Anne MacFie
Anne MacFie, who I know as half of Dick and Anne Albin. She was just in Lexington doing music for some cause that was supporting books that have been banned. She, along with Dick (and my ex-wife who actually introduced me to them), probably opened my eyes to music more than anyone before or after – and for that I give a heart-felt thanks. I am sad, that I was reminded of them by seeing a flier for the event the week after it had occurred.
I am going to get to the music bit here in a second of Dick and Anne, but I first must lament having missed her perform. I am not sure how much performing there would have, as she was the musical guest at what largely appeared to be a speaking engagement by authors. Of course the cause of the speaking engagement had something to do with protesting the idea of banning or limiting access to various books. Obviously, if not clear from my standpoint on so many other things and especially the right of free speech, included there in the right of freedom of the press, I simply can not stand anyone thinking they should have the right to decide what I or you can read. I think most of these books were “banned” in local libraries for reasons of perhaps taste or local community standards. Bottom line though the books should be available and the individual patron should be allowed to make their own adult choice. Not surprising, very much a libertarian point of view there. She (and sometimes Dick as well) have played several festivals over the last few years, but I have always had a jousting engagement or something with family and have not been able to make it – I am really going to have to make sometimes soon.
So Dick and Anne Albine had a series of albums back in the early 70′s I believe, though perhaps some of them were in the late 60′s. They largely played what I would call Appalachian folk music, very much something akin to what you might hear from Jean Ritchie for those knowledgable of such music. It certainly had a good sprinkling and influence of bluegrass, which a lot of people would not make a distinction between – but there definitely is a difference. The music consisted of both of them on vocals, sometimes solo with backup, sometimes as a regular duet. Instruments including the classics you would expect in such music, like acoustic guitar, the banjo, trying recall – but I believe some fiddle on occasion and some others mixed in here and there. The one instrument I most especially recall and fell in love with is Anne playing the dulcimer. Most readers will be familiar with it, but just to be sure they are usually hand-made, always of nice wood, a stringed instrument, played usually in the lap with a very distinct sound (and noted different that the hammered dulcimer in design and how played).
It is interesting to me that Anne was apparently not someone who grew up playing dulcimer and mountain music. I have always had a hard time finding that from listening to the music she played and the way she played. Somewhere in the back of my mind I recall that she picked it up in her college years and maybe also learned some of it from Jean Ritchie herself.
I will give a quick run down of some of the songs I recall. Yes, I did say recall. I had a tape of some of the material that had been made from the albums. For those of you that don’t know the idea, I am talking about those vinyl disks prior to CD’s. The time frame they did their recordings only had albums available. I have tried a couple of times to purchase them when I have seen them come up on eBay, but they have always gone for a price that I thought was too much, especially since I do not have the means play such music any longer.
The music went between the sweet nostalgic of the mountain scene, to the darn funny, to actually covering a few old-time tunes. None of the songs ever made it big, but probably one the biggest ones was the song about the kids swimming in the river when a baptism comes along. The comical thoughts of the guys hiding out up in a cold spring and running up on a water moccasin during the service and running out amongst the church completely naked is just funny.
Compare that to a sweet song that was written about the various flowers that could be found around the old homestead sites. Each verse would talk about such and such lady that lived at that location, what she and her man and done, and how the house was not there any more, but you could tell where it was because of some flower that was planted around the house or near the door. The last verse as the singer herself gathering certain flowers and planting around her own house so people would later know she had been there.
Moving back to comical you have the song that they wrote talking about moving from the city to be “a back to nature freak.” The general idea was we are moving up to the mountains and there friends were welcome to come up and help anytime they wanted with all the ‘chores’ that would inherently come up. The course was the warning to the folks that may not be familiar with the ways, let me see if I can recall, “Watch for snakes, stay on the path, there is wasp nest over the door, so when you come in duck your head, and whatever you do don’t cook anything in the kettle underneath the bed.”
Move back to a one more very pretty lovely song title Gypsy Woman. The whole song is about a gypsy woman who has a fancy with a local man as they travel through the area. As much as they seem to be infatuated with one another she is questioning whether he can really leave his civilized life for the wandering road of the gypsy to be with her. It is especially bittersweet given that he apparently has a wife and children waiting at home that she spies through his windows when they are breaking down the tents and getting the ponies ready to go.
