Plow to the End of the Row

Last updated
Plow to the End of the Row
AY Plow.jpg
Studio album by
Adrienne Young and Little Sadie
ReleasedApril 13, 2004
Recorded2003 and 2004 in Nashville, Tennessee
Genre Americana, Bluegrass, country, folk
Length48:54
Label AddieBelle
Producer Adrienne Young and Will Kimbrough
Adrienne Young and Little Sadie chronology
Plow to the End of the Row
(2004)
The Art of Virtue
(2005)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg link
Paste Magazine link
WXPN link

Plow to the End of the Row is the 2004 debut album by Nashville, Tennessee-based singer/songwriter Adrienne Young and her band, Little Sadie.

Nashville, Tennessee State capital and consolidated city-county in Tennessee, United States

Nashville is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Tennessee. The city is the county seat of Davidson County and is located on the Cumberland River. The city's population ranks 24th in the U.S. According to 2017 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, the total consolidated city-county population stood at 691,243. The "balance" population, which excludes semi-independent municipalities within Davidson County, was 667,560 in 2017.

Adrienne Young American musician

Adrienne Adeana Young is a Charlottesville, Virginia-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. She is founder and operator of AddieBelle Music which produces her recordings.

Contents

Overview

After attending Belmont University in Nashville, Young worked for two years in various jobs on Music Row. "No one was interested in my music", she says. "I was working in the music business offices, and everyone around me was doing what they wanted to do. It was driving me crazy because I knew I could do it, but you can't save up the money to do a record when you're making seven or eight bucks an hour". Young was also determined to retain ownership of the rights to her songs and recordings, something that runs counter to the way the music industry typically works. In an e-mail to friend and philanthropist Wallace Rasmussen, Young confessed her frustration and admitted that she was thinking of returning to her home state of Florida. Rasmussen responded, "Do you really want to do music? Then you've got to plow to the end of the row".

Belmont University

Belmont University is a private Christian liberal arts university in Nashville, Tennessee. Although the university cut its ties with the Tennessee Baptist Convention in 2007, it continues to emphasize a Christian identity.

Music Row historical district located to the southwest of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Music Row is a historical district located to the southwest of downtown Nashville, Tennessee that is home to numerous businesses related to music, predominantly the country music, gospel music, and contemporary christian music industries.

Florida State of the United States of America

Florida is the southernmost contiguous state in the United States. The state is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Straits of Florida. Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U.S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. The Miami metropolitan area is Florida's most populous urban area. Tallahassee is the state's capital.

Rasmussen fronted her the money to record and release Plow to the End of the Row on her own AddieBelle record label. An early version of the disc, released on a limited basis in 2003, featured several tracks that were ultimately dropped or re-recorded for the national release in 2004. That first configuration included backing from the old-time music band Old Crow Medicine Show. The second version was intended to feature Young's own band, Little Sadie, more prominently.

Old Crow Medicine Show Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States

Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, Remedy, released in 2014, won the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. The group's music has been called old-time, folk, and alternative country. Along with original songs, the band performs many pre-World War II blues and folk songs.

The packaging, designed by Jami Anderson (http://www.jamidesign.com) mimicked the style of the Farmers' Almanac and included a packet of wildflower seeds. It was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Recording Package. There were slight changes to the packaging for the 2004 version, most notably a photo of Young alone was replaced with a shot of her with the whole band. The 2004 Just Plain Folks Music Awards named Plow to the End of the Row Roots Album of the Year, and the track "I Cannot Justify" Best Roots Songs of the Year.

<i>Farmers Almanac</i> American annual periodical

Farmers' Almanac is an annual North American periodical that has been in continuous publication since 1818. Published by Geiger of Lewiston, Maine, the Farmers' Almanac provides long-range weather predictions for both the U.S. and Canada, informative and quirky articles, tips, and valuable calendars, and information on everything from the best days to garden, fish, view planets and meteor showers, and take vacations, to full moon dates and lore, and ways to use natural remedies and life hacks for a healthier, less-stressful life.

The music on the disc is intended to reflect the place of traditional values in a modern world. Both traditional and modern instruments are used in songs to exemplify the unique qualities typical of folk music: simple, direct lyrics and infectious melodies. Young's original songs are seamlessly interspersed with traditional songs. Her ballad "Conestoga" evokes the sound of America's western migration era, followed by the very modern electric guitar-and-bass production style of the breakup song "Poison". A few tracks later, the traditional "Soldier's Joy" itself evokes Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers.

Gid Tanner American musician

James Gideon "Gid" Tanner was an American old-time fiddler and one of the earliest stars of what would come to be known as country music. His band, the Skillet Lickers, was one of the most innovative and influential string bands of the 1920s and 1930s. Its most notable members were Clayton McMichen, Dan Hornsby (vocals), Riley Puckett and Robert Lee Sweat (guitar).

