Dave Peyton's Not-So-Simple Gifts
#512 / Flood Time Capsule: 1978
Nine years ago this week, Dave Peyton played his last jam session with his old band mates.
No one in the room that night could have known, of course, what was coming, but, as reported here earlier, just two weeks after that August 2016 evening, Dave took a bad fall at his Mount Union home, injuring himself so badly that he had to end playing his beloved Autoharp.
Today it still saddens us all to think of that time. Instead, then, let’s turn our attention to a happier August almost 40 years earlier than that.
Set the Wayback Machine to 1978
Summer 1978 was coming to end and The Flood and its friends were returning to the Huntington Museum of Art amphitheater for another public edition of the Bowen Bashes music parties, where the band was born.
As reported, the bashes went public in July 1977, with The Flood, the Kentucky Foothill Ramblers, the Samples Brothers, Front Royal and others taking the amphitheater stage. HMA Director Roberta Emerson, who had invited us, had such good time that evening that she was eager to have the whole bunch back.
David Peyton kicked off the evening with a wonderful solo set, just him and his beloved Autoharp. Then as the night progressed, we gradually added more musicians. Roger Samples and Charlie Bowen joined Dave after a few tunes, then Dennis and Joe Dobbs and Stew Schneider came in.
Before the night was over, dozens of musician friends had crossed the stage ending with a massive sing-along, reminiscent of the hootenanny days of the 1960s.
And it all started with Peyton setting the mood and the theme for the night with this great old Shaker melody, “Simple Gifts,” as you can hear in the following video:
About the Song
“Simple Gifts” dates back to 1848, the composition of Elder Joseph Brackett, a member of a Shaker community in Maine. The first known reference to "Simple Gifts" is an advertisement for a concert in October 1848 by the Shaker Family from the Society of Shakers of New Gloucester, Maine.
Brackett also composed lyrics that reflected core beliefs of his religious congregation:
Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free
’Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be
And when we find ourselves in the place just right
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
Brackett wanted his song to illustrate the Shakers’ embrace of freedom from worldly possessions and of the joy found in a humble life.
The song was intended as a "quick dance,” performed at a lively tempo in their worship settings, accompanied by bowing and bending movements. To that end, the lyrics allude to Shaker dancing and to the concept of finding the "place just right" for a community.
"Turning" is a common theme in Christian theology, but the references in Brackett’s lyrics also have been identified as dance instructions. (When the traditional dance is performed properly, each dancer ends up where they started and "come 'round right.")
For nearly a century, "Simple Gifts" remained largely unknown outside Shaker communities until American composer Aaron Copland discovered the melody and featured it prominently in his 1944 ballet, “Appalachian Spring,” commissioned by Martha Graham. This ballet, celebrating American pioneer spirit and experience, brought "Simple Gifts" to a much wider audience.
Copland also later arranged the song for voice and piano in his 1950 collection, Old American Songs. Since then, it has been embraced by everyone from Judy Collins to Yo Yo Ma, from Alison Krauss to The American Boychoir, and even the bands Weezer and R.E.M.
Dave’s Mad Skills
That tasteful 90-second live perform at the beginning of a show almost 50 years ago reminds us again just what a remarkable performer Dave Peyton was. So reliably on-point was Peyton’s playing, in fact, that we often took his mastery for granted.
As reported earlier, Dave focused all his musical energies on the Autoharp, starting in the mid-1960s when the rest of the folk world seemed fixated on guitar picking. Years later, in an interview on Joe Dobbs’ “Music from the Mountains” radio show, Dave talked about how he came to the instrument. Click the button below to hear Dave tell that story:
And if you want to spend a little more quality time with Peyton on this day of remembrance, tune in the David Channel on the band’s free Radio Floodango music streaming service.
Click here to give it a listen.
And More from The Bashes
Finally, if you’d like to hear more from those public bashes of 50 years ago, check out this episode from The Flood’s free “legacy film series” from YouTube: