Americana • Historical

From the Vault: Jay Ungar’s “Ashokan Farewell”

March 11, 2018
1 Min Read

Editor’s note: The Daily Music Break often re-posts music from earlier in the site’s run. This post initially appeared on April 13, 2012. 

Jay Ungar’s mournful Ashokan Farewell is a perfect fit for Ken Burn’s documentary, The Civil War. It also is part of the album Songs of the Civil War. Ungar usually plays with Molly Mason, though it is unclear if that is the case here. Here is their site and the story of the song.

Here are Ungar and various other folks play The Lover’s Waltz and Dinah/Leather Britches/June Apple. Marching Through Georgia, which is about Sherman’s March to the Sea, was written by Henry Clay Work. Work wrote the children’s song My Grandfather’s Clock, here sung by Burl Ives.

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The Grateful Dead don't get enough credit for the profound nature of its lyrics. Many of the band's songs are driven by a deep and literate Americana ("I'm Uncle Sam/That's who I am/Been hidin' out/In a rock and roll band" and "Majordomo Billy Bojangles/Sit down and have a drink with me/What's this about Alabama/Keeps comin' back to me?").

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