From the recording Blue Ridge Mountain Time: Songs from Wildacres
(2022) prompt: write about a town. I wrote about the little township in which I live in the Piedmont of North Carolina: Cedar Grove. Richard Putnam on organ.
Lyrics
Going from 86 north to 85 south
There’s a little bit of heaven known by word of mouth
Past the sign for 49
There’s a dot on the map called Cedar Grove, mmmmm
Nothing on the route gonna add to your load
Just miles of cattle and tobacco rows
A blinking yellow light will let you know
You’ve come to the heart of Cedar Grove, mmmmm
Now this is the place that I call home
Where my children where little but now are grown
The rain may fall and the wind may moan
But this is the place of my flesh, my sweat, my blood, my bones
A grove of cedars – it’s nothing grand
An old post office in the hinterland
Abandoned houses that were built by hand
Forgotten stores wore the brand, Cedar Grove, mmmmm
It’s here that my father’s laid to rest
In the churchyard up upon the crest
in the company of saints – each one blessed
East of Eden and west of Cedar Grove, mmmmm
Now this is the place that I call home
Where the chicken and the hawk both make their song
Time is short but history’s strong
This is the place where I (where I) belong
Now me I drive from South to North
Nearly every day I chart this course
From town to home once I’ve set forth
To find myself once more in Cedar Grove, mmmmm