Since the dawn of time, we've shared stories. They remind us of who
we were, who we are, and who we wish to be. Through
story, our ancestors speak to us, passing on wisdom and truth from the
past, and stories prepare us for the future if only we listen. Welcome
to episode number three of Listen. My name is Daniel Foytech and I love
a good story. If you're here, hopefully you do too. If you're
returning listener, thanks for coming back to hear more stories, and of course
hello to any new listeners. This podcast is called Listen and it's about one
of my favorite activities, listening to great stories. As I always say,
listen is your show. It will grow by sharing, So if you love
story, please share it with your friends and family. It's really easy to
do. It helps us increase awareness about traditional telling, and of course,
as I also always say, if you know a great storyteller who is working
on building their following and who we should feature on this show, contact me
at feedback at ninth story dot com and let me know. The story featured
in this episode was recorded live at the two fifteen National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro,
Tennessee. So a big thanks to Susan O'Connor of the International Storytelling Center
for allowing me to record at the festival. You can get more information on
the International Storytelling Center and the National Festival by visiting them online at Storytelling Center
dot net. Today's featured teller is Adam Booth. Adam's storytelling blends traditional folklore,
music, and an awareness of contemporary Appalachia. I had the great privilege
of meeting at the twenty fifteen Three Rivers Storytelling Festival and then getting a chance
to record him at the twenty fifteen National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro. Please support
Adam and the other tellers you hear on this podcast by picking up one of
their CDs and attending their live tellings whenever you can. You can find Adam
at Adam Dashbooth dot com. It's a great story that you're about to hear,
definitely tied into Appalachian culture and I'm not gonna say too much. It's
just a fun story. Just sit back, relax and enjoy it. Hi,
I'm your mc linn ford from Columbus, Ohio. Adam is both a
mentor and a student. He teaches Appalachian studies and storytelling at Shephard University,
and he studies with Debbie Thomasin as an apprentice, the recipient of an us
In JJ Renault Mentorship grant, but that has extended into a lifelong friendship between
Devi and Adam. He's here today to share something very special with you,
a gift from his own storytelling skills, contemporary Appalachian skills and traditional folklore and
folk tale. Please welcome to share his story Ashton. Mister Adam Booth,
Hi, everybody. I'm so glad that you made the journey up here.
I understand that it's raining down at the library tent, but there's a chance
of snow up here at the Jonesborough Alps. So but really, it is
an honor to have this so many people. It's it's humbling to see you
all here. When I was in graduate school, I studied musicology and I
wrote my master's thesis on a composer who was friends with Bernstein and Copeland.
His name is Lucas Foss, and I got to go up to Boston and
interview him shortly before his death. And at the end of the interview,
which went into my thesis, he said one of the most touching things to
me, which has stayed with me. I don't want to share it with
you, he said, thank you for caring so that you are here.
I want to thank you for caring. I want to share a story with
you today that is a special story to me. I'm sure if you've heard
me tell yesterday, you know that i'd tell some tall tales. Also,
is it okay? If I scoot this that way about that much? I'm
getting reigned on. It's right there, which is why I saw Reggie,
you had the umbrella right Okay, Yes I could. Yeah, I might
have to call in for that. I've been inspired by the playwright August Wilson,
who's devoted his life to writing a cycle of plays called the Pittsburgh Cycle,
as it's often called, and it's a set of ten plays that take
place for each decade of the twentieth century. And I want to do that
with storytelling. I want to tell a set of ten long stories that retell
traditional folk tales and set them in Appalachia, my home, looking at important
characters and events and Appalachia, and also adding some music and a little bit
of my own storytelling, narrative and twist to it. So that's what I'm
gonna share with you today, one of those stories. I really hope you
enjoy it. Ashton, Ashton, get over here and make me one of
them musics. Ashton turned around from that hot skillet, looked across that front
room at her husband, Billy. She cocked her head to one side and
said, now, Billy, I done told you a thousand times. I
don't make no musics. I sing songs. All right? Then you moved
that sassy little behind to yours over here, and you sing me one of
them's songs. She shot him a glance, all right, and then she
took her time moving to the seat next to him. Along the way,
she picked up her guitar, made herself real comfortable right next to him,
and slowly started thumbing those strings. How about this one, oh beautiful damsel
in the garden? The soldier he was passing by, and he stopped a
view one single lady, saying, pretty fair, miss, would you fancy
me? You're not the man of noble honor, You're not the man I
had taken you to be for you would an impose on a single lady who's
fitting for your bride to be? Yeah? That's what I like, Sing
me a little more of it. I have a true love in the army,
and he's been gone for seven long years, and if he's gone for
three years longer, no man on earth shall marry me. Ashton was born
at the beginning of the century, right around the turn, in a little
coal mining community, not far from the Cumberland Gap, that place where Kentucky
and Tennessee and Virginia are all pushing at each other to get out of the
way. She had been born into this little coal mining town, and everything
there was coal mining. Her daddy had died down in the coal mine,
just like her granddaddy, and soon enough her husband, Lillie, would die
down there too. Ashton didn't have a whole lot going for her. She
wasn't what you would call pretty. She wasn't very tall. She had a
long, low brow. She had a shorn cliff of a nose, thin
lips, a weak chin, large cheek bones, and tiny little eyes the
color of the cold that her husband mined out of the ground. Sad look
always was on her face. She had big, bushy hair, nasty hair
that was the collar of a squirrel's pelt. When the winner would be real
bad that year. But the one thing she did have going for her was
her singing voice. See, when Ashton was a little girl, she had
learned all the old love ballads from her grandmother, and in secret, she
had learned to play the guitar a little bit against her daddy's wishes. Whenever
he caught her thumbing those strings, he'd say something like, give it to
me, Ashton. You know, no, woman, don't play no guitar.
