Chasing The Dream

Back To My Roots,
a review of Deep In The Hollow
by Lee Pinkerson

She’s another struggling artist, another fool who chases the dream, another of the millions who reject the notion that life would somehow be better if she just gave up, got a regular job, and forgot about ever ‘makin’ it’ someday. God, I hope Lee Pinkerson never gives up on the dream.

Lee’s latest release, Deep In The Hollow, is pure down home in the Appalachians-- the mountain range that extends from Alabama (some say the Florida Panhandle) to Newfoundland-- but more correctly, the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Southern Appalachians--the place Lee calls home. And make no doubt that listening to this CD will take you there like none other you know. This is not the Blue Ridge of Nashville, Hollywood, and New York-- this is the real Blue Ridge.

Deep In The Hollow is filled with the influences of Bluegrass and Old Time Mountain Music, but her flat picking guitar style and straight from the heart vocals are more reminiscent of Doc Watson and Mike Cross-- two more great musicians who grew up on the Blue Ridge-- than what most think of as modern day Bluegrass. Wyatt Rice keeps the rhythm on the base fiddle just as is traditional in mountain based Folk Music while Rickie Simpkins fills in on fiddle, mandolin, and banjo. Together, their sound is traditional Mountain Folk, yet still refreshing and new.

Lee’s lyrics weave a web of rhyme in a playful way to pull you into each and every song in the collection. I’m reminded of the Carter family and June Carter Cash, in that Lee’s songs take me back to a far away time when I used to spend my childhood summers in those same mountains. I’m reminded of playing on the farm, running through hardwood forests, stopping to examine deer, bear, and panther tracks, Grandmaw cooking apples in the kitchen, and taking my bath in the same wash tub that Grandmaw used to do the laundry, while my brothers and cousins all waited their turns-- like it or not. Lee sings of life in the Smoky Mountains, animals in the wilderness, apples, moon shine, and the Indians, who most believe Lee to be, even though Lee is one of hundreds of thousands of mountain folk who have no way of knowing their ancestry.

In Tecumseh, Lee pays tribute to the story of the Shawnee Chief who united the great tribes of the east and mid-west to stand up to the invasion of Indian lands, ultimately leading to one of the biggest Indian Wars in the history of these united states, the war that ultimately led to Tecumseh’s death in 1813.

Lee Pinkerson earns her living playing various festivals throughout the Southland, selling her own line of hand-crafted jewelry, and performing for churches and schools as well as the occasional intimate club setting in and around her home in Floyd County, Virginia. She also works in Florida during the winter months. If you happen to see her name on a play-bill somewhere near you then I suggest you catch her show as you won’t be disappointed. Who knows, you might even run into me there, but if you can’t catch her show you can still enjoy her music by buying her CDs.

I can’t wait to hear Lee Pinkerson’s upcoming CD, Wildflower, a tribute to the late, great June Carter Cash.