The italicized passage in “Rank Stranger” is from poet Louise McNeill’s memoir, The Milkweed Ladies (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1988).
“A. P. Carter v. Sara Cater, 1932” is a contrapuntal poem, particularly inspired by Tyehimba Jess’s Leadbelly (Wave Books, 2005).
“Knoxville Boy” borrows lyrics from two songs: “Knoxville Girl” and “Edward” (Child Ballad #13).
“Recitatives on a Murder” is based on the many legends of Tom Dula, but mostly inspired by a haunting I’ve had since I was a little girl when I heard Doc Watson’s recording of “Tom Dooley” and read the liner notes on my mother’s copy of his debut recording for Vanguard Records in 1964. Watson’s great-grandmother Betsy Triplett Watson had tended to Ann Foster Melton on her deathbed and recalled that Ann Melton claimed “she could see the flames of Hell at the foot of her bed.”
“The Girl Singer” borrows lyrics from these songs: “Dreadful Wind and Rain,” “The Twa Sisters” (Child Ballad #10), “Pretty Polly,” “The Cuckoo Bird,” and “Omie Wise.”
“Barn Dance (Costume)” was inspired by lyrics from two songs: “Been All Around This World” and “Katy Cruel.”
“Barn Dance (Chorus)” uses the actual stage names of early female performers of county music, often assigned to them by their male managers.
“Maybelle Carter on Singing Hillbilly Boogie with Sara, ca. 1963” quotes the lyrics from “I’m Leaving You (This Lonesome Song),” written by Alton and Rabon Delmore.
“On Seeing a Letter Patsy Cline Wrote to Nudie the Tailor” uses the words from Cline’s actual letter, received on March 6, 1963, and exhibited as part of Sparkle & Twang: Marty Stuart’s American Music Odyssey (Tennessee State Museum, 2007).
“I Will Always Love You” takes its title from the Dolly Parton song.
The italicized couplet in “Pentecost 1965” is from Acts 2:1, King James Bible.
“James Brown Performs ‘Cold Sweat’ on American Bandstand, 1968” quotes lyrics from “Cold Sweat” by James Brown.
“My Grandmother’s Dog Song” quotes lyrics from “Old Yeller Dog (Come Trottin’ Through the Meeting House),” a variant of a nineteenth-century minstrel song.
“Oh, Groundhog!” takes its title and borrows a line from the traditional folk-song of the same name.
Many kind thanks to the editors of the publications where these poems were published, some in slightly different form:
94 Creations, “A. P. Carter v. Sara Carter, 1932,” “On Seeing a Letter Patsy Cline Wrote to Nudie the Tailor”
ABZ: A Poetry Magazine, “The Girl Singer”
American Society: What Poets See, “Rebel Girl (Hazel Dickens)”
Anthology of Appalachian Writers XIII, “My Maternal People”
Appalachian Review, “I saw Bobby Bare kiss Marty Stuart,” “James Brown Performs ‘Cold Sweat’ on American Bandstand, 1968,” “War Story” (as “Photograph”)
Artists Thrive, “The Full Corn Moon”
Bigger Than They Appear, “Thanksgiving Eve”
Birmingham Arts Journal, “Corvus”
Change Seven, “Gospel Song,” “Gravity Sonnet,” “Vocal School”
Clapboard House, “Minor Detour through an Old Knoxville Neighborhood”
Grist, “Kitchen Waltz” (as “Failed Meal”)
Flycatcher, “Rank Stranger” (as “Voyager”)
HeartWood, “Small-Town Gossip”
HillVille, “Pentecost 1965”
Journal of Kentucky Studies, “Maybelle Carter on Singing Hillbilly Boogie with Sara, ca. 1963”
Kudzu, “Barn Dance (Costume),” “Herons on the Holston,” “I Will Always Love You,” “Index of Canticles,” “Knoxville Boy,” “Lone Crow Daddy Spends His Afternoon Setting Up a Carnival,” “My Grandmother’s Dog Song,” “Offal & Bones,” “Put Upon by Grief,” “Roll Call”
Larger Bodies Than Mine, “Tree Rings”
New Southerner, “To Sing and Sing Again”
Outscape: Writings on Fences and Frontiers, “Mapmaker”
Pikeville Review, “Barn Dance (Road Show),” “Gallows Humor”
Pine Mountain Sand & Gavel, “The Chief Things of the Ancient Mountains,” “Dead Man’s Tuning,” “Sevens”
pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture, “My Grandmother’s Sewing Notions”
See How We Are, “Poem in My Grandmother’s Voice”
Shaking Like a Mountain, “Recitatives on a Murder”
Shenandoah, “Slow Dance”
Southern Poetry Anthology: Tennessee, “Paralysis”
Talking River, “Ballad,” “Barn Swallows,” “Sorrow Lets Loose for a Moment”
A Tapestry of Voices, “Barn Dance (Chorus),” “Barn Dance (Cousin Emmy
Remembers Her Show Car”)
Vinegar & Char: Verse from the Southern Foodways Alliance, “Bounty”
Wind, “Love in the Cold War”
Many generous friends and organizations helped me with these poems, and I am grateful for all of them. The list is too long to name here, but it really does take a village (and a whole heap of writing classes and workshops).
Thanks especially to my first college poetry teacher, Jeff Daniel Marion, who believed in me from the start and remained my friend for nearly four decades. Rest in peace, Danny.
I’m indebted to two of the smartest poets I know, who read this manuscript in its early stages and gave me valuable help in shaping it: Rebecca Gayle Howell and William Wright.
I’m grateful for my editor in this project, my friend and colleague Silas House.
I’m beholden to the hard work of the very best people at Fireside Industries/University Press of Kentucky.
Special love and thanks to Alice Hale Adams, Nickole Brown, Peter Cooper, Jackie White Crosslin, Laura Dennis, Sam Gleaves, Jesse Graves, Becky Hamilton, Pauletta Hansel, Caroline Herring, Ron Houchin, Jason Howard, Leatha Kendrick, Sonja Livingston, George Ella Lyon, Maurice Manning, Greta McDonough, Daniel Martin Moore, RB Morris, Josh Mullins, Beth Newberry, Harry Rice, Savannah Sipple, Jamey Hill Temple, Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, Doug Van Gundy, Frank X Walker, Kathi Whitley, Crystal Wilkinson, and Cyndi Williams.
I am thankful for the support I received from the Berea College Appalachian Sound Archives Fellowship Program, the Hindman Settlement School, the Kentucky Arts Council, and the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
“Ballad” is for Rebecca Gayle Howell.
“Bounty” and “The Chief Things of the Ancient Mountains” are for Silas House.
“Mapmaker” is for Maurice Manning.
“Offal & Bones” is for Keith Semmel.