Treesongs for Willow: A Set of Traditional Arboreal Coverfolk

By the time we finally caught pregnant, we had both been teaching for a decade, and that meant the baby name books were right out. After we discarded the archaic and the merely odd, the names that were left were invariably overfamiliar -- we knew "that kid", and thus the name came with baggage we just could not accept.

So we took a look at ourselves. Liberal folk, to put it politically, with a sense of adventure, and a love of the world for what it was. We wanted something organic, something real, something us.

So we traded in the baby books for field guides and herbal identification charts, and named our children after trees. And we started with Willow, because we liked the sound of it, and because we had lived under one once.

My younger child is too young, really, to understand what being named after a tree really means. But the elder one has been interested in it from the start. She asks me to sing her special song about being a tree almost every night before bed. Spotting "her" tree still brings excitement to a long drive. Being trees is something we share like a secret.

Biology made me a father. But the girl who made me Daddy has my heartwood on a string. Her name is Willow, and she turns six this week. Here's a small set of traditional treesongs, just for her.

• Paul Curreri and Devon Sproule, The Weeping Willow (trad.)
  (from Valentine Duets #1)
  
  
• Leon Redbone, The Shade of the Old Apple Tree (trad.)
  (from Any Time)
  
  
• Tony Furtado, Oaktown Ce'eli (trad.)
  (from Tony Furtado Band)
  
  
• Tim O'Brien, Yew Piney Mountain (trad.)
  (from The Crossing)
  
  
• Greg Brown, Green Grows the Laurel (trad.)
  (from Honey in the Lion's Head)
  
  
• Gray Sky Girls, Bury Me Beneath The Willow (trad.)*
  (from Gray Sky Girls)
  
  
• Natalie Merchant, Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow (trad.)*
  (from The House Carpenter's Daughter)

...and previously on Cover Lay Down:

• Mark Erelli covers Bil Morrisey's Birches
  
• Covers of tradsong Cherry Tree Carol by...
  • Colin Meloy, Maria Sangiolo
    
  • Cindy Kallet

* I know the last pair is kind of morbid, but it's hard to find upbeat Willowsongs; unfortunately, though in our house we celebrate Willows for their flexibility, strength, and beauty, most pop culture references seem to play off their nominative weepiness. If anyone knows of more Willowsongs which are not murder ballads, please pass 'em along in the comments; bonus points for any and all Joan Armatrading covers.

America, The Beautiful: Coverfolk for a Thoughtful Fourth

I'm not exactly the patriotic type. I've been to more countries than states; I prefer solitude to mall culture. Heck, we don't even have basic cable. But all power-hungry, commercial/corporate complex, bittersweet modernity aside, I believe in the ideals which frame the constant American dialogue with itself -- including first and foremost the requirement that we keep talking, lest we abdicate our role as government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

And I believe that, by definition, as music which speaks of and for a people, American folk music holds a particular place in that conversation which is America. Folk focuses that conversation, making it real and vivid, whether it is through the lens of policy critique or protest cry, the immigrant experience or the internal monologue of a singer-songwriter struggling to be free.

Checks and balances and a mechanism for self-correction; fireworks and barbecue, and the right to make dumb mistakes and have to live with 'em. Losing love, and falling in it again. Finding hope, and being scared to dream one more time. It's the American way, all of it -- and it's been that way since inception.

Which is to say: if I may sometimes work to change the policies of those in power, through sharing song or through town meeting politics, it is because I love this country. And I hope I never lose that fluttery feeling in my stomach when we come in for a landing at the international terminal, and I know that I am home.

So let other bloggers share patriotic song today. I'd rather take the country as it is: dialogic, complex, open about its faults and favors, and always looking for a better way. And if saying so means posting songs we have posted here before, then so be it -- for these are, after all, timeless songs, with messages that bear repeating.

Happy Birthday, America. Long may your contradictions endear us to you. May you never lose hope. And may we never stop singing.

• Eva Cassidy, American Tune (orig. Paul Simon)
  (from American Tune; more Eva here)
  
  
• Melora Creager, American Girl (orig. Tom Petty)
  (from Perplexions; more Melora here)
  
  
• Danny Michel, Young Americans (orig. David Bowie)
  (from Loving the Alien; more Danny here)
  
  
• Ann Vriend, Rockin' In The Free World (orig. Neil Young)
  (from When We Were Spies; more Ann here)
  
  
• Tony Furtado, Fortunate Son (orig. Creedence Clearwater Revival)
  (from Thirteen; more Tony here)
  
  
• Richard Shindell, Born in the U.S.A. (orig. Bruce Springsteen)
  (from South of Delia; more Richard here)
  
  
• Allison Crowe, Independence Day (orig. Ani DiFranco)
  (from Live at Wood Hall; more Allison here)