The title track depicts a day in the life of a typical farmer in a series of verses that neither romanticize nor bemoan an existence that most Americans no longer understand. The toil of "rocks in my shoes, dirt in my eyes, working like a dog 'til the day I die", is balanced by the knowledge that "My baby's waitin, for me at the end of the day", and each verse ends with the inescapable reminder that one must indeed "plow to the end of the row".

A video for "Home Remedy" featured that song's co-writer, Will Kimbrough, and received airplay on CMT. The track was named Best Country Song of the Year by the Nashville Scene.

<i>Nashville Scene</i> newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville Scene is an alternative newsweekly in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1989, became a part of Village Voice Media in 1999, and later joined the ranks of sixteen other publications after a merger of Village Voice Media with New Times Media early in 2006. The paper was acquired by SouthComm Communications in 2009. Since May 2018, it has been owned by the Freeman Webb Company. The publication mainly reports and opines on music, arts, entertainment, and local and state politics in Nashville.

As noted by the press, Young also gave voice to the contradictory feelings that many Americans had about the war in Iraq with her song "Blinded by Stars." It begins with a reverential remembrance of the heroes of past wars and then points out that "This was their flag but this ain’t their fight." Then following a warning not to "let the town crier decide if we go to war," she takes that sentiment to a contemporary and personal level by changing the refrain to "This is my flag, but this ain’t my fight."

Young and her band performed at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Live Oak Music Festival, Boston Folk Festival, Rhythm & Roots Festival, and toured extensively in the United States and England to promote the album. It garnered positive reviews from numerous folk and roots music publications as well as mainstream newspapers and magazines.

Track listing (2004 release)

  1. "Plow to the End of the Row" (Adrienne Young/Will Kimbrough) – 3:16
  2. "Leather Britches" (traditional) – 2:39
  3. "Home Remedy" (Adrienne Young/Will Kimbrough) – 3:41
  4. "Sadie's Song" (Adrienne Young/Mark D. Sanders) – 3:59
  5. "Nippers' Corner" (Adrienne Young/Courtney Little) – 4:23
  6. "I Cannot Justify" (Adrienne Young/Will Kimbrough) – 3:26
  7. "Conestoga" (Adrienne Young) – 4:16
  8. "Poison" (Adrienne Young) – 4:42
  9. "Her Eyes Were Watching God" (Adrienne Young/Carter Wood) – 3:40
  10. "Blinded by Stars" (Adrienne Young/Alice Randall) – 4:01
  11. "Soldier's Joy" (traditional) – 2:33
  12. "Marching Jaybird" (traditional) – 1:56
  13. "Lonesome Road Blues" (traditional) – 4:04
  14. "Satan, Yer Kingdom Must Come Down" (traditional) – 2:18

Music Samples

Track listing for original 2003 version

  1. "I Cannot Justify" (Adrienne Young/Will Kimbrough) – 3:26
  2. "Satan, Yer Kingdom Must Come Down" (traditional) – 1:29
  3. "Home Remedy" (Adrienne Young/Will Kimbrough) – 3:41
  4. "Plow to the End of the Row" (Adrienne Young/Will Kimbrough) – 3:16
  5. "Sadie's Song" - alternate version (Adrienne Young/Mark D. Sanders) – 4:13
  6. "Groundhog" (traditional) – 2:01
  7. "Cluck Old Hen" (traditional) – 2:22
  8. "Nippers' Corner" (Adrienne Young/Courtney Little) – 4:25
  9. "Conestoga" (Adrienne Young) – 4:19
  10. "Lonesome Road Blues" - alternative version (traditional) – 4:38
  11. "Poison" (Adrienne Young) – 4:43
  12. "Her Eyes Were Watching God" (Adrienne Young/Carter Wood) – 3:42
  13. "Blinded by Stars" (Adrienne Young/Alice Randall) – 4:00
  14. "Soldier's Joy" (traditional) – 2:34
  15. "Stripes" (Johnny Cash) – 2:53
  16. "Spotted Pony" (traditional) – 2:30
  17. "(Very) Little Birdy" (traditional) – 0:14

Personnel

Related Research Articles

Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the United States Appalachian region. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass has roots in traditional English, Irish, and Scottish ballads and dance tunes, and by traditional African-American blues and jazz. The Blue Grass Boys played a Mountain Music style that Bill learned in Asheville, North Carolina from bands like Wade Mainer's and other popular acts on radio station WWNC. It was further developed by musicians who played with him, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt. Bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe characterized the genre as: "Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin'. It's Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It's blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound."

Bush band

A bush band is a group of musicians that play Australian bush ballads. A similar bush band tradition is also found in New Zealand.