But she learned anyway. She learned to sing those songs from her grandmother,
and she carried that tradition in her heart. Her husband loved those songs.
Even now, when she was a bit older, in her upper twenties,
and and her body was starting to fill out to look more like those
women in the old country where her grandparents had come from, Billy was just
as in love with her as the day they'd met. Whenever she'd sing one
of those songs, Billy calls me his tanager. It's right, it's right,
Ashton, you're might tanager, like one of those real pretty birds that
SIT's high up in the tree somewhere. You don't always see him, but
you can hear that sweet song they sing and every day, as he would
be preparing to go down into the mine, Ashton would pack his tin up
with a meal, so that when she put it in his hands, in
those rough, dirty calloused hands, she knew he would take that meal with
him and have something warm in his belly for that shift that went all the
way to midnight. And she'd singing one of those old songs so that she
knew that he would have a song in his heart. She'd watch as the
screen door would slam and it's jam and he would walk down that dusty road
to the number seven mine, knowing that he'd be all right that night.
Now you might think that Ashton kind of a funny name for a young woman,
but it wasn't for her. It was a family name. She'd been
given her mama's maiden name, and Ashton was also a bit of a ford
telling on her life. See, coal miners don't make a lot of money,
and they didn't have a whole lot, and whenever she could, she
would pick up extra work around the town, and usually for a woman like
Ashton, that meant cleaning houses. But since most of the people in that
town were also coal miners, there was usually only one house she went to
clean that house that was a little bit bigger than all the rest, built
slightly different than the other houses in the town. There the operator's house where
the coal mining operator, mister Ferguson and his wife and their young daughter lived,
and that's where she was on this particular day, on her knees into
the chimney, packing out the ashes, singing a song to herself to help
the time pass. Perhaps your true love he is wounded. Perhaps he's on
some battlefields laying her hahapsies to some fair girl married. Perhaps you'll never seem
again. When the lady Ferguson entered the room, Ashton, come here.
Ashton backed out a little bit, stood up and ran her hands over her
skirt and her blouse, which were covered in dust. Her face was sooty.
She looked in the direction of the lady Ferguson and her daughter, but
not in their eyes. Always down a little bit, ma'am Ashton, come
here. Ashton moved across the room, past that table and stood there a
few feet away from the woman and her daughter. Ashton, I want you
to teach our daughter one of those songs that you know, ma'am Ashton,
teach her one of the really pretty ones, you know, the songs that
other people don't know or remember anymore. Teach her one of the very pretty
ones, and make sure she knows all of the words to it, ma'am,
Ashton, don't you want to know why I want you to teach our
daughter one of your songs? Ma'am. It was in the newspaper. It's
right there on the table. Go see for yourself. Ashton turned over,
and there on the table was folded in quarters the paper. She picked it
up, look down the length of it, brought it down and said,
I don't see it. What is it? She said, it's right there
in the corner under the advertisement. Look again, I can't find that.
Maybe you could just read it to me. The lady Ferguson took the paper
and said, it's right here, Ashton. It says a representative of the
Victor Talking Machine Company will be in Bristol for ten days to make recordings of
hillbilly music. The recording music. Now, Ashton, you can purchase it
and play it on machines in your home, so you don't have to go
and listen to people perform the music anymore. Ashton looked down towards the Lady
Ferguson's knees. Ashton, They are paying people to record music. Do you
understand what I'm telling you? If you excuse me, I got work to
do. And she turned around and went back to the chimney and got on
her knees again. And even though she hadn't answered the Lady Ferguson, she
had heard every word, and that idea just rolled around inside of her head,
made its way down next to her heart and pounded with yearning, so
that the next day that pounding had gone into her heart and was overtaking the
nerves that she was trying to push down. And finally she had gained the
courage to bring up the idea. As she was packing that ten, she
held it tight. Billy, I was thinking, you and I we never
took us a vacation. What do you think we got got away and took
a vacation just you and me? He placed his hands on that pail,
his calloused, rough hands, Ashton, what are you talking about? Well?
