James King (1958-2016) was widely known in the music industry as The Bluegrass Storyteller, a moniker given to him by the great Tom T. Hall. With his hefty baritone voice and his Appalachian inflections, the listener would hang on to every word. Moreover, he put himself into every song, especially when he would sing live to an audience. He admitted to shedding tears and getting choked up on occasion while singing one of his many heartfelt songs.
King has a number of great songs in his catalog. “Bed by the Window,” “Carroll County Accident,” and “Just As the Sun Went Down” are a few of his classic bluegrass and gospel classics. However, the one song that he made a standard in the bluegrass jamming world, and stands out as probably his best-known bluegrass song, is “Thirty Years of Farming.”
James Elroy King was born in Carroll County, Virginia. His father occasionally sang with the legendary Reno & Smiley. After a stint in the Marine Corps, he worked with Ralph Stanley, eventually forming his own band as well as working with the bluegrass supergroup Longview. He received a number of awards and nominations from the International Bluegrass Music Association and the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America. Unfortunately, he dealt with alcohol issues later in life and passed away in 2016 from liver complications.
The song “Thirty Years of Farming” was written in 1987 by Canadian singer-songwriter Fred Eaglesmith, an artist known for writing some tender and tragic songs about farming. In 2002, King recorded it and released an album titled after the song. Since then, it has remained a favorite of bluegrass fans and jammers everywhere.
The subject matter is comparable to John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Told through the eyes of a little child, he and his siblings see a sign posted at the home’s front gate. It reads that their farm has foreclosed and will be auctioned off. The chorus repeats the tragic news, only this time, the sign is posted at the local general store for everyone in town to see. The second verse talks about the family matriarch alone in the garden while listening to the auctioneer calls off sales. The third verse talks about the family packing up what little they have and driving away from the farm forever.
King’s voice hits the heart with every word. You can see a 50-something older man telling of a sad event in his life when he was a kid, soaking in the sight of his mother crying and reading the Bible, while his father is so distraught that he has nothing to say about the matter. Every syllable that he sings is gut-wrenching, and when the harmony chorus comes in, those voices are just as hard and powerful. There’s no place for lovely singing in this song. It’s heart-breaking, but it is still in-tune.
The song itself is a medium-fast tempo, almost a breakdown speed, which if you didn’t already know the song, that instrumental intro would make one think that it was going to be a happy song. But when King belts out the first line, you know that something is just not right in the world. By the third line, when we learn that the children are starting to cry after reading the posting, it is all hurtful from there.
The banjo sound keeps it from being an all-out depressing song, which is a trademark of bluegrass music. It seems to make the listener imagine that, despite the tragic story, perhaps there is some positive news on the other side of the hill. Even the mandolin and fiddle solos are laid back so as not to change the mood. However, it is the last chorus, with the first two lines sung a capella with perfect bluegrass harmonies, that hits the heart the hardest. The emptiness of the song, with just those voices, will give anyone chills of loneliness. Without directly saying it, there is that sense of asking God what more does He have planned for this farmer.
I challenge you to listen to this song and not be moved in some way by the time that last chord is strummed.
Chew on it and comment.
Luegra 