Redbud trees and mockingbirds, honeysuckle and sassafras. For many a West Virginian, these are emblems of home.
And pecan pie. You can’t forget pecan pie.
But you gotta be careful how you say it. How you pronounce those words — PEE-con puh-aye, y’un’stan’ — tells us a lot. If you say, puhCAN … well, yeah, we’ll still know what you’re talking about, but we’ll also know you’re not one of us.
How the Song Came to Be
Such Appalachian icons and shibboleths were much on Charlie Bowen’s mind as he wrote this song recently, though the real impetus for “Pecan Pie & Sassafras Tea” was a story that his grandma told him a lifetime ago.
Grandma Bowen — “Hattie” to everybody on Tyler Mountain — grew up on Eighteen Mile Creek along the edge of West Virginia’s Mason and Putnam counties. Wise in the ways of the woods, she knew her weather signs and what roots to harvest for tonics in the spring and fall, what barks to brew for colds and headaches and other complaints.
Hattie also knew her animals. She used to caution, for instance, about telling secrets around mockingbirds, because, well, those darn birds? why, they’d tell them!
Tickled at the notion of a secret-telling mockingbird and imagining it making long-distance connections among different sets of lovers, Charlie set to writing this song.
Melodic Inspiration
Its melody has Appalachian roots as well.
As part of his current banjo quest, which now has been ongoing about 2 1/2 years, Bowen at one point came across the old tune called “Lazy John,” which comes from the playing of influential Monticello, Ky., fiddler Clyde Davenport.
Davenport, who died in 2020 at age 98, once said that he in turn learned the tune from a radio broadcast in the mid-1940s, specifically a recording by Texas musician Johnny Lee Wills (brother of Bob Wills) and his western swing band.
Now, Bowen has yet to bring that song into his repertoire (apparently John’s not the only lazy one in this story!), but twists and turns in Davenport’s playing inspired the melody that Charlie ultimately put together for “Pecan Pie & Sassafras Tea.” We hope you enjoy it.
More from Charlie?
If this little excursion has you thinking that a little more of Charlie’s tunes would further enhance your Flood Friday, remember there’s a randomized Bowen playlist in the band’s free Radio Floodango music streaming service.
Click here to reach the Charlie Channel.
