We love how this song, which Randy Hamilton brought the band nearly a decade ago now, continues to boldly represent a new direction in Appalachian music.
Perspective, Then….
For decades, bluegrass music played it safe when singing about the American Civil War. It generally stuck to well-worn tales of shared heartbreak, ruined farms and missing home, while conveniently ignoring the brutal realities of slavery. During the cultural upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s, the music even took a more startling detour into full-blown Confederate nostalgia, romanticizing the Old South.
But “Can You Run?” is part of what scholar Carter W. Claiborne of North Carolina State University considers a brave new wave of songs that are finally shaking up that sanitized narrative.
… Now
Written by Eastern Kentucky’s own Chris Stapleton, the song shatters the genre’s old boundaries. Instead of being just another wistful ballad about a homesick rebel soldier, “Can You Run” takes listeners down what Claiborne calls an “emancipationist path.”
There's smoke down by the river
Hear the cannon and the drum
I've got one thing to ask you, honey —
Can you run?
Writing recently in Gettysburg College’s Journal of the Civil War Era, Claiborne calls Stapleton’s song a cultural reset for the entire genre by shining a spotlight on the lived experiences of enslaved people.
You know I hate to ask so late
But the moment's finally come
And there won't be time to change your mind.
Can you run?
“Modern bluegrass,” Claiborne writes, “has taken up a more balanced approach to the Civil War, incorporating African American and Unionist perspectives, and finally corrected the reconciliationist view with the emergence of emancipationist music.”
For more about the song and about its composer, Chris Stapleton, see our earlier Flood Watch article, by clicking here.
More from Randy?
And if all this has you in the mood for more music from Randy Hamilton, check out the Randy Channel on the band’s free Radio Floodango music streaming service.