I was thinking that, you know we've never been to a city before.
Well you think we take us a trip over to Bristol? Pulled that
ten out of our hands and said, Ashton, you know we can't do
that. Well, Billy, I was thinking that maybe we could go there
for a reason. I heard that they was recording music there, and since
i'm your little tanager, we could go there and I could record some of
my musics that you like so much. They're paying for it, and since
we're always hard up on money, I thought it would just help us out.
He took that ten and threw it down on the chair, Ashton,
as fool talk. Where'd you get those ideas in that little head? Ears?
Don't you understand what kind of place we live in. This is a
coal mining town, and I am a coal miner. I go down into
that hole every single day and I mind that coal and I bring it back
up here, and then I come home and go to sleep, and I
go back into that hole and mind the coal out. And that is how
we make our money. Don't you understand that? Ain't nobody gonna pay you
for none of your musics. Nobody does that, especially a woman like you.
Don't you understand what your place is. You are a coal miner's wife.
It is your job to make that ten of food from me. So
when I go down there, I can remember you, baby. He picked
that ten back up and said now as he brushed that calloused forefinger under her
chin, and she turned, make me one of them musics. Well,
if he's wounded, hope he's happy, or if he's on battlefield's lane,
or if he's to some fair girl married. I love the girl earl that
married him. The screen door slammed in its jam and he headed down that
dusty road, and just after midnight when he came back in, Ashton was
already in the bed, rolled over to one side, hoping that he wouldn't
notice she was still away. It was three days later. She was humming
to herself, packing up his tin, placed it in his hands, and
watched as the screen door slammed and he walked down that dirt road and just
disappeared off in the distance towards the number seven line. And as soon as
he was gone, she closed the front door. She'd been thinking non stop
about going to Bristol, and even though he had told her no, she
had decided yes, because this is what was going to change their lives.
She turned the key in the lock and walked directly to her room. There
in front of the bed was that old foot lock or her grandmother's chest.
She opened it up and pulled out her dress, the one dress she owned.
She was going to the city and knew she needed to dress up,
so she laid it down on the bed, stripped off her clothes, put
her dress on, smoothed it down. It didn't quite fit the way it
had once, but it was going to have to do. She turned around
and went toward the front, picked up the neck of her guitar, but
then set it back down. See, she was going to have to get
to Bristol on the train and wasn't sure if she'd be able to take this
guitar with her. Just had to make do. She went back to the
door, unlocked it, opened it and looked through that screen door. She
looked ahead, not just in space, but in time. All right,
Ashton, you gotta do this. She went out the door, closed the
front door, let the screen door slam, and headed off towards the where
the train tracks were. The train was sitting there and just on the other
side of the coal mining operator's house. And she walked down that dusty road,
and as she went, little children started laughing and pointing, and the
adults who were holding their hands looked off in the other direction. She just
kept going. See, it wasn't often that you would see a fully grown
woman walking down the main street in her wedding dress. But she had a
mission, so she kept going, This is what you gotta do, Ashton.
Don't mind none of their talk. This is what you gotta do.
And finally she was standing on the other side of the Ferguson's. She looked
up at that train. It was big and heavy and standing there all right,
Askton, you gotta get on this train. This is going to change
your future. Now, she didn't have a ticket for the train. She
was going to have to hitch the train, and she stood there looking at
it, something she had never done before. But she had a mission.
And as she looked at the train, the wheel started to move, and
up there at the top of that engine, she could barely see the handle
of the shovel as the fireman was heaving the coal in. And the train
started going slow. But her heart was racing, and she watches the next
car went all right, Ashton, she thought, you can do this,
And here come the first of the box car. It was picking up speed
and she saw the doors were open, and this one was full of cargo
s. The next car came by. All right, Ashton, you can
do it. And as the next one came by, she thought, if
I'm gonna get on this train, oh, I gotta start moving. She
took off, running alongside next to it. But she had this long wedding
dress on and her legs were short and thick, and she couldn't run nearly
as fast as the train was going, even though it wasn't at top speed.
