Lauren (words): I wrote this lyric the first summer we lived in Tennessee, after we have been once through all the seasons. We had moved from Colorado at the end of the previous May with our then 2-year-old, and wild blackberries, which didn’t grow in the part of Colorado where we had lived, were a revelation to us. (So were chiggers, but that’s another story entirely!) Every bit of this song is true: Blackberry picking with our kid and our old black dog became a part of our summers, and blackberry jam became a part of our winters.
Andy (music): When Lauren first showed me this lyric, she asked if I could work in a break using a bit of the old fiddle tune, Blackberry Blossom when I scored it. I worked with it a bit and realized that the structure of her lyric fit Blackberry Blossom perfectly – it just needed a “b part.” Lauren re-worked one of her verses into a b part/chorus and I based the entire melody on Blackberry Blossom – including working in the break that Lauren has asked for.
Several years later, my buddy, Tabby Crabb, made a music video of this song for us. (Below)
Kenny Malone has played with Eddy Arnold, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Alison Krauss, Reba McEntire, Ronnie Milsap, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, John Prine, Kenny Rogers, Randy Travis, and Don Williams. Andy May is a guitar and mandolin player as well as a singer, songwriter, and music educator. May is a past winner…
Andy May Takes Songs from His Latest CD, Room for Roots, to an International Audience: Americana/Roots Music Troubadour Shares His Music Across U.S. and Europe
