From the recording The Peaceful Pigeon River

The Pigeon River is a beautiful body of water – turbulent as it comes off the mountain tops, but docile as it winds alongside the paper mill in Canton where I grew up. We fished and swam in the Pigeon, but always above the mill – “up the river” as we used to say. In the mid-seventies I was reflecting on my late grandmother and two great uncles whom I remembered well and who were all born in the 1870’s. I had learned a lot about the old mountain culture and sayings from my grandmother, and Josh gave this song that old timey sound with his bright, lilting fiddle work. The song draws on some of the values and philosophies the old timers lived by in a bygone era.