The Paperboys (Canadian band) Canadian folk music band

The Paperboys are a Canadian folk music band from Vancouver that formed in 1991. The Paperboys blend Celtic folk with bluegrass, Mexican, Eastern European, African, zydeco, soul and country influences. The band has had a variety of members and line-ups since its original formation, with Landa remaining as the sole founding member, although veteran banjoist/bassist Cam Salay often returns as a guest performer. Known for consistently creating pop songs with melodic hooks, their music has been called versatile, with a wide range of influences, melding diverse musical influences more successfully than some other Irish rock bands have previously.

Elizabeth Cotten American blues and folk musician, singer and songwriter

Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten was an American blues and folk musician, singer, and songwriter.

Elliott Brood Canadian band

Elliott Brood is a Canadian three-piece, alternative country band formed in 2002 in Toronto, consisting of Mark Sasso on lead vocals, guitar, banjo, ukulele, harmonica, and kazoo, Casey Laforet on guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals, bass pedals, keys, and ukulele, and Stephen Pitkin on percussion, sampler, and backing vocals. The band's style has been categorized as "death country", "frontier rock", or "revival music".

<i>The Art of Virtue</i> album by Adrienne Young

The Art of Virtue is the second CD by Nashville, Tennessee-based singer/songwriter Adrienne Young and her band, Little Sadie.

Jack the Lad were a British folk rock group from North East England formed in 1973 by three former members of the most successful band of the period from the region, Lindisfarne. They moved from the progressive folk rock of Lindisfarne into much more traditional territory and were in the mid-1970s something of a northern counterpart to bands like Fairport Convention. They have also been seen as part of an important roots movement, rediscovering traditional Northumbrian music.

<i>Cold as the Clay</i> 2006 studio album by Greg Graffin

Cold as the Clay is the second solo album by Bad Religion's vocalist Greg Graffin released on July 10, 2006 in Europe, and the following day in the USA. It was released on the label ANTI-. It follows on from Graffin's 1997 release of American Lesion.

The Audreys

The Audreys are a triple ARIA Award-winning Australian blues/roots band who formed in Adelaide, South Australia in 2004. Their fourth studio album, 'Til My Tears Roll Away, was released in March 2014.

Will Kimbrough American singer-songwriter

William Adams "Will" Kimbrough is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer based in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Pine Hill Haints

The Pine Hill Haints are an American traditional bluegrass/folk/honky tonk/country band from Alabama, though the band members themselves describe their unique southern roots music as "Alabama Ghost Music."

<i>Mother McCrees Uptown Jug Champions</i> (album) 1999 live album by Mother McCrees Uptown Jug Champions

Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions is an American folk music album. It was recorded live by the band of the same name at the Top of the Tangent coffee house in Palo Alto, California in July, 1964, and released in 1999.

The Ffilharmonious Jug Band was an Anglo-American Jug band group in England in the late 1960s. Members were American Jeff Wilson, American Jim Johnson, Briton Doug Kyle, and Canadian, Pete Ballan.

<i>Black Mountain Rag</i> 2006 compilation album by Doc Watson, Merle Watson

Black Mountain Rag is the title of a recording by American folk music and country blues artists Doc Watson and Merle Watson, released in 2006. It contains songs taken from albums that Doc and Merle recorded on the Flying Fish label in the 1980s.

This is the discography of American singer-songwriter Will Kimbrough. Several albums credit Will Kimbrough as producer and are listed along with other albums where credited as a musician.

<i>Shaken by a Low Sound</i> 2006 studio album by Crooked Still

Shaken by a Low Sound is the second album of progressive bluegrass group Crooked Still. With repertoire mostly consisting of traditional music the group sounded original with the combination of Aoife O'Donovan's vocals and the unusual banjo-cello-double bass line up.

Hurray for the Riff Raff

Hurray for the Riff Raff is an Americana band from New Orleans, Louisiana. It was formed by Alynda Segarra, a singer-songwriter from the Bronx, New York, after she moved to New Orleans in 2007.

<i>Folk Time</i> 2016 studio album by the Hart Valley Drifters

Folk Time is an album by the Hart Valley Drifters, an American folk music band. It was recorded in 1962 at the studios of KZSU, a radio station at Stanford University. It was released by ATO Records on November 11, 2016.

<i>Before the Dead</i> 2018 live album by Jerry Garcia

Before the Dead is an album by Jerry Garcia. It is a compilation of early recordings of Garcia playing folk and bluegrass music with various other musicians. The recordings were made from 1961 to 1964, before Garcia co-founded the rock band the Grateful Dead. Produced as a four-CD box set, and also as a five-LP limited edition box set, it was released on May 11, 2018.

References