“Old Dominion” – Eddie from Ohio

I’m a North Carolina partisan. I’ve lived here for 30 years now, having moved here when I was in junior high. I love it, and I would have a hard time moving anywhere else. Back up North? Winters are too long and cold. Further south? Way too hot! West? Too far from the ocean – unless you move to the west coast where the sun goes down (?) over the water. In fact, I like being in central NC – 3 hours from the beach, 3 hours from the mountains. It works for a day trip if you get up early.

But, if I had to move, Virginia would be okay. Further enough north to get a bit more snow (we got our seven year old his own sled in November, and we never got enough snow this winter for him to use it), but not so far that the winters would bother me all that much more. The summers would be better, too.

Which brings us to Eddie from Ohio’s very partisan song, “Old Dominion.” They start out slowly, with just the guitar:

I think you’ll find some mountains in western Colorado.
Fifty weeks of snowy peaks is where you’re gonna be.
But, babe, the Rocky Mountains are gradually eroding.
Their hills of course are nothing more than Blue Ridge wannabes.

Then they speed up, the banjo kicks in, and it goes all bluegrassy:

A turkey on its belly; a chicken on its back.
Anyway you look at it you’ll find we’re on the map.
She revels in the seasons, shakes hands with the North,
And hugs the land of Dixie while dancing on the porch.

…

When you’re talking old, you mean the Old Dominion.
Just southeast of heaven ‘tween the surf and the hills.
She’s the best of thirteen sisters and thirty-seven more.
Sweet, sweet Virginia always keeps an open door.

The bass part is great (We were listening to this in the van on the way home from church last weekend with our older son singing along with the bass in the back). At the end of the song, they go a capella again and slow down, repeating the “Sweet, sweet Virginia” part. The upper voices hold “door” while sliding upwards while the bass sings, “keeps an open door” – diving into the basement on “door.” My older son says that’s about as low as he can sing.

You really should listen to it: Looking out the Fishbowl.

Or you can listen to their music at their website.

Eddie from Ohio is really from northern Virginia. They got their band name from a nickname that the percussionist had in college. On their article at Answers.com, it says that they were influenced by Bruce Cockburn, Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and their vocalist, Julie Murphy,  grew up listening to 1940’s jazz such as Billie Holiday and the Gershwins.

Although this song is on the bluegrass side, their music goes far beyond that - taking in parts of blues, jazz and rock also. 

If you'd like to know more about this "best band that nobody's heard of," there's a great article about them at TimWendel.com.