"My Tennessee Mountain Home"

 "Live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you." 2 Corinthians 13:11

Both the lyrics and the music to the song "My Tennessee Mountain Home" were written by Dolly Parton and released on April 2, 1973, when I was six years old. I don't remember the first time I heard it, but I imagine I was probably riding in the car with Mom listening to David G. McFarland's radio show on WONE as she drove me to school. Come to think of it, David was likely the one who introduced me to so many of the country songs that remain special to my heart to this day, and though I never met him, his work as a DJ helped to foster a dream in me to sing those songs. It did my heart good to find out recently that he was inducted into the Dayton Area Broadcasters Hall of Fame. No one ever deserved it more.

Hearing just one chord of the intro of one of those songs from my childhood can instantly propel me back to bouncing along with Mom in our old Plymouth Duster that was in dire need of new shock absorbers. Those are some precious memories and the "Good Old Days When Times Were Bad" (another favorite Dolly Parton song).

I grew up hearing "My Tennessee Mountain Home" often, and my love for it deepened over the years as it reminded me of my Daddy's upbringing in Athens, Tennessee, just about 100 miles southwest of where Dolly was born and raised. 

To say Dad was raised poor is surely an understatement.

I remember him talking about how they could feed their chickens through the holes in the floor and how crowded it was for him and his seven siblings growing up in such a small house. Some of his many stories were downright hilarious. Others were so sad, they still make me tear up to this day.

Life was so simple in the days my Daddy and Dolly were growing up in Tennessee. How I long for those days now! I always dreamed of living in Dad's home state because I had such a deep longing to find people who remind me of him. He had such a humble, unassuming, giving spirit. There was never a job too lowly for Dad, he was one of the hardest workers I ever knew, and he would literally give you the shirt off his back if you needed it more than he did. There wasn't a selfish bone in his body, and I never knew of him ever refusing to help anyone if he could. There was just a certain genuine, unfeigned quality in him that is hard to describe, and I can always recognize it if I ever come across it in anyone else. I fantasized that if I could ever live in his home state, maybe I would find that inherent sense of kindness and authenticity everywhere I looked.

For some reason, when I would think of living in Tennessee, I always envisioned living in the country between two mountains. Through unusual circumstances and a long, winding road, God led us to a place that, sure enough, is beautifully situated directly between two mountains! But instead of being in the country, we live within city limits.

Though I have found that modern-day life in a Tennessee city doesn't much resemble the way life was when my Daddy and Dolly grew up in Tennessee, we have certainly met people who remind me of Dad and possess that deep-down, innate country generosity and humility that was so ingrained into Dad's nature. And I imagine there are still rural, secluded parts that are even less touched and influenced by the current-day blights that have infiltrated the area where we live.

When Dolly penned those words and recorded them in 1973, I imagine life was still very close to how she described them because if you think about it, she was only 27 and hadn't been away from home for too many years when she recorded that song. The idyllic world described by Dolly had been untouched by so much of the sin, degradation, and "progress" that has hit our modern world.

I wish people still slowed down long enough to sit on their front porches. Instead of kids' incessantly tapping on and scrolling through cell phone screens and smashing buttons on game controllers, I wish they still played with june bugs on a string. I wish they still chased glowing fireflies as evening shadows fall. I wish life was still as peaceful as a baby's sigh, and that it wasn't so hard to hear crickets sing over the noise of traffic and clamor. I wish the innocence of "stealing a kiss or two" and "sittin' on the porch swing holdin' hands" hadn't long been replaced by shameless immodesty and blatant normalization of promiscuity and perversion.

As I compare life today with life the way it was when Dad and Dolly were growing up, Dolly's song becomes even more precious to me because every time I hear it, it takes me back to a place and time when life really was the way she wrote about. 

So, when Chuck, Pat, and I formed the "Mountain Hope Band" and were working on our repertoire, it didn't take me long to tell them I would love to sing Dolly's song. It is and will always be one of my top favorite country songs, and I will never sing or listen to it without thinking about Dad and Dolly and how much I wish our world was still like it was when they were growing up in Tennessee. 

Though the outside world is so different, and not in a good way, I remain old-fashioned and country to the core. I still endeavor to live my life with those same qualities that made my Daddy who he was. I try to be kind and help everyone I can. The only cell phone we own is a flip Tracfone that we use for the car and/or emergencies, and I do sit out on our balcony at night and listen for crickets and see if I can spot any fireflies. I love climbing the walking trail on the mountain across from us when I am physically able, and I'm always on the lookout for songbirds on fenceposts. I long to hear children's laughter as they play, and just the other night I opened our living room door and stood back to listen to some kids playing ball with their parents a few doors down. They weren't aware and will never know how much good it did my heart to hear them laugh. My heart still skips a beat when Kevin gets home from work, and we seldom walk anywhere without holding hands. I do a lot of cooking and baking and do my utmost to make our home as peaceful and calm and warm and welcoming on the inside as I possibly can. Those qualities Mom and Dad instilled in me live on, despite all the breakdown of family values and evil on the outside. In that respect, our world is what we make it, and nothing can ever change who we really are.

Part of the mission of Mountain Hope Band is to keep those old, comforting songs alive. Those songs not only take us back to better times, but it is a privilege to introduce them to a younger generation. Who knows? Maybe they will crave that kind of life, too, and perhaps they will do what it takes to live that way one day. 

Until then, I hope you enjoy our version of Dolly's beautiful song, "My Tennessee Mountain Home," and may God bless you as you listen! And if you like the video, please click over to YouTube, give us a like, and subscribe to our channel. We deeply appreciate your support and encouragement!

And, don't forget to enter the giveaway! We are giving away two T-shirts from a Christian Mennonite online store. Click here for directions on how to enter!