Appalachian History

It was the greatest disaster ever known to this Western Virginia mountain village.

On May 2, 1929, the unusually violent storm slammed into the little community of Rye Cove, VA in the mountains of Scott County.

During the storm a tornado directly struck the local two-story schoolhouse, with over 150 children and teachers inside. The building was completely leveled, and the debris caught fire from an overturned stove. Thirteen were killed. The dozens of injured were rushed by special train to the hospital in Bristol.

A. P. Carter, of the famous Carter Family, was in the next valley on the day of the storm. He rushed to Rye Cove to help with the rescue efforts. He was touched by the horror of what he saw and soon composed "The Cyclone of Rye Cove." The Carter Family recorded the song that same year for RCA Victor.

"The Cyclone of Rye Cove"

Oh, give us a home far beyond the blue sky,
Where storms and cyclones are unknown,
And there by life's strand, we'll clasp with our glad hands
God's children in a heavenly home.

Oh, listen today in a story I tell,
In sadness and tear dimmed eye,
Of a dreadful cyclone that came this way,
And it blew our schoolhouse away.

CHORUS:
Rye Cove, (Rye Cove), Rye Cove, (Rye Cove),
The place of my childhood and home,
Where in life's early morn I once loved to roam,
But now it's so silent and lone.

When the cyclone appeared, it darkened the air,
And the lightning flashed over the sky,
And the children all cried, "Don't take us away,
And spare us to go back home."

There were mothers so dear and fathers the same,
That came to this horrible scene,
Searching and crying, each found her own child,
Dying on a pillow of stone

Related posts: "You've been fooling me baby"
"It was daytime, but the sky was as dark as night"

sources: www.blueridgeinstitute.org/ballads/audio.html
scott.k12.va.us/rci/Transcript.htm


cyclone+of+Rye+Cove Rye+Cove+Va Carter+Family AP+Carter appalachia appalachian+mountains+history appalachian+history

I don't want you any more, mama
Ain't no use in you hanging around
For I found another mama,
And now I am Chicago bound

You've been fooling me, baby
You've been telling me your lies
When I thought you were an angel
Just sent down from the skies

Sing those parting blues to me, sweet Nell
When you leave you'll leave me sad
'Cause my daddy's gone and left me
I just wouldn't treat him right

You've been fooling me, baby
You've been telling me your lies
When I thought you were an angel
Just sent down from the skies

I wouldn't give him much loving
Wouldn't stay home at night
Now I hear the train a-coming
He has gone out of sight

You've been fooling me, baby
You've been telling me your lies
When I thought you were an angel
Just sent down from the skies

In the late 1920's, A.P. Carter, his wife Sara, and his brother's wife Maybelle came together to make music as The Carter Family. Their music, a composite of traditional ballads, blues songs, gospel numbers, heart songs, and instrumentals both reflected and shaped the tastes of the rural south. Together, their career spanned a little over two decades and nearly 300 recordings. Maybelle became the matriarch of a great country music dynasty as the mother of the Carter Sisters.

Despite dying in relative obscurity, A. P. Carter was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. In 1993, his image appeared on a U.S. postage stamp honoring the Carter Family. In 2001 he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor. Today there are Carters in the very veins of country music.


sources: http://countrymusic.about.com/od/cdreviewsmz/gr/blunbrkncircle.htm
http://www.bluegrasswest.com/ideas/carter.htm
http://famouslikeme.com/35061/article.html


AP+Carter Carter+Family bluegrass Appalachian+history Appalachian+culture Appalachia history+of+Appalachia