Louisa Branscomb: FREIGHT TRAIN FOR A SONG
By Sandy Hatley
A Life On Track
“To be a songwriter is to stand on the stage of your own heart
and dare to take the journey to see what is there,” relates songwriter,
singer, musician, and psychologist, Louisa Branscomb.
“In some unique way, each of us is here to stand before our
heart’s curtain and begin to pull the cord to see what thoughts,
feelings, and stories are on the stage. Then we learn the art of letting
those things carry us into the next song, and that is the truest song
you can write.”
For this lyricist, there is no separation between herself and
herself as writer. “Once I was asked, why do I write songs? I don’t
know how to answer. I breathe, my heart beats, I write songs.”
These are the words of someone who began seeing the world
in song at age five. At this point, Branscomb has garnered around
300 recorded songs – many of which have charted in bluegrass, folk,
and roots music.
According to WVUD DJ, Richard Gordon, “She can say more in
one line than most of us can write in three paragraphs.”
As an innovative songwriter teacher, she has mentored some
thousand songwriters through her 30-year experiential program at
Woodsong Farm Retreat. This approach, Branscomb Songwriting
System, places the heart and soul of the writer at the center of
songwriting.
Branscomb has come full circle with a lifetime of performing
and songwriting, integrating her skill set into her career as a clinical
psychologist. Focusing on creativity and the resilience of the human
spirit in the face of challenge, the songstress outlines her mission.
“Songwriting reflects the soul. I have been guided by the belief
that music is the most powerful tool available to build community
across individual differences and provide expression for people’s
unique personal experiences. Good songs lead to emotional
movement in the writer and listener. They don’t stop where the song
ends, but give meaning to others, and in this way, their impact
continues over time.”
Her advocacy for the songwriting community began in 2006,
when Branscomb spearheaded the formation of the IBMA Songwriter
Committee. Its development has benefited the songwriter
constituency with the establishment of the IBMA Songwriter Of The
Year Award, presented annually during the IBMA World Of Bluegrass
Awards Show, and the Songwriter Mentor Program which provides an
opportunity for novices to be mentored by some of the most
seasoned and accomplished songwriters in bluegrass.
Expanding this vision, the songsmith created the nonprofit
organization ScreenDoor Songwriter Alliance. Through a grant from
the 2015 IBMA Bluegrass Foundation and other donors, her
educational program has aided student writers and veterans plus
created songwriter events and festivals.
The Austin Songwriters Group, an organization created by
songwriters for songwriters, states, “Her generosity and good will and
inspiration in performance, and in giving her gifts to others is
incomparable.”
Not surprisingly, her efforts have led to national recognition.
Branscomb holds a place in the Alabama Bluegrass Hall of Fame, the
Atlanta Country Hall of Fame, and last year was awarded the coveted
IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award as a pioneer songwriter,
teacher, and contributor to the worldwide exposure of bluegrass.
Rhythm of the Rails
Branscomb lived the first two years of her life listening to the
rhythm of the rails.
“The train ran 100 yards from my house,” she discovered when
she returned to her birthplace in upstate New York.
“Six trains a day brought people sick with TB to Saranac Lake
for the fresh air cure,” says Branscomb, whose own father, a medical
doctor, contracted tuberculosis from one of his patients.
Branscomb took her first train ride in the womb when her
mother traveled by train from Nashville to join her father in New York
so that he could receive treatment.
“I think that may be why trains run so deep in my soul.“
Her family moved to Nashville, then Birmingham. “As a young
child, my parents sent me by train, the L&N, to visit my grandparents
in Nashville. Riding in the dining car, I slept on the red naugahyde
seats with my hand holding onto my 20 dollar Sears guitar all night.“
Branscomb won her first songwriting composition at age 11,
which earned her a performance of her piece with the Birmingham
Symphony. By age 22, she had written 450 songs, including the now
classic, “Steel Rails”,
which claims over 300 versions, in many countries, of all ages.
Louisa’s tracks have taken her, like the “ribbon in the wind,”
from the Aderondak Mountains of her birth to her farm in the Blue
Ridge hills of Georgia.
“I don’t listen to much music. I love the silence and sounds of
nature, but I hear the train go by at midnight, and I think, that’s my
song, that’s all I need.”
Put a Penny on the Track
According to eminent vocalist and co-writing friend Dale Ann
Bradley, “Louisa is the best friend a train ever had.” Many of her
songs reflect her love affair with locomotives, including Bradley’s hit,
“Don’t Turn Your Back”. The song conveys a message of resiliency:
“Put a penny on the track, let that train take your breath away. Give it
one more day.”
Branscomb describes trains as one would an old, venerable
friend. “Trains know where they are going. They are going to take
every bend, it’s just the way it is. They go through it all, the
mountains, deserts, seaboard cities, hobo camps… they carry people
to their dreams, their homes, and their deaths. They are courageous
in their power and in their giving in. Even with all that iron and steel
and fire, they accept. They surrender to the track. To what lies
ahead.”
The same could be said about the songwriter. In 2011, a
tornado struck her beloved Woodsong Farm in northern Georgia,
destroying 7000 trees, 3 barns, and picking up her 150 year old
farmhouse and turning it 6 inches from where it stood.
