It was 1958 when the Kingston Trio hit number one on the charts with a classic murder ballad about a man involved in a love triangle – sentenced to hang.
“I met her on the mountain. There I took her life," they sang. "Met her on the mountain, stabbed her with my knife.”
Now, a group of community activists and artists are planning to rewrite this form of folk song – reclaiming it for women. Katie Hanzlick says musicians will gather at the MidMountain Retreat – an 18th century estate on the banks of the James -- to perform and compose.
“This is a way of taking the murder ballad into the 21st century where the women who might have been the victims of a murder ballad in a previous time turn around and become the new heroes of the murder ballad," explains organizer Katie Hanzlik.
In addition to musical performances, organizer River Peterson says, the event will feature print-making and poetry, podcasting and an immersive meditation on dying and Appalachian death rituals by a team called Tunnels of Light.
"It’s a team of a death doula and a therapist, and they just create this really moving and overwhelming experience," she explains. “Folks will be able to lay down in a natural area and then be led through a meditation that immerses them in the process of physical decay – being interwoven with a narrative about Appalachian death rituals.”
The festival will take place October 12th near Natural Bridge in Rockbridge County. Admission is $50 – or less if you come as a group and buy the Murder of Crows package.
For more information, go to midmountain.org/fest
