One of the things I look for in the music I choose to listen to are “connections”. Connections to the songwriters land, connections to the people, connections to family, connections to history. There seems to be an abundance of these connections in the type of music that we all write about and read about on these pages. The Allman Brothers ARE Georgia. Loretta Lynn IS Kentucky. John Denver IS Colorado. Mellencamp IS Indiana and the heartland. And Texas….oh my God, is Texas populated exclusively by singer/songwriters?
I’m lucky enough to have a camp in one of the most beautiful natural areas of the country – The Great North Woods of New Hampshire. The area is tucked in between Vermont, Maine, and Quebec, half-way between the equator and the north pole, and boasts 1,830 square miles of mostly unspoiled wilderness, hiking trails, logging roads, rivers, streams and pristine lakes. And there’s no shortage of subject matter up there – poverty, unsolved murders, drugs, unemployment, mishegas, you name it we’ve got it. Richmond Fontaine’s folk opera, The High Country, could have easily taken place in the North Country of NH instead of Oregon. And we’ve got history too – we actually seceded from the United States in the early 19th Century and established our own country – The Indian Stream Republic, you can look it up!
So what are we missing up there? What are we lacking that so many other areas of the country have? We are in desperate need of a songwriter or a band to chronicle our life in our woods. Who’s style would suit the North Country well? Darrell Scott would fit in nicely. Mary Gauthier might be okay. She’s got that “rural noir” thing down pat. The Cowboy Junkies would be perfect. So would Bob Dylan. Dylan is one of the few singers who sings about the north almost as much as the south, but he’s probably too high rent for us at this point in his life. Eddie Vedder and his ukelele would work. And I like the idea of The Pines or maybe The Deep Dark Woods moving up here, but maybe I’m just enarmoured with their names. But there’s a legitimate opportunity here for an aspiring songwriter in search of inspiration!
So I want invite all of the songwriters out there who are suffering from a lack of inspiration to look into moving up to Coös County, NH. I’ll even put you up for a few weeks if I have to. There’s a million stories up here and easy living too, except for the winter which lasts 6 months. Cheap rent, fertile land, great hunting, fly fishing and hiking, and hundreds and hundreds of mountains and hills. We need a troubadour up there who is looking to make a connection to the land and the people, and then sing about it to us. It’s the only thing we don’t have.
