Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch - Go to Sleep Little Baby

 #Emmylou Harris #Alison Krauss #Gillian Welch #Americana #folk #traditional #movie soundtrack #O Brother Where Art Thou

Most famously heard in the movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou", the traditional lullaby "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby" is performed by artists Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, and Gillian Welch. This song appears to be a southern folk song, and was also previously recorded by Sidney Hemphill Carter in 1959 and ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax in 1942. What is the history, origins and meaning of the lyrics in this song? It appears to be a song born out of the anguish of slavery (as noted by former slave Annie Little in the Federal Writers' Project: Slave Narrative Project, Vol. 16). I have however, heard that this may depict a father trying to keep his baby quiet by giving it morphine in order to hide him from a slaveowner (perhaps on the underground railroad, or possibly in order to commit infanticide). Is there any reputable, authoritative evidence that this is the case?

My grandmother, who recently passed at 98 years old, used to sing this to me and she said her grandmother who was a slave sang it to her. She said all the mammies used to sing this to their children.

This is a Black American folk song, originating in the slavery era. At that time, it was dangerous for enslaved people to speak openly about their concerns, so many songs of the era have hidden or concealed meanings. As a folk song, however, neither the lyrics nor the interpretations are fixed, so it can be difficult or impossible to make a definitive determination. Like many of the most popular lullabies and nursery rhymes of many traditions (compare Rock a Bye Baby or Ring Around the Mulberry Bush) there's some dark and ominous imagery here. It's perhaps most instructive to compare it to All the Pretty Horses, another lullaby with similar origins, and a more established meaning. As in that song, we can surmise that this song is being sung by an enslaved caretaker of a baby belonging to the slavemasters, leading to a mix of tenderness and anger in the lyrics.

    Your momma gone away and your daddy's gone to stay
    Didn't leave nobody but the baby

The "momma" having gone away indicates that the woman singing is not the baby's actual mother. Likewise, the baby's father is also out of the home.

    Everybody’s gone in the cotton and the corn
    Didn't leave nobody but the baby

With all the masters gone, the baby is at the mercy of its caretaker.

    She's long gone with her red shoes on
    Gonna need another loving baby

The mother is out having fun, and doesn't care what happens to her child. She might need a new one, because her current child may not have long to live.

    You and me and the devil makes three
    Don't need no other loving baby

This moves more into pure speculation, but "don't need no other loving baby" may be a veiled reference to her being unable to take care of her own children (as in All the Pretty Horses) because of being forced to caretake her master's child. The devil is present, because she is having fantasies about killing the baby in revenge.

    Come lay your bones on the alabaster stones
    And be my ever loving baby

This seems like the most clear threat in the song - the alabaster stones, are, of course, the headstones in the graveyard. Compare also "Summertime," as discussed here: What's the origin of the phrase "Rise Up Singing"? Although not an authentic slave-era lullaby, "Summertime" draws upon many of the same themes, including the caretaking of someone else's child, and the veiled threat.

This is a song that seems to have originated among slaves in the southern US and has been passed on orally from generation to generation by people who might not even have been able to write, so there is no 'authoritative' version of the lyrics. So, of course, no interpretation of those lyrics is going to be 'authoritative'. There are probably almost as many different interpretations as there have been attempts at interpretation. A recurring theme in these is that the baby has been abandoned by both parents and the singer is preparing to poison it, but there are plenty of other variations.

Funny. I’ve been singing this to my kids for the last 12 months. They love it. Knocks them out every time. But I always forget the words because I can’t think of the story. Really interesting. I mentally started to wonder if it was a seductive song, but mostly because of the imagery from “Oh Brother Where Art Thou”. If you think of it from the perspective of someone trying to seduce a man while his “momma’s gone away” you can almost force some meanings as well. Don’t need another lovin’ babe - you and me and the devil make three. And then a bit of a Romeo and Juliet moment. Or maybe now that I’m reading that it was maybe a slave song. Then there’s the inevitable death that will occur if the mistress is a black caretaker and she’s singing the song for the husband of a partying wife.

