When Alice Randall He first sat down more than 30 years ago to write “The Ballad of Sally Anne” with Mark O'Connor and Harry Stinson, he wanted to use the form of the murder ballad to discuss an issue – lynching – that it was never mentioned in country music.
“The ugliest fact of Southern life was lost to the rule of the country,” says Randall Rolling rock. “This erasure perpetuated a particular fraud … without addressing the ways in which white Southerners living across class and age lines were complicit in terrorizing black families.”
“The Ballad of Sally Anne” was originally released in 1991 as a bluegrass tune sung by John Cowan of New Grass Revival on his 1991 album. The New Nashville Cats by Mark O'Connor. With its traditional melody and upbeat arrangement, casual listeners of O'Connor's roots record might have missed the subversive story Randall was telling. “[The song] it makes people who don't want to think about lynching think about lynching,” he says, “and wonder in a new way what they think of their grandparents who attended a lynching like it was a party.”
Randall recruited Rhiannon Giddens for a new version of “Sally Anne”. Dramatically reinterpreted by Giddens, it appears on Oh Boy Records My Black Country: The Songs of Alice Randallan upcoming tribute to the songwriter and writer featuring a generation of younger artists such as Alison Russell and Adia Victoria performing Randall's songbook.
“I did the folk thing,” Giddens says of her cover. “It brought it into my time, into my space, into my feelings — so it morphed, swirled, and suddenly Sally Ann came through my banjo.”
Randall was surprised to hear what Giddens was doing. “When Rhiannon sings, she embodies Sally Anne herself,” says Randall. “It elevates this song to another level – to sound like live resistance.”
My black countrywhich will be accompanied by a memoir of the same name, comes at a critical time, as Beyoncé's foray into country and roots music has sparked debate about the racial policing of genres in country music (Giddens also plays banjo on her new single Beyoncé in country “Texas Hold 'Em”).
Randall is best known in country circles for co-writing Trisha Yearwood's 1995 Number One hit “XXX's and OOO's (An American Girl).” For her, Beyoncé's country success — “Texas Hold 'Em” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs — represents a transformative achievement and another point in the long history of black cultural influence in country music . “He's going to do with this new album what Ray Charles did [Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music]Randall recently album/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social” target=”_blank”>he said The Washington Post.
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/rhiannon-giddens-alice-randall-ballad-of-sally-anne-1234972484/
