks style and evolve from there).  

 

  Lester and Earl created the Bluegrass version, which is perhaps the most well known. This version was performed on the Beverly Hillbillies, with a vocal break from Miss Hathaway (Nancy Culp), no less. 


 
Key of G
G - - -  C - - -  G - - -   D - - -
G - - -  C - - -  G - D -  G - - -

Key of C
C - - -  F - - -  C - - -   G - - -
C - - -  F - - -  C - G -  C - - -

Lyrics

    (Norman Blake verses)
 

    I was standing on a mountain one Sunday morning,

    Watching the smoke below.

    It was coming from a tall thin smokestack,

    Down on the Southern Railroad.

   97 was the fastest train that

   The South had ever seen,

   But it ran so fast that Sunday morning,

   The death toll numbered fourteen.

    (Everybody else's verses) 
 

    Well they gave him his orders at Monroe Virginia

    Sayin' Steve you're way behind time

    This is not 38, but it's old 97

    You must put her into Spencer on time

    Then he turned and said to his black greasy fireman

    Just shovel in a little more coal

    And when we cross that White Oak Mountain

    You will see old 97 roll

    Well it's a mighty rough road from Lynchburg to Danville

    On a line with a three mile grade

    It was on that grade that he lost his air brakes

    See what a jump he made

    He was goin' down the grade makin' 90 miles an hour

    When his whistle began to scream

    He was found in the wreck with his hand on the throttle

    And scalded to death by the steam

    Then the telegram came to Washington station

    and this is what it said,

    Oh that brave engineer that ran old 97

    Is laying in Danville dead.

    So now all you ladies fair, please heed my warning

    from this time live and learn

    Never speak harsh words to your true loving husband

    He may leave you and never return.

REFERENCES

Wikipedia, The Wreck of the Old 97, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wreck_of_the_Old_97, downloaded Oct 27 2012. 

My LIttle Georgia Rose

     One thing you can do to create controversy is to start a conversation about whether Old Time musicians ought to play Bluegrass or not. This is a bit like Hatfields fraternizing with McCoys, so watch out or you might get hit!

    On the other hand, many of the casual listeners are not even aware of the difference.  If the band has a banjo, that usually signals "Bluegrass" to many casual fans. 

    So what is the difference?  Well, you get different answers from different people, but to me the main difference is that bluegrass is characterized by a fingerpicked banjo (a style invented by Earl Scruggs, imho, with later styles emerging thereafter).    Bluegrass became stylized around 1945 when Earl and guitar player Lester Flatt joined mandolin player Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys.   Hence Bluegrass often has a guitar lead.  By contrast,  Old Time  has a rhythmic "clawhammer" style banjo, and usually a fiddle lead.  This music existed before bluegrass.  Not everyone agrees, but I believe Old Time is more conducive to jams than other styles, because it is easier to blend several clawhammer banjos, whereas the Scruggs style is so overpowering that it is hard to have more than one banjo player in the group.

So that brings us to the next point.  Is it kosher for Old Time jams to jam to songs from Bill Monroe, the father of Bluegrass? 

At the Trolley stop, we've started to do My Little Georgia Rose, with Ryan playing lead vocals and guitar.  However, we still play it with an Old Time sound, usually with two or three guitars and a couple of clawhammer banjos.  I'm by no means an authority, as probably the weakest musician in our group, but in my humble opinion it works very well and the fan response has been great.

However, I do have a few observations to share about the great Bill Monroe.  One thing about his songs is that often the sentiment doesn't match the song.  For example, Little Georgia Rose tells about a sweet young woman that the singer has a big crush on. It is a very sweet and sentimental lyric.

But the melody is completely different.  It's a very powerful melody, almost like a hymn.  Let's just say that you could play it for the Heavyweight Champion of the World as easily as some little sweetheart in George!   In particular, the chorus is sung by a lot of power, both by Bill Monroe back in the day, and by the Trolley Stoppers today.  We really boom "She's MY LITTLE GEORGIA ROSE!"   This is actually not that unusual in Bill Monroe's songs. Check out his version of Shady Grove (Ray Hicks has two great version on his new album http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_2039956 Shady Grove 2 is the more traditional version, while Shady Grove 1 is based on the Monroe version).  The line "I'm going back to Harlan!" makes it sound llike something dramatic is about to happen.  

      Once you get your mind around that little quirk, the rest of it starts to hang together.  The fact is, Monroe may be considered the Father of Bluegrass to many (though in my humble opinion Earl Scruggs was the single most influential individual, albeit in Monroe's band), but his songs are certainly amenable to the Old Time style. 

     At the Trolley Stop, we play this in the key of C. The Bill Monroe video, which comes to us courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry circa 1957, is in the key of B-flat, meaning the guitar needs to be capo'ed at the fourth fret to play along. 
  
     So for what it's worth, my take is, heck yeah we can do Bill Monroe songs in an Old Time jam.  It works great with a fiddle lead and a couple of clawhammer banjos playing along side. Just don't use no Moog synthesizers or nothin', y'hear?

 

My Little Georgia Rose
Written and recorded by Bill Monroe

                     G(C)      C(F)            G(C)

Now come and listen to my story

   G(C)                         D(G)

A  story that I know is true

                 G(C)         C(F)          G(C)  

About a Rose that blooms in Georgia

        G(C)        D(G)                      G(C)

With a hair of gold and a heart so true

        C(F)                                          G(C)

Way down past the Blue Ridge Mountains 

 G(C)                                  D(G)

Way down where tall pines grow

G(C)                                       C(F)

Lives my sweetheart of the mountains

G(C)             D(G)                  G(C)

She's my little Georgia Rose 

Her mother left her with another
A care free life she had planned
The baby now is a lady
The one her mother could not stand

Chorus

We'd often sing those songs together
I watch her do her little part
She'd smile at me when I would tell her
That she was my own sweetheart