SONGS FROM LYON COUNTY Available For Pre-Order
“The real-life storytelling about a particular place and time draws you and
keeps you there.” – Josh Shilling (Mountain Heart)
Nashville, TN- Gracey Holler Music resurrects a lost world with their newest video release, “Hey Mr. TVA.” The clip, which premiered on Roughstock, tells the story of the TVA and the history of the ambitious 170,000-acre project known as Land Between The Lakes in a scrolling series of stark black & white photos. From the upcoming CD, SONGS FROM LYON COUNTY, the track is available for digital pre-order now from Bandzoogle and physical CDs can be ordered HERE. The disc, which features a host of guest artists (Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Bradley Walker, Paul Brewster, Josh Shilling, Holly Pitney) and tunes ranging from Bluegrass to Country to Americana and Folk, will be in stores September 7.
Hey Mr. TVA why’d you take my home away
Did you care for progress sake lives were trampled in the dust
Hey Mr. TVA I don’t believe the price you paid
For so many hearts to break could ever be enough (Dennis K. Duff)
Duff’s family called the land between the rivers “home” for generations, and many of the photos used feature his relatives, including his aunts, Ruby and Ruth. Postcards and historic documents provided other images, and Duff obtained footage from the Rose Hill Museum in Eddyville, Kentucky for use in the opening scene. In it, a former TVA worker bluntly notes that he’ll go to Hell, not for drinking whiskey or chasing wild women, but rather for the way he treated the residents of the area during the land buyout process. His statement sets the tone for the piece and brings into sharp focus the loss and hardships residents endured during the ’60s. Some left behind fifth and sixth-generation farms; family cemeteries, homesteads, churches and a general store were also bulldozed, and the remains burned to make way for wetlands, open fields and lakes. The cold, hard truth is that more than 5000 residents were forced to sell the land that was in their blood – and booted from their homes – in the name of “progress.” That loss still stings for those who remember a sense of community and friendship that is now just a memory.
The LBL remains a source of contention for some who now take issue with the government’s management of the National Recreation Area in Western Kentucky and Tennessee. Today’s activists protest the clear-cutting of timber and efforts to commercialize the area and its resources. For those advocating that the Forest Service keep its promise and ensure that LBL stays free and open to all, the message of “Hey Mr. TVA” will resonate, just as it does for those who survived the loss of their beloved land.