You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive
You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive is a folk song by Darrell Scott from 1997. As a neo-traditional in Southern folk or bluegrass style, it was not only covered by different performers. He gained broader recognition due to its cross-season use as an outro theme in the television series Justified , in whose train different versions of the play were used. As an (accusatory) song that makes the people in the coal mining areas of the south-western Appalachians their subject, the piece quickly became popular and now counts - similar to the union song Which Side Are You On? - to the popular songs of the region.
history
The original version of You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive was released in 1997 on Darrell Scott's Aloha from Nashville album . Scott, a singer-songwriter belonging to the neo-traditional or alternative country direction , had earned a certain reputation as an accompanist and song supplier and released his debut album, Aloha from Nashville . Designed as a ballad in terms of tempo, the melody and lecture structure of You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive are strongly based on Southern Folk and the bluegrass style of the Southern Appalachians. The lyrics of the song tell, in first-person form, the family (intergenerational) story of a person who grew up in Harlan , Kentucky . The core message of the song, which is repeated from verse to verse and adapted to the respective context, is the message - which also defines the title of the song - that none of the people described in the song made it out of Harlan alive. The individual stanzas sometimes deal with events in which individual (residents) seemed to make the jump. As a (bitter) punchline, however, there is always the reason why this jump did not succeed after all. The chorus of the song deepens the overall message with a gloomy description of the narrowness of the landscape - in which, according to the song, the sun rises at ten in the morning and sets again at three at noon and in which people spend their lives thinking about how they are get away from there.
As a popular folk song ballad, You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive was part of Scott's core repertoire, which was also regularly played at performances. It is included on the live CD Live in NC recorded in 2004 with Danny Thompson and Kenny Malone . The piece became known to a wider audience due to its use as a cross-season outro theme in the television series Justified . Within the series, the plot of which is largely set in Harlan County , three cover versions were used: a 2010 recorded version by Brad Paisley , one by Dave Alvin and one by Ruby Friedman . The connection between song and series was used - for example to formulate a résumé - also during discussions of the series.
Cover versions
The number of recorded cover versions should meanwhile be around two dozen; the iTunes Store from Apple about 2016 listed a two-digit number. In addition to the performers listed above Brad Paisley, Dave Alvin and Ruby Friedman, the song was interpreted by country singers Kathy Mattea and Patty Loveless and the neofolk formation Red Molly . The length and text details vary from time to time. The recording by Ruby Friedman, for example, is three and a half minutes long, while the majority of the rest is around five minutes or even more. Textual differences in detail mainly concern the term "Katharine Mountains" in Darrell Scott's version - a local term for the region around Black Mountain . While some interpretations adopt Scott's description, others - such as those of Dave Alvin and Patty Loveless - contain the overarching geographical designation " Cumberland Mountains ".
More songs related to Harlan
Harlan and the surrounding Harlan County in southeast Kentucky were themed in various folk and country songs - for example the piece Harlan Man by Steve Earle , the title Goin 'Back to Harlan written by Anna McGarrigle and made better known by Emmylou Harris and Harlan County Line , another song by Dave Alvin. Which Side Are You On? Was also created in Harlan . - a union song by the miner woman and strike activist Florence Reece, which was composed during the industrial action in the 1930s and was distributed by Pete Seeger and the Almanac Singers , among others . In a broader sense, the majority of the Harlan pieces listed refer to the rough tradition of the region as well as the working conditions in the coal fields - part of the region's history that attracted national attention in the 1930s and 1970s and Harlan County at times the standing name Bloody Harlan ("Bloody Harlan") brought in. In a broader sense, the (historical) working conditions in the region also deal with the Miner Songs, which were published on the soundtrack to the award-winning documentary Harlan County, USA by Barbara Kopple . In addition to traditionals (such as Lay the Lily Low by Florence Reece), the compilation also includes more recent pieces - such as by Hazel Dickens , Doc Watson and Merle Travis .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Darrel Scott - aloha From Nashville , album info at discogs.com, accessed June 23, 2016
- ↑ Darrell Scott, Danny Thompson & Kenny Malone - Live in NC . Album info at discogs.com, accessed June 23, 2016
- ↑ 'Justified': This season's 'You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive' ( Memento of the original from July 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Rich Copley, Copious Notes, April 10, 2014
- ^ Justified is ending, but seriously: You'll never leave Harlan alive . Alasdair Wilkins, AV Club, April 14, 2015
- ↑ Listed cover versions on discogs.com , query on discogs and in the iTunes Music Store on June 23, 2016
- ↑ Harlan County, USA . Steve Leggett, access allmusic.com on June 23, 2016