She ran along, looking over her shoulder, trying not to trip and
get caught up on the hem of her dress. And then she saw the
next train, the train car that was coming. The doors were open also,
and there was a nice metal handle coming off of it, and as
it came by, she reached up and was able to grab onto it,
but she couldn't manage to swing her other arm up and catch hold of it,
and it was starting to drag her just a little bit. Uh huh,
and her dress was getting dirty. Now she was dragged along the ground,
and she swung with all her might like this, And the next thing
she knew, a hand was holding onto hers and pulling her up into that
car. As her eyes drew accustomed to the darkness. She looked over and
on the other side the doors of this car were closed, but there were
large slats of wood that had holes between them, and knives of sunlight shone
through. She looked over in the corner. There were a few men shooting
dice at the ground. There were veils of straw here and there, and
plenty of loose straw around. And as the wind came in the open door
that she come in from, it picked up some of that straw and turned
it around in a whirlwind, put it back down and picked it up.
And as she was looking all around, she hadn't noticed that the hand that
had pulled her in there was still holding on and he'd been talking to her.
She looked up. Huh, what'd you say? I said, I
sure feel bad for that fella. What are you talking about? She looked
up at this man. He had a wiry beard, His hair was kind
of long and back this way. His face was leathery. He was tall,
sinewy, but strong. His clothes were kind of cut up, and
he smiled. His lips made a real pretty shape, but he was missing
some of his teeth. The fella you left at the altar, She pulled
her hand back and said, oh, shoot, I didn't leave nobody at
the altar. Well, then why are you dressed like that? Because I'm
going to the city. I'm going to Bristol. They're recording songs there,
and I'm a singer and I'm gonna go and record me some of my songs
there. Oh is that so a little lady. Well, wherever you're going,
you're welcome to stay here. My name is Parch, and I've been
riding these rails just about as long as since I was able to stand out,
just like most of the rest of these guys, and we know every
direction and every rail like the back of our hands. Make yourself at home.
He turned and hollered over at the guys who were shooting dice in the
corner and say, hey, fellas, this bride here says she's going to
Bristol, says she's a singer. What do you say we sing on one
of our songs. He walked over to where there were some bals a straw
from behind, he pulled up a guitar was missing a few strings, a
little beat up, but it would do the job. Ashton watched his Parch
laid himself down with his back up against one of those bills, one leg
stretched out, the other one up like a rooftop, and he began thumbing
in a three quarter time umdum bum bumb bob. I'm righting on the rais.
I'm righting on the rams, and when I get there out turn right
round. I'm righting on the raiss. And the music had caught the guy's
attention. From the corner, they kept the dice on the floor, turned
around, came over. Parch watched as Ashton was about to sit down right
next to him. He didn't want her to dirty her dress, so he
handed the guitar off to one of these fellows, who just picked right back
up in time. We've got no place to call home. We've got no
place to call home. So when we get there, will turn right around.
We've got no place to call home. Parch was digging behind some of
that straw, and he pulled up this long stick with a poppy red kerchief
tied up. He undid it and pulled out, as if by magic,
this long yellow scarf made out of silk. He flicked it like this.
It unfurled. He flicked it again over here, and it just situated itself
on top of those wide floorboards, and then he gestured and Ashton sat down.
She got pretty comfortable, put her head back on some of that straw,
and listened to the song with a big smile on her face. We're
always homeward bound. Where always homeward bound? So there will right all round?
She was out. The next thing she knew she was being shook on
the shoulders. What and she sat right up Parcher's gap tooth grin was right
in her face. Didn't you say you were going to Bristol? Yeah,
I am, well this is Bristol. She jumped up. Oh my goodness,
she realized that the train had stopped. Oh thank you so much for
getting me up. I gotta get down here. Y'all have been real nice
to me. Hold on a minute. I don't know what fella you're coming
here to, Mary, but I want you to look a little nicer.
He picked up that yellow silk scarf by the end, flicked and then wrapped
it around that bushy hair of hers, tied it underneath, said now now
you can go. And the same hand that had brought her up onto that
train car was the one that was lifting her back down. Thank you,
parche, Thank you fellas. Hold on, now, do you know how
you're getting back home? Back home? It had never occurred to her how
to even get back home. No, she said, I don't know what
to do. Well, what time do you need to be home? Well,
Billy gets off his shift at midnight, so I guess I need to
be back home by midnight. All right, Well, the last train that
heads back your way leaves here just after nine o'clock, so you better be
on that train or you won't be home. Thank you. She kissed his
hand. Let go. As that train started moving again, the men waved
and she waved back as that train just went down the rail and disappeared.
And as the last car went, she looked over and there was an enormous
yellow brick chain deepot. She looked down the rails. She was up on
a hill. And she looked down that hill and there was Bristol. It
was a city. She had never been to a city in her whole life.
She'd only heard about him. She didn't even know what they looked like.
