The Native Ground family is so excited to gather again for the holidays. This season is always a time for good music, tasty food food, and of course, gifts! The Native Ground catalog provides endless possibilities for thoughtful gift-giving and we’ve put together this short but sweet 2021 Holiday Gift Guide for you! Treat your friends and loved ones to any number of books on vintage baking or how to play their favorite instrument. Don’t forget that all of our books come in digital download form too!
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“Shortenin’ Bread” Ukulele Tab + Lyrics
“Shortenin’ Bread” has certainly wins a prize for longevity. After all, it has been around for over 150 years. This version of “Shortenin’ Bread” comes from my new book, Ukulele for the Complete Ignoramus!
I can’t tell you why, but I find playing Shortenin’ Bread almost addictive. When I start to play it, I can barely force myself to stop. I must not be alone because this song has been popular since the early to mid 1800’s. The song was first collected and published in 1915, and was known as a ‘plantation song.’ All this talk about shortenin’ bread
Short Life of Trouble ~ Music, Lyrics, and the Joy of Sad Music
By Wayne Erbsen
This is an excerpt from Rural Roots of Bluegrass.
A while back I was invited to bring an instrument to a potluck party of some friends of mine in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina. I brought along my fiddle in the hopes of finding some bluegrass musicians to jam with.
When I arrived at the converted barn where the party was being held, I saw a guitar learning up against the corner, so I sidled up to the guitar’s owner and introduced myself. As I shook howdy with him I asked him what kind of music
“West Virginia, My Home” A Visit With Hazel Dickens Interview by John Lilly

Songwriter and performer Hazel Dickens is among the most respected and celebrated folk or country music artists to come from West Virginia. She has recorded 11 albums, contributed to the soundtracks of nine feature films or videos – including such popular releases as Matewan and Songcatcher – and seen her songs recorded by artists such as Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Hot Rize, and others. Among the many honors and awards she has received is the prestigious National Heritage Fellowship, presented to her by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2001.
Born in 1935
Hank Williams’ Lost Charleston Show By John Lilly

When he left his Alabama home on December 30, 1952, Hank Williams had his sights set on West Virginia. He was billed as the headline act for a gala “Western Style Revue” at Charleston’s Municipal Auditorium and was scheduled to perform two shows here on New Year’s Eve night. Sadly, he never arrived.
Little has been written about this Charleston engagement. Most authors, researchers, and fans have shifted their attention instead to Canton, Ohio, where Hank was expected to perform the following day. On January 1, 1953, in Canton, the first public announcement was made about the passing of this
“Keep a-Goin’” Musician Everett Lilly of Clear Creek, West Virginia by John Lilly. Photograph by Michael Keller

Born in 1924, musician Everett Lilly has been going strong for nearly 85 years, living just a stone’s throw from the Clear Creek property where he was born. A casual observer might not realize that Everett, together with his late brother “B,” traveled the world over, performing and promoting the music of his Raleigh County home.
The Lilly Brothers, playing with neighbor Don Stover, introduced countless new fans to the down-home music of southern West Virginia at the peak of their popularity during the mid- to late 1960’s. Singing tight, “brother” harmonies and playing at a breakneck tempo on guitar,
‘Man of Constant Sorrow’ – Banjo Tab

Need a quick lesson on how to read Wayne’s free bluegrass banjo tabs? Read these brief instructions: “A Word About the Free Bluegrass Banjo Tabs.”
Playlist for December 16, 2012
December 16, 2012
Bonepart’s Retreat (Erynn Marshall)
Icy Mountain
Lonesome Road Blues
Boys, My Money’s All Gone.
Ain’t Gonna Rain No More (Fred Price, and Clint Howard)
Ain’t No use in Your High Hattin’ Me
East Bound Train
Surely I Will
Tough Luck
I’ve Gota Mule to Ride (Ralph Stanley)
Bound to Ride
Black-Eyed Susie
Waves on the Sea (Big Medicine)
Brushy Run
Texas Gales/Blackberry Blossom
Little Girl Dressed in Blue (Bill Clifton)
Sales Tax on the Women
Hobo Bill’s Last Ride
Methodist Pie
Hell Amongst the Yearlings (Adam Hurt)
Love of the Mountains (Blue and Lonesome)
Shine Hallelujah Shine
“We Always Tried to Be Good People”: Respectability, Crazy Water Crystals, and Hillbilly Music on the Air, 1933-1935 by Pamela Grundy
If you are easily exhausted, or too nervous, you have headaches or backaches or can’t sleep as you should, if your complexion is sallow or your tongue coated; maybe you’re just being warned by Nature that the troubles with far more serious names may be on the way. Faulty elimination, the sluggish and delayed passage of waste throughout the system, causes many serious disorders, disorders with all kinds of names…. Don’t give up to pain and illness…. Why all you need is determination, ordinary drinking water, and Crazy Water Crystals. Won’t you try it? -Crazy Water Crystals radio advertisement.
From
Blind Alfred Reed

The Blind Man’s Song – Recalling Alfred Reed By John Lilly
Young Violet Reed climbed a tall tree near her family’s home in Summers County and watched the road. She was looking for her father, Blind Alfred Reed, to return from Hinton, where he would go most days with his fiddle to play and sing on a street corner, a tin cup by his side. She could see him coming from a distance, walking down the road, fiddle tucked under one arm. Sometimes, if the day went well, he’d have a pound of bacon in his hand. Or, if the