ABSTRACT:  I don�t think Gillian Welch�s music is Old Timey, nor do I think her stories are of long ago people.   They are timeless.   She sings of lovers and addictions, hope and loss, decisions and consequences, God and humanity, and women and men. Her stories are relevant and universal and without time. This song, One More Dollar, is as good an example of songcrafting as you�ll find: compelling story, a perfect match of medium to message, and excellent technical execution, producing an emotionally resonant and soulful product as a whole.   This song  exemplifies  Americana.

Gillian Welch (& David Rawlings)  "One More Dollar" from the album Revival

(Produced by T Bone Burnett, 1996. Grammy nominated Best Contemporary Folk Album.)

INTRODUCTION

Americana music is not a type of Country Music. It�s not Bluegrass, either. It�s not Rock-a-Billy or Appalachian or Folk. It doesn�t need prefix modifiers like:  Neo-, Alt-, Revivalist-, or Retro-. 

In fact, I think one of the difficulties in talking about Americana music is that when we use this term, we usually think we�re applying it to a genre of music, a style or sound as if we should be able to go into a music store and easily find it under a heading, distinct like �Rock�, �Rap�, �Country�. I think it�s a slippery term because it�s not about a place for music to sit, but a place where it comes from. It�s not so much a type of music as a type of artist. It�s more of an overarching term for that organic music that can�t be suppressed and just comes out of people, rather than music made for purposes of filling bins and airtime and wallets. Americana music is involuntary. These are artists, not just musicians. And wrapped up in this type of expression is the very important element of story telling.

And so, Americana artists are a wide-ranging and restless group who express themselves in so many different ways it�s no wonder the only folks that seem to be able to apply the term very properly is the listeners and the artists, leaving those involved in running The Machine to scratch their heads and wonder what to do with these records.

Sometimes artists produce a song, maybe even an album, that perfectly encapsulates the gestalt of a time period. It will bring you back to a year, a feeling, a person and her perfume; it stands for someone we once were. These become signposts or mile markers in our past. They stay right there, reminding us of 1996, 1926 or 2026.

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings don�t make that kind of music.

METHODS

If you listen to music reviewers, they will usually tell you that Gillian & David make Old Time Music. I think reviewers say this because Gill & Dave�s music is organic, pure, distilled, concentrated� and they make it mainly using instruments that have been around a long time. But I don�t think it�s correct to call it Old Time Music.  It is my opinion that they make music outside of time.

In fact, most people used to make this kind of music back before the industrial revolution turned artists into assembly line workers. So, it�s easy to see why Gill & Dave are considered by some to be Old Time Musicians: because they make music that reminds us of the kind of music people used to make when music was not produced to fit neatly into identifiable slots. Indeed, Gill & Dave create musical postcards, acoustographs, songs that outline people and their stories with music coloring in the emotions. And from the snapshot we�re given, we know the people in the stories have histories and futures. They write and sing about people we know; sometimes they even write about us.

Some artists make their mark by stretching the bounds of their particular flavor of music and end up occasionally crystallizing a moment of time; the best of this type of undertaking can define a generation. Others make music to deliberately match a story or idea or emotion rooted inside them, and at their best, they may occasionally produce a single example that defines their genre.

I don�t think that one could find a more definitive example of Americana music than that which Gillian Welch and David Rawlings produce.  Among their excellent body of work is a song that I think exemplifies a perfect marriage of story, theme, lyric and pathos with songwriting excellence and shows off their particular talent of musicianship, harmony and interplay: One More Dollar, from their 1996 album Revival.  Speaking holistically, if I were to choose a single song to represent Americana, this one would be on my short list.

RESULTS

The story Gill tells in this song is an effective, visceral version of a theme common to the �Old Time Music� genre that her music finds itself - the story of a protagonist leaving his home and his love in order to make some money, with plans of returning as soon as the illusive next dollar is made. This story may be one of the universal themes that we can all relate to, working hard and making a personal sacrifice with the expectations of a better life just to come�   and of missing home.

 A long time ago I left my home

 For a job in the fruit trees

 But I missed those hills with the windy pines

 For their song seemed to suit me

 One more dime to show for my day

 One more dollar and I’m on my way

 When I reach those hills, boys, I’ll never roam

 One more dollar and I’m going home

As Gill and David sing, David�s guitar resonates the great distance between past and future, between intention and outcome, between hope and loss, and we share that longing for home, share the ache produced from a detached existence, understand the regret born from poor decisions, long shots that haven�t paid off, measures that come up short.

The story continues and time reveals an uncooperative fate:

 No work said the boss at the bunk house door,

 There’s a freeze on the branches,

 So when the dice came out at the bar downtown,

 I rolled and I took my chances

 A long time ago I left my home

 Just a boy passing twenty

 Could you spare a coin and a Christian prayer

 For my luck has turned against me

Their musical style and instrumentation combine with their acclaimed, unique and perfectly balanced vocal harmony to match the lyrical environment Gillian has set for her character. These elements form to produce an obvious first impression of the song being set in the past. The lyrics �One more dime to show for my day...� and ��a job in the fruit trees�, as well as an allusion to living in a bunk house, missing the �hills� and �pines� of home, and the brokenness of asking for �a coin or Christian prayer� add richness and specific imagery to create a story that is very likely set in depression-era Appalachia.  And though this affective song works perfectly well at that level, I think its enduring power comes from our ability to immediately and personally relate with it in our own current and specific circumstances.

Though I had listened to the album and loved this song since I found Gillian Welch in the late �90s, I found myself as this story�s lead character a few years ago. Just as the young man in the story had done, I had left home and was trying to make my living, following the promise of work. I was also sending my money back home and pining for the same hills as the fellow Gillian sings about. And as I sat there in my Iraqi bunk house I found my own fate just as fluid and unmanageable as he found his. Also like him, I swore that I�d never again leave home, if I could just do my time and make it back there.

I�m sure this song would be poignant to any immigrant of opportunity who has pined for home, hilly or otherwise.  It is a powerful song, has a nearly universal emotion-laden topic, and is a great example of art done right: compelling story, unique specifics applied to a relevant shared theme, a perfect match of medium to message, and excellent technical execution that synergistically combine to produce an emotionally resonant and soulful work of art as a whole.

CONCLUSION

I don�t think Gillian�s music is Old Timey, nor do I think her stories are of long ago people. They are timeless. She sings of lovers and addictions, hope and loss, light and pain, family and work, God and humanity, decisions and consequences, and women and men. Of course like any good writing, her stories have people, and her people have stories;   But her songs are great because her people have people and her stories have stories. They are relevant and universal and without time. This song, One More Dollar, is an excellent example of songcrafting done right. It moves me because it�s about me� it�s about all of us.

This song is about regular folks� but it�s not Folk Music; it chronicles our country, but it�s not Country Music.   It is Americana.

Gillian Welch has made 4 full length albums and has contributed to many collections and tribute albums, and was one of the major thrusts behind the �Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?� movement. She and David Rawlings continue to tour, make music, influence other musicians and define Americana.

Doc  English   has been a combat medic and an officer in the US Navy, worked with the USMC as a researcher in the field of Medical Ecology.  He is currently is a professor of animal ecology and researches mating behaviors, acoustic properties of mating calls and consequences of mate choice among animals that use acoustics as part of their mating ritual.   It may not be coincidental that he also enjoys traditional styles of music, in particular the rich and varied styles of  Americana.

Author: C. Eric Banister