Another tune from our friends Jim and Joyce, who learned it from the late Ralph Whited, it's composer, who used to live and farm outside Oneonta, AL. Charlie used to sell vegetables across the aisle from his family's booth at the Pepper Place Farmers Market in Birmingham.

Turkey Foot

This old song is commonly attributed to Jean Ritchie, whose 1963 recording with Doc Watson helped popularize it during the height of the folk music revival. We learned our version from Brett Ratliff's recording on the 2012 compliation The New Young Fogies.

Jubilee

This was a popular tune in the old-time community in Birmingham before we moved to Massachusetts. The folks we used to play it with there probably learned it from Oscar Wright's recording on County Records' Clawhammer Banjo Vol. 2.

Elkhorn Ridge

Brad brought this one to us, by Guy Clark.

Dublin Blues

We learned this tune from our friends Jim and Joyce Cauthen, who collected it from the Taylor Family of Oneonta, AL in the 1970s.

Step Around Johnny

The West Hill Woodcutters were born in the fall of 2015 of equal parts necessity and serendipity. Stephanie and Charlie had just showed up at the Farm School from Alabama with a fiddle, a banjo, and a notion to share their love of square dancing with kids. Right off they found Patrick and his bluesy slide guitar and Bradley (a fellow Alabamian!), who up and decided it was time to teach himself to play the upright bass. Their first and ongoing gig has been putting on simple square dances with live music for the school groups who visit the Farm. 

Whether we’re playing and dancing in the bunkhouse, hayloft, garden, horse barn, or the front porch, you’re likely to hear the Woodcutters’ music wafting out into the fields at least once a week. These old-time tunes and dances come from the highlands of southern Appalachia, but we like to think they invoke the spirit of farmers and communities everywhere who similarly celebrate a hard day’s work with song and dance.