Week 2: Down in the Valley

Basswood, paper, and oil crayon on paper. 9" x 9".

"Down in the Valley" is a song about love, and a song about imprisonment. If you've never heard the song and you're reading this now, you might be thinking that a song which is about both of these things at once is bound to be a pretty blue tune. 

As chance would have it, the first time I heard a rendition of "Down in the Valley" was just a few weeks ago. It was Otis Redding singing it, and hearing it that night, I figured the song was about a party at a juke joint in a hot part of the country--to me, it just has that kind of funky, sweaty vibe to it, and I don't think there's anything sad or morose about it.

When I heard the much older Darby & Tarleton version, and finally read through the lyrics, I still didn't feel like I was listening to a funeral march, but for the first time I noticed the longing that's expressed in the lyrics:

Roses love sunshine/
violets love dew/
angels in Heaven/
know I love you.

Write me a letter/
send it by mail/
send it in care of/
Birmingham Jail.

I suppose some songs have a way of concealing the content of their lyrics through the feelings that their melodies, harmonies, and rhythms give. I've noticed this about a lot of folk songs in particular. This week, I think I was interested in making work that also places distance between its inner meaning (personal to me, in this case) and the physical form that it takes.

Without revealing too much, I'll say that I had in mind a particular person when I was making this piece. At times I have felt close to that person, and at others I've felt separated by large forces (distance, let's say) that are hard for any individual to control. At its core, my relationship with this person is a joyous thing, but like the men and women who have sung "Down in the Valley" over the years, I've found that the world can sometimes render that joy inaccessible.