Grass Roots
Fast tempo bluegrass with traditional instrumentation (banjo, fiddle, dobro, upright bass), but played with restraint and aching clarity, Each note rings clean and sorrowful, but warm. Bittersweet, with a need to play it right, Deeply emotional
Grass Roots
Fast tempo bluegrass with traditional instrumentation (banjo, fiddle, dobro, upright bass), but played with restraint and aching clarity, Each note rings clean and sorrowful, but warm. Bittersweet, with a need to play it right, Deeply emotional
Lyrics
I stood at the edge of a room full of light,
Oh, the silence was soft and the pain polite.
He held her hand, but he held much more
He held the years they'd fought before.
He didn't cry, at least not loud,
Just tuned his banjo, cleared a cloud.
She said, *“Play it, Stud. I won’t drift far,”*
And he sang to her like she was still guitar.
Down these grass roots, we all must go,
Where the fiddle fades and the wild things grow.
It ain't the end, but it ain't the start
It's quiet parting of skin and heart.
And I swear I saw forever in a hardwood chair,
When he played her home, like she'd always been there.
The room got still, but the music stirred,
Like every sorrow had found a word.
And I felt it split, deep and wide,
How love can ache and still abide.
Down these grass roots, we lose, we find,
We leave our kind and we stay behind.
A tune can hold what hands can’t keep,
A pixie whisper in the throat of grief.
She was breath, and bones, and banjo too,
And the last thing she heard was, “I love you.”
Some say the soul goes up above,
But I think it sways in the songs we love.
And maybe grace is our do-si-do
That carries the weight as it mends the soul.
So down these grass roots, let me tread,
Where joy walks gently beside the dead.
And when my song’s the only sound,
I’ll play for the ones still above the ground.
'Cause he sang her through, and it tore me wide;
But I’d do the same, if love so died.
Grass roots wend… and carry us home.
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About 20 years ago, I witnessed a sending. There was once a woman who loved bluegrass. She started a band with her husband and they lived happily like that. Happy, that is, until she came down with a terminal disease that claimed her ability to play and enjoy her favorite things in life. Knowing she wasn't long for this world, she asked her husband, as their vocalist, and their band to play her out. Now, they could have played a respectful, sorrowful dirge, but she loved bluegrass for it's joyful energy. She loved how it couldn't be played without a smile. They played her favorite songs; upbeat dancing tunes with energy enough to lift her spirits. She passed in that bed with a gentle smile on her face. Her band had played their hearts out. The whole experience was holy, personal, and a celebration of the love of a woman, her man, their band, and the music they all made together. That moment has lived in me for this long and has deserved to be sung the whole time. Hence: Glass Roots. This is why I love Bluegrass.
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