Across the main street right there, there was this metal sign that spanned
the whole way, with an arrow pointing in both directions. She followed down
that road and there were buildings made out of bricks on both sides of the
street, taller than any she'd ever seen. She counted the windows to see
how tall they were, one, two, three stories high. There were
automobiles parked right there on the main street, and she looked could see on
some of the side streets horses tied up to posts. She had arrived,
and she took off, running just as fast as her little legs would carry
her down that hill. I'm in Bristol over here that she wasn't even looking,
and ran right into a gentleman who had a suit on. You should
watch where you're going. Oh, I'm really sorry, she said, excuse
me. Do you happen to know where they're recording the music here? Said,
well, of course I do. Everybody does. You Just follow this
sidewalk to the first building right here, the old hat factory. That's where
they're making the recordings. Oh, thank you so much, thank you.
She ran down that sidewalk, which she was not used to. She got
to that building, turned the handle, walked in and there was a staircase
that led up to the second floor, and she knew that's where she needed
to go because she could hear the music coming down. As she walked every
one of those steps, her heart started bounding faster and faster, and the
music got louder and louder. And when she got to the top, there
was a little landing and a door with a glass window, and the music
that was played in there was coming out of that glass window. It swirled
around her and surrounded her heart. My heart is sad, and I'm in
sorrow, yes, all for the one I love. And well I see
him again, knowing ever till I meet him in heaven above. She looked
through that glass window, and there in the center of the room were three
musicians. There was a man. He was tall and thin, and he
had a hat on that was the color of calf skin, and he had
a fiddle tucked under his arm. Next to him was a shorter woman that
had an autoharp cradled like a baby, and she was singing and strumming.
And on the other side there was a woman that was singing and playing a
guitar. And that's where Ashton's gaze stopped, because she had never seen another
woman who could play the guitar, whoa many under the weeping willow yes,
under the weeping willow tree. So he may not where I'm sleeping, and
pray HAPs he will weep over me. She looked in front of him.
There was this big contraption. There's a part on it that was spinning around
and around. She looked past it, and over in the corner there was
a man. And in this corner there was a man. The man over
there had his arms crossed. He was dressed in a three piece suit that
he had stripped down to one piece, a white dress, shirt pants,
and he was watching intently. Over in this corner the other man in a
three piece suit. Also. He had a lit cigarette in his hand,
but he wasn't smoking it, he was just watching. They told me that
he did not love me. I could not believe it was true. Untiling
angel whispered softly, he is proving untrue to you. And the music just
came all around her, and she knew she was in her place. This
is where she belonged. These people were her people. Oh, barby me
under the weeping willow yes, under the weeping willow tree, So he may
nowhere I'm sleeping, and pray hats he will weep over me. And when
they were done, the men stepped forward. The one who was lesser dressed
stopped that contraption. The one who was still fully dressed went to the man
and the calf skin colored happened hat and said, well, a p what
do you think about that one? Well, there, Ralph, I'm gonna
have to ask these ladies here, Sarah Maybell, what do you think about
that one? The woman with the auto harp looked up and said, I
think we better do it again. All right, Ralph, we'd like to
do it again. Okay. He signaled to the other gentleman, who took
off the tall round part and put another one of those cylinders on, set
it spinning. They went back to their corners, and Ashton watched as they
sang the whole song again, And when that was over, they did it
again, and she just watched lovingly from outside of that window. And when
they were happy, they put their instruments back in their cases, shook hands
with Ralph and the other gentleman and turned to go, excuse me, ma'am.
They walked down the stairs and the door was open, and Ashton could
see those two men talking to each other, and that was her chance.
She ran in, Hello, I'm here. The men were startled. They
turned there's this strange looking woman in a wedding dress and a yellow silk scarf
around her head. Can we help you? Yes, she said, actually
maybe you can. I'm here to sing you some songs. Do you have
an appointment? Oh no, I don't have no appointment, but I'm here
right now. I'll sing you some songs. You're ready. We're very sorry,
man, but we're working on a very tight schedule. You'll have to
come back tomorrow or the next day. Oh no, oh no, I
can't come back tomorrow. I'm here right now. I'm gonna sing you some
songs right now. I'm real good. Billy calls me his little tanger.
You're ready, you're ready, and their hands were up and they were pushing
her back towards that door. We're very sorry, man, but we're on
an incredibly tight schedule and just can't see you right now. No, no,
she said, I'm here right now, I'm real good. Just let
me sing one of my songs where you'll love it. You'll make a recording
of it. They pushed her back out to the landing and she'd had enough,
so she just opened her mouth and started to sing, and by the
end of the first line their hands had gone down. Ralph looked at the
other man and when she was done, he looked back at her and said,
we might have time to record one song. Come in. The other
man led her over to that contraption and said, I would gather that you've
never used a microphone before. No one never even heard the word what is
it? Well, it's this thing right here in front of you, and
any music that comes out of your mouth, we'll get taken into it and
put on this spinning cylinder right here. I'm gonna get it started. We'll
go back to our corners, and then you just start singing when you're ready
and indicate when you're done. I'll thank y'all so much. This is real
great, real nice to y'all. And he set that machine on and the
cylinder started turning, and they went back to their corners and Asha closed her
eyes and just started singing her a little hard out, hard is cold miner's
life. You want to know the truth, well, just ask his wife.
