A Southern Missive

Here is a review I wrote of a great Confederate CD.

In January of 2000, Jed Marum began his year by leaving a lucrative career so he could devote himself to his music. His first year as a fulltime musician earned exactly one tenth of what he had earned the year before. To his credit, he hasn’t looked back, and has built a solid career and reputation as one of America’s premier Celtic musicians and is often a headliner at festivals. His schedule is a busy one—with over 150 shows a year—and the number of shows seems to be steadily growing.

In addition to his intense love for and commitment to Celtic music, Marum has another passion—The Civil War. In our interview, I asked Marum how his interest in the War Between the States began. He said, “Once, I was being interviewed by Sunny Meriwether and she introduced me to her audience as an Irish singer who specializes in writing Civil War songs. I started to object saying that the Civil War was just a passing interest, when I realized that it had been passing for 10 years! That’s when I realized I really wasn’t just dabbling at the Civil War stuff, anymore. It had moved to a higher level.”

The fruit of Marum’s passion for this period of American history is his newest CD, Cross Over the River, a twelve-song collection of Irish and Confederate songs released August 4 of this year. This CD presents some of Marum’s finest guitar picking and original lyrics. His songs have a depth of historical detail and emotion that lovers of Confederate music will love.

I believe Jed Marum is on his way to becoming our foremost Confederate balladeer. There’s something in this CD that stirs the spirit, and just as I was about to suggest the collection would be great music for movies of this period, I found out that Marum has agreed to license two new songs to Lone Chimney Productions for use in their upcoming film, Bloody Dawn. The film is being made for the PBS and History Channel markets and is planned for a 2006 release. The movie focuses on the border wars between Kansas and Missouri surrounding the days of the US Civil War.
The music is acoustic, with Marum on guitar, banjo, and banjola. Musicians performing with him are Jaime Marum on mandolin, Kathleen Jackson on upright bass, Mimi Rogers on fiddle and Ken Fleming on button accordion. Travis Ener and Kathleen Jackson are also featured in background vocals.

The collection’s songs are rich lyrically and musically, and several especially deserve comment. “Monaghan’s Lament,” is a song of an Irish born New Orleans resident, Col. William Monaghan of the 6th Louisiana. The song expresses a soldier’s emotions as he regards a fallen admired leader of one of the South’s most famous fighting units, “The Fighting Tigers.” “One Bloody Friday” is a haunting song, so effectively constructed that it makes the listener feel as if he were riding with Quantrell. “Cross Over the River,” is based on the last words of Stonewall Jackson. With this song, Marum takes us into the soul of a dying hero of the South. In other songs, Marum takes traditional melodies and masterfully creates moving interpretations. For example, I believe Marum’s rendition of the well-known “Shenandoah” to be unique and the best version I’ve heard. “Stonewall of the West” is a wonderful tribute to Patrick Cleburne.

I predict this CD will have strong appeal with Civil War aficionados, reenactors, performers, and anyone who loves good ballads. Just reading the CD’s insert and the background of the songs is an education and it reveals the extent of Marum’s research. Cross Over the River has a large targeted audience and has all the potential for becoming a cult classic. For the musician, Marum has also generously published a songbook containing lyrics and chords for both Cross Over the River and his earlier Civil War CD, Fighting Tigers of Ireland.

Cross Over the River is a collection of original and period music with lyrics that capture the heart of the many Irish and Scots who fought for the South. The CD is a reminder that there are many stories buried in history we have not yet heard, and there are emotions connected to that war that we haven’t yet considered. As a writer, Marum is not only skilled—he is honest. He knows that one’s culture and heritage can be lost, and he is determined to give life to long-silent voices. When those of the past fade from our memory and art, then they are truly dead to us. As long as there are writers like Marum who aren’t afraid to tell the stories, the dead will live on and our heritage will not be lost. The Scots-Irish majority who comprised the Confederate Army deserve the tribute of this CD.

