March to August

Songs Inspired By Witness

 Self-released

March to August  (M2A) is a folk/bluegrass duo of Derrick and Jodi Mears. This album, Songs Inspired By Witness, recasts the fictional story of the novel Witness, by Karen Hesse, the story of a small town in Vermont during prohibition that is infiltrated by the Ku KLux Klan, led by clergman Johnny Reeves. No, I have not read the book but something tells me it’s a parable of sorts that equates to the looming threat we face in just a few days, if you catch my drift.  An invader is trying to curb freedoms. In any case, the two principals were intrigued with the backstories and resiliency of the characters in the novel and went about carefully constructing this song cycle over an eight year period. The songs are written from the point of view of Reynard Alexander who appears in three short pieces, referred to as “Scribbler,” a term used for journalists at tha time. Alexander was the town newspaper editor in the book. These are the lines from his opening salvo  – “I’m just a scribbler with a story to tell/One of eveil, of heaven and hell/Of how charisma washed over the mind/Of how good people, followed so blind.”The music is very sparse, allowing the lyrics to come through clearly. Derrick sings and plays banjo while Jodi provides harmonies, plays bass and the stompbox. One track, “Only the River,” features Jade Ayers on vocals. The album was recorded in Fayetteville, Arkansas and maintains that Ozark feeling throughout even though the story is based in New England.

The album opens with a character sketch of diner owner, Iris Weaver, who leads a secret life running booze, saving her money to eventually make an escape from the dreary place. – “Some nights she has to flash a leg or give a flirty smile/As she loads up that ole Packard and drives many a country mile/She knows all those secrets men don’t want their wives to know/That’s why for a little shine they let her go.”  We’re introduced to Johnny, raised in a strict religious household, that fueled his rebellious streak in “Perfect Son.”  An unnamed character who was presumably raped by Johnny and left pregnant drowned herself in the river because she couldn’t bear the shame and guilt in “Only the River,” a sad a tale as any here, sung in the first version by Ayers and as the closing track by Derrick – “Those misty waters so murky they flow/They carry dark secrets that only the river knows/Only the river knows.”  M2A paints a portrait of the sterotypical blasphemous southern preacher that is “Johnny” (“Preaching salvation on Sunday on Monday living in sin”), and who too eventually succumbs to those river waters in “Hellbound.”

Racism is cleverly explored via the 12-year girl Leonora in “Every Girl” while guilt and sought forgiveness runs through “Viola,” as husband Harvey Pettibone, sucked in by his brethren, the Klan, admits he was wrong and seeks mercy from his spouse. In all, we have a town trying to rid itself of this vile character, Johnny.  Look closely at the lyrics in “Viola” – “Manipulation ‘s a convincing disguise/for covering the evil inside” and to the final words from the scribbler  “…Evil put to rest, by the setting sun/Time will tell if it rises again/When will we learn, learn from our sins?’

 Yes, the story takes place during Prohibition but the evil notions expressed are still very much with us in our modern day culture that thrives on manipulation, denial, and mistruths.  Sadly, this upcoming Presidential Election indicates that many haven’t learned a thing.

 

– Jim Hynes

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