You think the strife is hard, but you'll see the hard her heart
falls on me, yes, because he loves me and he strikes me and
hugs me like I'm do oh, But then he won't kiss me. He's
gonna miss me because my time will be through. Yes, I said,
first he hugs me, and he strikes me and loves me, he like
I'm do oh, But then he won't kiss me. He's gonna miss me
because my time will be through. And when she finished the song, the
men were looking at each other, and they looked back at her, and
Ralph said, did you write that song? Uh? Huh, I sure
did. Do you have others? Oh? I got all kinds of songs
I could sing for you. Well, we'd like to record them all.
He turned to his assistant and said, go check out the machine. Then
man went forward and looked at it and said, I'm gonna need to tighten
some things on it. Ralph turned to Ashton and said, ma'am, you
can take a little break. How much time will we need? The other
man said, well, they'll probably take me about fifteen minutes to get it
set up. All right, Well, you can come back at about oh
quarter after nine, quarter after nine? She said, well, what time
is it right now? Well, fifteen minutes before that? Well, what
time is it now? Well? The clock's right there. Tell me what
time is it. Well, it's nine o'clock. Nine o'clock. She said,
I gotta go, I gotta go, and she turned and was running
back towards the door. No, ma'am, they said, wait, we
want to record more of your songs, but they couldn't stop her. She
was out the door and into the landing, and they took off running after.
Wait, ma'am, Wait, we're not done with you. When they
got to the door, she was halfway down the stairs. They tripped over
each other trying to get down there, but by the time they got to
the bottom of the stairs, she was already running up the road. And
when they went out the door, they saw a woman in a wedding dress
the yellow scarf, climbing up onto a train car that was just starting to
move forward. But ma'am, you didn't even tell us what your name is.
She was gone. And it was three weeks later. Ashton was standing
over the cast iron skillet. Two cut circles of bologney were dancing there.
It was a special night. She was singing to herself when she heard the
screen door rattling in the jam. She turned and recognized the face immediately outside,
with his face pressed up against the screen. Hello, Hello, is
anybody in here? She walked slowly towards the door. Hello, excuse me.
My name is Ralph Pierre. I'm a representative of the Victor Talking Machine
Company. Is anybody in here? And she slowly made her way to the
door. Can I help you? Yes, he said, my name is
Ralph Pierre. I'm a representative of the Victor Talking Machine Company. I have
a talking machine here in this chest he pointed next to him, and there
was a trunk, And I have a recording that I would like to play
for you. I've been carrying it through all the little towns across these little
hills, playing it for different people to see if anyone could recognize the woman's
voice on this recording. I wonder if I might play it for you.
It'll just take a few moments of your time. No, you don't gotta
it's me. He looked through the screen. It was darker inside the house,
and said, maybe I should just play it for you first. She
said, No, you don't got it. It was me. It was
in Bristol. I sang your song and I ran out real early. I
had to go. You wanted more, but I had to go. The
story was right. But he looked at her and she did not look like
the same person. Her hair was big, bushy, wasn't combed, her
clothes were dirty and threadbare. Ma'am, I'm real sorry to bother you,
but maybe if your mother is here or you have a sister that I could
play this recording for. She said, I'll prove it to you, and
she started singing the song, and his shoulders went down and he exhaled,
ma'am, you are one hard person to five. I took your recording back
to our office in New York. My boss loved it. He wants to
reproduce it and release it in an edition of five hundred. And he also
wants to bring you up to New York to record those other songs you said
you knew. Would you like to come, great. I'll have two tickets
sent to you by Western Union within two weeks, one for you and a
guest. You'll be able to take the train from here up to New York.
Thank you. He turned to go, picked up the handle and then
dropped it and turned back around and said, oh, I almost forgot,
And he reached in to a soup pocket. He pulled his hand out of
his pocket, his fingers being both neat and slim. He pulled out this
thin white envelope. Ashton watched, and a bit of jewel shone from his
hand there to his feet. She fell for it was him, This is
your payment for the recording you've already made for us, a payment. She
pushed the screen door open that wide, and he slipped that envelope through.
She took it in her hands. Precious lifted the flap and pulled out the
bill. How much is it? Why, that's the same payment we've given
everyone who's recorded for us. Fifty dollars, fifty dollars, fifty dollars,
fifty dollars, fifty dollars, fifty dollars. She wasn't sure if she was
saying it out louder in her head. Fifty dollars, fifty dollars. She
hadn't even noticed that he had picked up the handle and pulled the crate on
the way and was gone. Fifty dollars fifty dollars. They never had,
fifty dollars. She had never seen. Fifty dollars, fifty dollars. I
gotta tell Billy, I gotta tell Billy I did it. She put the
money back in the envelope, and she turned and she ran into her room
and put the envelope under her bed, and then ran around the bed and
then picked it back up and brought it back out to the front room and
set it there on that seat where she always sang those songs for him,
so that when he came in the door he would see it. I know
it was real. She slipped on her shoes and she was about to run
out the door when something told her better. She turned around because she could
smell burning. She went back to the skillet and pulled it off and said,
I'll deal with that. After a while, she turned back around went
out the door. The screen door slammed, and it's jam and she took
off just as fast as her thick little legs would carry her down that dirt
road towards the number seven mine. And just as she left her house.
Over at the number seven mine, two miners had made their way up to
the mouth toward the foreman, and the superintendent stood, you gotta get down
there right now. It's bad. It's worse than we thought. They looked
at their clipboards and then looked at the men. It's real bad. You
know where that kettle bottom fell out earlier. Well, the whole ceiling's done
caved in. We gotta get down there right now. Those four men climbed
into those small low mine cars. The train started pulling off just as Ashton
arrived, and so when she got there, there was no one guarding,
and she did something that she knew better then, something that her daddy and
her granddaddy and everyone in town had told her and everybody else never to do.
She went into the mine. And when she got in there, that
last low mine car was just starting to get covered into shadows, and she
jumped into it. So it wasn't the first train she'd hopped on in her
life. She crouched down, and as the last bit of light was taken
away, she noticed there in the bottom was a little carbide lamp. She
grabbed onto it and stayed real low, and it was just a few seconds
before she was in complete darkness. She had to rely upon her field until
she was going down, down, down, down, into the belly of
the earth. When the train stopped, she peeked her head up just a
little bit and could see there towards the front of those mine cars little head
lamps and fired on the men got out. Soft beams of light were cast
this way, and they disappeared. She climbed out of that car, crouched
down. It was damp, it was incredibly dark. She held her hand
up against the reflecting pan of that carbide lamp and struck it across the striker
and lit up a little warm being the light, and she used it and
made her way down into one of those rooms where they had minded out,
such that there were just pillars supporting the ceiling. Billy Billy Billy, and
the only response was the echo of her own voice, Billy Billy, Billy
Billy. She didn't see anyone, she didn't hear anything, and she decided
to go back towards the train to the other side. She stood up and
whacked her hat on, fell down. It's only that high down there.
The lamp fell out of her hand on the top came open and the water
poured out of it. Was now useless, so she had to crawl back
until she could feel the rail and the mine car. She went around to
the front of it, to the other side. I can feel that it
went down a little bit. She thought she was in another room. Billy,
Hello, Billy, if anybody see Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy,
Billy. The voice the name just echoed through the empty caverns. Down
there, Billy Billy, And as she called out from somewhere deeper in the
mine, a minor hollered out an epitaph. Fire the hole fire, And
the the next thing she knew, there was a sound louder than anything she'd
heard in her whole life, and it seemed that the whole world shook,
and what had been the ceiling was now on the ground, and even though
it was too dark for her to see it, she felt the whole thing,
and as it fell down there, crushing her, she called out one
last time, Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy, and the
name Billy reached the ear Billy of the owner Ashton. Did y'all hear?
That was that Ashton? But the miners weren't listening to Billy. They were
trying to get out of there, because that was the second fall in of
the day. Come on, Billy, we gotta get out of here.
No, he said, I heard Ashton's voice. I think she's down here,
and he ran off towards where those rocks had fallen in. There was
a big pile not far from the mine cars. And they said, come
on, Billy, we gotta get out of here. We don't know when
the next one's gonna happen. It could be right here. That's two right
here. The next one could be on you. No, he said,
I think Ashton's down here. Look, and he ran over to where those
rocks were, and he could see coming out of the black rocks. As
his head lamp shone a beam of light, there was a pale, lily
white hand just coming right out Ashton. And he looked over and recognized the
wedding ring, her grandmother's wedding ring. What in the name off the things
hole are you doing down here, Ashton? He fell on to his knees
and began trying to pull those large black boulders off of her body. Help
me, help me. And they said, Billy, you gotta get out
of here. It's gonna cave in again. He said, no, this
is Ashton right here. We gotta get her out. They said, Billy,
we're gonna leave you here if you don't come now. No, it's
Ashton, it's Ashton. And he was pulling those boulders off of her trying.