From: https://musicfans.stackexchange.com/questions/10086/origin-and-meaning-of-didnt-leave-nobody-but-the-baby

Alison Krauss & Union Station - So Long, So Wrong

 #Alison Krauss & Union Station  #bluegrass #country #contemporary bluegrass #progressive bluegrass #contemporary folk #newgrass

“If only all those country (or pop or rock) fans who say they don’t like bluegrass would just give it a listen, they’d love it.”
“If only the mass media would give bluegrass some positive exposure…”
Those of us who care about bluegrass are probably as familiar with these sentiments about our music as we are with “Orange Blossom Special” and “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.” They come up with amazing regularity whether it’s a discussion with people who make their living in bluegrass or conversation with fans at a festival. Until now mass exposure has frequently meant linkage with comedy (The Beverly Hillbillies, The Andy Griffith Show, Hee Haw!), historical inaccuracy (Bonnie & Clyde—they died before the birth of bluegrass), or what many thoughtful people view as negative regional stereotyping (Deliverance). Even Ricky Skaggs’ stunning success several years ago in making Top-40 country hits of bluegrass songs involved numerous concessions to popular taste—electric lead instruments, drums, etc.
It has thus been with excitement verging on disbelief that in recent months fans have come across stories on Alison Krauss and Union Station in publications like USA Today, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Musician, Billboard and Time Magazine. It might be supposed that her recent receipt of the Grammy award for the Best Bluegrass Recording of the year was the cause of this flurry of press coverage. But that would be missing the point. Most of these articles came out far in advance of the award. It’s not that the national press is just recognizing bluegrass as a valid and noteworthy American music style. These highly-paid professional writers are really listening to Alison. They are tuning in to what bluegrass fans like about her and are helping the general public do the same.
“Subordinated to the group sound as Krauss’s fiddling is, it continues to amaze—airborne one minute, austere the next,” writes Newsweek’s Bill Christophersen. “ ‘Will You Be Leaving’ features a space shuttle of a solo that, just as you’re reaching for the Dramamine, sprouts parachutes and eases into a double-stop.” “I’ve Got That Old Feeling,” writes USA Today’s David Zimmerman, “is as ‘cutting edge’ as anything around. Krauss’s incredibly nimble, clear voice—recalling a young Dolly Parton—and soulful fiddle convey a passion and vitality that will surprise anybody who expects bluegrass to drone. This is one of few albums bound to please anyone.”
Uncharacteristic warmth like this toward bluegrass by the mass media might lead one to suspect that it was won by gimmicks or by abandoning what fans would think of as “real bluegrass.” No danger. Check out the long lines of diehard bluegrassers trying to get into Alison’s show at Alexandria, Virginia’s, showcase club, the Birchmere, or the wildly excited audience responses at the nation’s major festivals from upstate New York’s Winterhawk, to Colorado’s Telluride to California’s Strawberry Music Festival. Yet her group can also knock out country fans on Hee Haw! or on the Grand Ole Opry, where the group has been invited back half a dozen times in recent months. It can win over New York City sophisticates at the prestigious Bottom Line. It can even sell out a thousand seat auditorium at Maryland’s Goucher College on a double bill with a New Age music group.
Alison’s appeal is all the more remarkable because it is based not on glamour, a fancy stage show, sexy outfits, cuteness or any of the other show business tricks you might think a young female band leader might need to employ to gain attention. Onstage there is a sense of earnest focus on the music coupled with evident delight by the musicians in one another’s musical contributions. Alison’s voice has a wonderful clarity and precision which appeals to a broad range of listeners. Her instrumental work is not only technically excellent; it is also beautifully creative and exciting even to someone who has listened to decades of the great bluegrass fiddlers.
Alison is by no means a solo performer with a few faceless backup musicians. She loves playing with people who challenge her musically. And she loves her present band. When asked to name the people in bluegrass music who most inspire her, she first names the members of her band. These are Alison Brown (banjo), Tim Stafford (guitar), Adam Steffey (mandolin) and Barry Bales (bass). By the standards of earlier generations, it would seem an unlikely mix of backgrounds.  From: https://www.bluegrassunlimited.com/article/alison-kruass-and-union-station/