The intersection of culture and history

Before I leave the topic of Stonewall Jackson for a bit, there is one other fascinating bit of related popular culture that really should be mentioned.  The folk duo Storyhill, a singer/songwriting duo out of Montana, recently released their newest album, an artful collection titled Shade of the Trees.  The title, admittedly a reference to Jackson's last words, is featured on the album in the form of the refrain to the hauntingly beautiful piece Better Angels.  This song, itself another reference to famous phrases from the American Civil War, attempts to capture the sadness and futility felt by fighters for the Southern cause.

Folk singer/songwriter duo Storyhill

That Storyhill would choose this theme as a song topic is at first curious when considering the pair's existing body of work: no other pieces by the group exhibit any relation to the war or its effects.  Yet when viewed in the larger context of folk culture the song's inclusion suddenly makes perfect sense.  Anyone who has read late nineteenth-early twentieth century Southern literature cannot help but see the profound impact the war left on the Southern mind.  From Harris to Johnston, from Faulkner to Mitchell, the war is shown to have been an inescapable part of the past to Southerners who left their indelible mark on the culture of the time.

Just as event builds upon event in the great narrative of history, so does culture build upon culture in the narrative of the national story.  So-called folk culture exists today as a throwback to days and stories of old, emulating both the style and the message of those storytellers who came before.  Storyhill already fits into this archetype by conforming to a simple musical style reminiscent of Appalachian and mountain culture, and has now expanded its role as a modern torch-bearer for the old ways by bending their musical talents toward what is - for lack of a better phrase - Southern Lost Cause mythology.

For example, the phrase "They outnumber, but we're at our best/and willing we stumble into their bullets blessed" evokes images of a gallant and superior Confederate force facing an unfortunately irresistible tide of blue-clad troops (Lost Cause rhetoric hinges largely on the belief that the Confederacy was defeated largely due to the Union's numerical and industrial superiority).  The very next line, "Hold the line, stay close to me/Cross over the river and rest in the shade of the trees" is obviously a reference to battle and the death that follows it for some.

Jackson's last words take on a shifting meaning throughout the piece as well.  In the first verse, they are used to symbolize a respite before a coming fury; in the second they symbolize a literal rest on the march; in the end they represent, as we have seen, the end of life.  Thus it is that Storyhill does not conform itself entirely to Southern or Lost Cause mythology, but rather to the general theme of the war and its after-effects.  That the group would choose this topic is, as we have seen, indicative of its strong presence in today's folk and mountain culture.  That such a song would rise to popularity (it is among the band's most-uploaded songs on YouTube) shows the power that the war has on our culture today.

History is relevant - it is with us every day in ways both subtle and overt.  The resurgence of folk culture in music is likely to remind us more and more of the power of particular aspects of that history including, in this case, the American Civil War.  At least, as a bright side, one of the effects of this undeniable influence in popular memory is one more beautiful song.

Song lyrics and a link to a performance of Better Angels is included below.

Image Source: www.theellentheater.com

Lyrics (transcribed by myself):

Better angels of our nature

Stay awake now, you’re in danger

The coming night is dark indeed

Cross over the river and rest in the shade of the trees

Keep going forward one hundred abreast

The horses are thirsty, they will protest

Tonight we’ll water them in the Tennessee

Cross over the river and rest in the shade of the trees

They outnumber, but we’re at our best

And willing we stumble into their bullets blessed

Hold the line, stay close to me

Cross over the river and rest in the shade of the trees

Better angels of our nature

Stay awake now, you’re in danger