They were too heavy, some of them and the train cars just left
Ashton, Ashton. He had managed to pull enough of them off to see
some of her body, and it really was her, and he wrapped his
arms around her, his big dirty arms, with those huge four muscles and
callous, dirty hands. He pulled her all up off the ground there and
kisses, gave her one, two, three, I am you're long lost,
loving soldier, I have returned for to rescue these. He pulled her
body out of the rubble, and he wasn't able to stand up. The
tunnel was too low, so he crouched over, and there wasn't enough room
to put her over his shoulder or carrier like this, so he kind of
had to drag her from behind, pulling that body that was still warm.
He followed up the same path of those tracks, went and went crying and
cursing, angry and sad all at the same time, until finally he had
made it to the place where he was almost at the mouth of that mind.
The setting sunlight was just starting to shine in. But his anger was
too great, so instead of taking her out, he let that loving anger
overcome him. He set her body down and turned around to curse her and
to hug her. I asked you, what is the meaning of this?
And he looked down and she was gone. He fell down to his knees
because he realized what had happened, what every coal miner knew happened in that
situation. He hadn't been dragging her body back. Her body was left buried
under those rocks down there. Her spirit had stayed with him to help guide
him out of that mind and out of danger. And he could accounted from
three to one. And then he felt and heard as the next fall in
happened where they had been. Her spirit had saved him. He was on
his knees in the tears came down his cheeks, making little passworth cold dust
had been Ashton, Ashton, Ashton. He grabbed his head, crying and
moaning like a little boy, a little boy who was now lost and without
his true love. And to her very end, she had done everything for
him. He wept as that setting sunlight shone across his face. From five
hundred or more miles away, in a little office in New York City,
an orphaned voice saying from a spinning piece of wax. How hard is a
cold miner's life? You want to know the truth, Well, yea,
ask his wife. You think his strife is hard, but you'll see the
hard heart falls on me. Yes, because he loves me and he strikes
me and hugs me, he like I'm do oh, But then he won't
kiss me. He's gonna miss me because my time will be through. Yes,
I said, first, he loves me and he strikes me and hugs
me, he like I'm do oh, But then he won't kiss me.
He's gonna miss me because my time will be through. M h okay,
welcome m h Adam thought he was going to get away from us, but
Mama his second mama, because his real mama is sitting right over there.
Mama said, you stay right there because he deserved all the thanks that we
could give him. Anne more and there's a little more that he wants to
tell you about it. So please don't go anywhere yet. Thank you to
me. These stories in the set that I was telling you about that I'm
working on are like movies, and so I feel that they are do some
credits. So I'm going to roll the credits for you right now. If
you don't know. The Bristol Sessions really happened in nineteen twenty seven, and
then a little some more again in nineteen twenty eight. Over here in Bristol,
Ralph Pierre came from Victor. He had worked for Okay Records and then
Victor. They came down looking for this music that was untapped at that time
what they were calling hillbilly music, which later became a very derogatory term for
that music, and so over time it came to be known as country music.
It was in nineteen twenty seven at the Bristol Sessions where a number of
very famous country musicians were discovered from West Virginia. Blind Alfred Read, the
Carter family were there, as in my story Jimmy Rogers was found there.
A lot of these great recordings were made that started what we now think of
his country music industry. It's called the Big Bang of country music. In
my story, the ballad that is sung all the way through it is a
ballad that I learned from Michael and carry Kleine to West Virginia. Yeah some
of you know them, yeah, and they had they caught it. The
Michael recorded that version or the version I learned from from Holly Huntley and Wavy
Chapel, Southern West Virginia, a family of ballad singers from southern West Virginia.
The song that Ashton hears the Royalty and My Cinderella Story singing is a
Carter Family song. Weeping Willow Tree, the Hobo Song that Parts Sings,
and the coal Miner's Wife Song, our original songs that I created for this
story. Thank you, and just because a few people have asked me in
the few times that I've told this story, Ashton is as real as we
make her, although you won't find her singing in the actual Bristol Sessions recordings.
Thank you all for caring. Thanks for tuning in to episode number three
of Listen. This episode featured a story by Adam Booth Ashton. If you'd
like more information on Adam and his work, please visit Adam dash Booth dot
com and follow him on Twitter at Booth Stories. Big thanks to join the
Demris for some great stories in our last episode. Please share your love of
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All work performed in this audio recording, and associated music and artwork are
copyrighted their respective creators and may not be used in any form without their permission.
Images used for the cover of this episode and on the listen website are
used with the permission of Adam Booth. Action stills were taken from a video
recorded by Tyler Crane, and portrait photos were taken by Caitlin Stoneburger. The
listen theme as a selection from Better Start Walking and was performed and written by
Robin Brown. For more information on Robin's work, please visit Robin Brown dot
info. Closing music is also from Better Start Walking. Listen is a Nice
Story Studios production. Ninth Story dot Com creator and producer Daniel Foytek. Full
show notes with links and info can be found at www. Dot Story,
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