Ironically, Branscomb’s awarded 2011 Compass record, “I’ll
Take Love”, had been released several days prior to the natural
disaster. In a state of shock, Branscomb recalled a song from the CD,
“This Side of Heaven.” This song gave her and many other tornado
survivors a guidepost for reconstruction, with the message of “there’s
just more room to see the stars in Heaven’s crown.”
Sunshine Round the Bend
With her unstoppable spirit, it’s no surprise that Branscomb is
one of the most awarded songwriters in bluegrass and acoustic music
today. “Steel Rails” earned SPBGMA’s Song of the Year in 1991, and
was on Alison Krauss’s first Grammy winning record, I’VE GOT THAT
OLD FEELING, that same year. Considered one of the most played
and recorded songs in bluegrass, “Steel Rails” is said to have
ushered in an entire new generation, particularly young women, into
bluegrass. Since that time, it has also earned a second Grammy
position on John Denver’s last CD, ALL ABOARD, in 1997.
Branscomb’s additional chart hits include “I’ll Take Love,” from
her last CD (that earned several pre-nominations, a nomination for
Recorded Event of the Year, and a number one for the title cut) and
the 2014 IBMA Song of the Year, “Dear Sister”, co-written with and
sung by Claire Lynch which topped charts in folk, roots, and
bluegrass for over a year.
“Louisa and I go back to the very beginning of our musical
careers in the 70’s, when we were both playing some of the same
festivals. Not only is she a gifted teacher and mentor, but she is a
thoughtful and giving songwriter, co-writer, and friend,” shared Lynch.
Additional artists who have recorded her songs include Dale
Ann Bradley, Nu-Blu, McPeak Brothers, Fontanna Sunset, Jeanette
Williams, and Janet McGarry. Many leading female and male
vocalists, including the likes of Sierra Hull, Molly Tuttle, and Jeanette
Williams, will tell you they cut their teeth on bluegrass on “Steel
Rails”. The poignant “Will I Be Good Enough”, sung by Karen Lynne,
reached number 9 on the country charts in Australia.
Branscomb’s eagerly anticipated current project, her 12th
album featuring originals, takes a song-centric approach, matching
each song to the singer whom Branscomb and co-producer Missy
Raines felt could convey the song’s style and message. This new
anthology will break barriers once out of the station, with the following
artists participating: Tina Adair, Kristin Scott Benson, Dale Ann
Bradley, Louisa Branscomb, Alison Brown, Becky Buller, Casey
Campbell, Shad Cobb, Mike Compton, Josh Day, Stuart Duncan,
Steve Gulley, Sierra Hull, Rob Ickes, Claire Lynch, Bryan McDowell,
Russell Moore, Dave Peterson, Missy Raines, Deanie Richardson,
Jake Stargel, Molly Tuttle, Jeanette Williams, Johnny Williams, Josh
Williams, and some members of Della Mae: Jenni Lyn Gardner,
Kimber Ludiker, and Celia Wood-Smith.
Co-producer Missy Raines says of the project, “Louisa writes
songs that beckon you, like a warm comfy room that you want to
linger in. She invites us to experience rural living, love, and the magic
of life through fresh eyes, but the eyes of wisdom. I consider it a great
honor to get to work with her.”
Calling Her Along that Never Ending Double Line
These days Branscomb continues to compose lyrics and
melodies, in addition to teaching the art of songwriting. She also
performs solo as well as with Johnny and Jeanette Williams, accepts
long term mentorees, and is working on manuscripts for two books
about songwriting.
“Wherever Louisa is, her songs become the focus, drawing
listeners in through the heart and soul that Louisa pours into each
creation.…and she is a brilliant teacher and an advocate for
songwriting as a craft and for the rights and opportunities of
songwriters everywhere,” Jeanette Williams conveyed.
Ever the pioneer, Branscomb is exploring an integrated art form
which integrates bluegrass instruments and her lyrical poetry with
contemporary classical music, other instruments, and natural
occurrences such as sunset. Her first such performance, recently
presented in Greensboro, NC, was aptly dubbed “From Beethoven to
Bluegrass”.
Meanwhile, Louisa resides on her farm retreat in the Georgia
mountains with her horse and two John Deere tractors. Each night
she hears the freight train roll by after midnight, the inspiration for her
new song, “All I’ve Got’s a Freight Train for a Song”, a lilting love
song sung by Claire Lynch on her new project.
Perhaps a lifetime of listening to trains, from her birthplace in
upstate New York to the Blue Ridge farm, has given Branscomb
some of the resilience and fortitude many ascribe to her life and work.
The trains are her mentors conveying something about the unfolding
of the soul in songs.
“The value is not having a hit or the biggest recording artist sing
your song. The value is that we are here, and we are always moving
forward. We are able to tune in, be aware, and feel the rhythm of the
rails within. To let ourselves be carried by the rhythm of what is most
true and genuine to say in the song. Then we have art. And art, like
trains, always knows what to do.”
Note: Titles, subtitles, concepts and quotes are the original
intellectual property of Louisa Branscomb.
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