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"High Winds on the Hilltop (High Water Below)" © 1994 Lee Ruth |
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Photo: Sam Griffin |
Bob Dyer |
| Bob Dyer
- Vocal & Guitar Cathy Barton - Banjo & Harmony Vocal Dave Para - Guitar & Harmony Vocal Greg Spillman - Cello David Lackey - Upright Bass Dr. Howard Marshall - Fiddle |
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 MP3
Sample of Lee's Original |
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| Song Lyrics: |
Lee's Lyrics:
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| At the foot of the bluff they made their stand Friends and neighbors workin' hand to hand Along with volunteers from across the land They built a seven-foot levee out of bags of sand. As the water neared the top of the wall High wind on the hilltop; high water below. Across the river in another town They could have used some of those volunteers-- Some folks are still sufferin' the flood of '93. One house is rebuilt better than before. High wind on the hilltop; high water below. |
At the foot of the bluff, they made
their stand Friends and neighbors, workin' hand to hand Along with volunteers, from across the land They built a seven-foot levee, out of bags of sand As the water neared the top of the wall Many feared that it might fall But the pumps kept pumpin' all day and night And the town stood high and dry in the morning light High winds on the hilltop, high water below Across the river, in another town High winds on the hilltop, high water below Some folks are still sufferin', the flood of '93 High winds on the hilltop, high water below |
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| Artist on the Song: |
Lee on the Song:
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| I chose this song because it expresses something about the river and the Great Flood of '93 that I can relate to. I saw the impact the flood had on many of the towns up and down the Missouri River and especially right here in Central Missouri, and I thought Lee captured that impact very nicely. I changed the style of the song a bit from the way Lee does it because I didn't want to try to imitate his own, very distinctive, singing and playing style (and probably couldn't even if I wanted to). | The flood of '93 left its high-water mark on objects man-made and natural, and on the psyche of a million or so people who lived or traveled in proximity to the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and many of their tributaries. One human result was a great creative outpouring of songs and poems, as people tried to come to an understanding of the extended series of events that constituted the flood and its aftermath. It took me nine months, during which I heard a number of "flood of '93" songs including two great ones: (Bob Dyer's "Flood Song" and Tom Russell's "Big Water"), to finally put my flood of thoughts and feelings into words and music. I may have lost a bit of immediacy for taking my time, but doing so gave me a chance to observe and reflect on the flood and its ongoing effects, and to write a song that I couldn't have written during or immediately after the flood. | |||
| Artist on Lee Ruth: |
Lee on the Artist:
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| I have known Lee now for thirty or forty years it seems like. He always represented to me the very essence of the roving minstrel and I marveled at how many different styles of music he was familiar with and could play. Sometimes he seems like a gaunt Buddha or a great bearded musical saint. But whatever else he is, he is a true original, a true friend, and an unselfish disseminator of musical lore, technique and spirit. I am proud to have been part of this much deserved musical tribute. | I first heard of Bob Dyer when I returned to the University of Missouri as an undergraduate in the fall of 1965, after several years out of school. The path of least resistance had led me to the English department, as a creative writing major, and Bob was a graduate instructor there. During the three years it took me to muster enough credits to put school permanently behind me, we never met, nor did I ever see him, but his name came up frequently as someone who was a good writer of poetry and such, and who also played guitar and wrote songs. (Ask him if he still remembers "Just Another Day".) One balmy night in 1969, a bunch of us were playing and singing in the parking lot next to the Ivanhoe (a local watering hole on 9th Street). It was 1:30 am--closing time--and we were singing "Satisfied Mind" as people were leaving the bar. One man perked up his ears as he heard our song, walked over to where we were playing and joined in singing with us. His voice was rich and melodious and he had a great smile, and I remember thinking, "That's Bob Dyer". Right I was, and for all these years since that night we've been friends, musical and otherwise. I was pleased when he chose "High Winds…" because his own flood song was so good, and I could think of no one who would be a more appropriate choice to sing mine. | |||
| Producer's Notes: |
Recording Credits:
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Bob Dyer is mid-Missouri's most prolific musical historian in the true ballad sense of telling stories of the past and present with his songs. Bob picked a song that Lee had taken time to write, based on the amazing flood of 1993, tempered by the repeating floods of 1995. It was a perfect song for Bob to record as he, too, has written more than one song about the Big Muddy. We recorded Bob, Cathy Barton and Dave Para's vocal and instrument tracks all in the same evening. Months later, David Lackey and Greg Spillman came into the studio to record the bowed acoustic bass and deep-as-the-river cello tracks. The final track recorded for the song was Dr. Howard Marshall's fiddle track, just in case you ask, as does the song,"who fiddles the tune?" This song is historically and socially accurate in its description of what occurred to many small towns on both sides of the Missouri River in those flood years. There is no doubt in my mind that Bob and the rest of his big river friends could still see that brown muddy water stretched from bluff to bluff in their memories when they recorded this song. |
Recorded at Pete Szkolka's Studio Record Dates:
Mixed:11/4/2003 Mixed by Pete Szkolka and Steve Donofrio |
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