You can purchase Cross Over the River here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/jedmarum6. Read Marum’s bio, hear samples of his music, and keep up with news about him by checking out his website http://www.jedmarum.com/ or from his blog http://www.myspace.com/jedmarumband.

Author information:
Rickey E. Pittman, Grand Prize Winner of the 1998 Ernest Hemingway Short Story Competition, is originally from Dallas, Texas.  He earned a BA in New Testament Greek and an MA in English from Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. After moving to Monroe, Louisiana, Pittman was added to the Louisiana Roster of Artists in 1998. Working closely with regional art councils, he was commissioned to write historical plays for Franklin (1997), Madison (1998), and Webster (2007 parishes.  In addition to freelance journalism, editing, and nonfiction writing, he has published short stories, poetry, and a novel, Red River Fever, a short story collection, Stories of the Confederate South (Pelican Publishing) and  a children’s book, Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House also by Pelican. Pittman is of Welsh ancestry, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and a Civil War reenactor.  Contact him at rickeyp@bayou.com.

Saturday, July 21, I’ll have a book signing at the Books-A-Million in Sherman, Texas for my children’s book, Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House. Since that’s the first weekend for sales of the new Harry Potter book, traffic should be intense. Should be an author’s dream-signing. Yes, I know they’re coming for the Harry Potter book, but they’ll all see mine and since lines are likely to be long, I should be able to talk to many people. Channel 12 news has promised to have a photographer there to cover my signing. I’m very excited about this event. I’ll also get to see my parents where I’m staying. We’re all still having some difficulty in adjusting to our lives without my younger brother.

Sherman is the largest city in that part of the state. BAM is the largest bookstore in the area. I write a weekly column for a paper in the area called, TGIF Weekend Bandit, and my latest column concerns Sherman’s history, so I decided to post that short column today as well.

The cities of Bonham and Sherman Texas are such quiet towns these days that it’s hard to imagine their wild moments during the Civil War.

Ben McCulloch had made the area his headquarters. He supposedly set up his camp just outside of Bonham, close to one of Bonham’s cemeteries on the Sherman-Bonham highway.

Bonham’s and Sherman’s tranquility was radically disturbed when William Clarke Quantrill and his longhaired raiders set up their camp on Mineral Creek, fifteen northwest of Sherman. The destroyers of Lawrence, Kansas, there would hunt, pilfer, and drink whiskey. When those pastimes bored them, they would come to town to race horses, drink more whiskey, steal from shop owners, shoot up buildings and church steeples, and generally misbehave. The shocked folks of the town must have felt like the Devil had come to visit them.

One of his raiders was especially notorious: Bloody Bill Anderson. He married a young Sherman saloon girl who called herself, “Bush Smith.” I’ll have more on Bloody Bill in another column.

Quantrill and his men fell into disfavor with McCulloch. McCulloch called Quantrill into his room, declared him arrested and then invited him to supper. Quantrill declined the invitation. After McCulloch left, Quantrill captured his two guards and escaped. He joined his men waiting for him outside and they rode into Indian Territory.

I must do some research and see if I can find some of his campsites along Mineral Creek and in Indian Territory. If you want to learn more of Quantrill, a good book is The Devil Knows How to Ride by Edward E. Leslie.

Today, I was interviewed on 540 AM Talk Radio by Bob Teague and Corey Crowe. The interview was conducted at 5:30 pm, prime drive time. I found the pair to be sharp, lively, funny, and skillful interviewers.  I am constantly amazed as to how the Jim Limber story affects people.  In New Orleans, many people who stopped at my table asked, “You’re talking of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy?”  And I said, “Yes.”  The irony of the first presidential family in America to have a black member is not missed by many.  This story is of course in contrast to any story of the other president during that Civil War, Lincoln, who had no love for black Americans and wanted to send all the blacks here in America to Liberia and other places.

I have an MP3 recording of the interview that I’ll send you if you write me and request it. My email is rickeyp@bayou.com.