Our Flood brother Danny Cox and his sweet wife Tami are on vacation this week, but before they hit to the road, we had to give them a good Flood set-off. Here’s a little traveling music, the last tune of last week’s rehearsal.
About the Song
When Merle Travis included “I Am a Pilgrim” on his seminal 1947 Folk Songs from the Hills album in 1947, listeners assumed he wrote it. After all, the same album included two of Travis’s best-known original compositions, “Dark as a Dungeon” and “Sixteen Ton.”
Actually, though, “Pilgrim” is a traditional gospel tune that has deep roots among white and African-American musicians alike.
As we reported earlier, Kentucky-born Travis had a mentor: legendary fingerpicking stylist Mose Rager of Muhlenberg County. Legend has it that Mose's brother Lyman learned "I Am a Pilgrim" while in jail when he heard it being sung by a black prisoner in a nearby cell.
As Asheville, NC, musician/author Wayne Erbsen has noted, “I Am A Pilgrim” was recorded “by 14 African-American groups before it was even a gleam in Merle Travis' eyes."
For more on the story’s curious history, see this earlier Flood Watch backgrounder.
More from the Danny Channel
Has today’s podcast got you in the mood for more from Danny Cox’s fertile musical mind? Us too! So, come with us to the Danny Channel in the free Radio Floodango music steaming service. Click here to give it a spin.
For Your Next Road Trip
Speaking of travelin’ music, remember that your friends in The Flood have created a road-friendly play list. Click below to read all about that:
