7. Lee Brothers – “Cotton Mill Blues” from the compilation “Work Don't Bother Me: Old Time Songs from North Georgia” on Rounder Records
The Lee Brothers were an obscure folk trio that made their living in the industrial South. “Cotton Mill Blues” tells the dispiriting story of life in the cotton mill straight from the horse’s mouth.
8. Pete Seeger – “Mill Mother’s Lament” from the Smithsonian Folkways compilation “American Industrial Ballads”
Gastonia, NC resident and union leader Ella May Wiggins wrote “Mill Mother’s Lament”. Pete Seeger performs it here. Ella May Wiggins was shot dead by anti-unionists on September 14, 1929 during the Gastonia Loray Mill Strike.
9. Natalie Merchant – “Owensboro” from the 2003 album “The House Carpenter's Daughter”
One of only a few modern songs in this collection, “Owensboro” by Natalie Merchant is a poignant and updated spin on the textile mill hardship song.
Grow up unlearned
With no time to go to school
Almost before they learn to walk
They learn to spin and spoon”
10. The Star Room Boys – “Gastonia” from the 2005 album Why Do Lonely Men And Women Want To Break Each Other's Hearts?
The Athens, Ga country band The Star Room Boys released this track in 2005. Although it is a traditional country song about lost love, the antagonist lives in Gastonia, NC, which happens to have one of the nation’s richest textile histories, including the Loray Mill Strike in 1929.
11. Charlie Poole – “White House Blues” from the album “You Ain't Talkin' To Me: Charlie Poole And The Roots Of Country”
Charlie Poole is not necessarily known for textile mill protest songs like many others included here, but he is from Randolph County, NC and is credited with being a founding father of Country and Bluegrass music. Charlie Poole was also a textile mill worker who traveled and worked in many mills throughout the region. Charlie Poole died in 1931 of alcoholism.
12. The Chieftains with Sinead O’Connor – “Factory Girl” from the album “Tears of Stone”
Sinead O’Connor sings with the Chieftains on this traditional and melancholy song. In the 1800s, many young women worked in American textile mills. Working conditions and pay were deplorable, but Mill owners ran dormitories with strict rules, which helped the recruitment effort since parents were not apt to let their daughters leave home without such oversight.
13. Pete Seeger – “Hard Times In The Mill” from the Smithsonian Folkways compilation “American Industrial Ballads”
Living legend Pete Seeger is now 86 years old; both of his parents were faculty members of the famous Julliard music school. He was an assistant in the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress and has penned or revived many great songs that speak to the plight of the American worker. “Hard Times in the Mill” is specific to the Textile worker.
Article comments
1 - earnest
good read
2 - Sunflower
Very interesting, it is great that you put this list together! Only one thing, i do not think that Natalie Merchant wrote the song Owensboro, on the liner notes she says she learned it "from an anthology of American folk songs collected by Elie Siegmeister and published in 1940." It also says that it is traditional; the tune is that of an old moutain hymn and the author of the lyrics is unknown.
But besides that, this list is wonderful, I am going to look into alot of these songs, Thank you for writing it!
3 - Mary
Thanks! I was researching songs from "American Industrial Ballads, and found your playlist. I will be sure to look into some of these other songs.
4 - sonny
i personaooy diod nlt oike the articoe