Little Log Hut In The Lane: A Song History
The Carter Family recorded “The Little Log Hut in the Lane” for Victor in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 24, 1930, with Ralph Peer supervising the session.[1] Sara Carter sang alto and played autoharp, Maybelle Carter sang soprano and played guitar, and A. P. Carter took the bass part.[1] Victor issued the second take as V-40328, and the Discography of American Historical Recordings also lists issues on Montgomery Ward and on Zonophone labels in Australia and South Africa.[1] The record label named A. P. Carter, whom the discography takes to be the adapter, but citing Meade it credits words and music to Thomas P. Westendorf and gives “I’m Going from the Cotton Fields” as an alternate title.[1]
William Trost Richards, Camp A: Log Cabin in Woods, from a sketchbook, graphite on off-white wove paper, 1885. A log cabin among trees, shown for the song's title.
Westendorf (1848–1923) was born in Virginia and wrote “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen,” usually dated to 1875.[2][3] Much of his career was spent at juvenile reform schools, first teaching music and later in administrative posts.[2][3] His name is on an 1879 song whose title is close to that alternate title, “Going From De Cotton Fields,” a song and chorus in march time issued by the Philadelphia publisher A. H. Rosewig and dedicated to his brother John.[4] A copy published the same year by another Philadelphia firm, Wm. F. Jones and Co., is held at the University of Kansas.[5] The Levy Collection catalogues the piece under headings that include minstrel shows, caricatures and ethnic stereotypes.[4] The Traditional Ballad Index lists a partial text with nearly the same title, printed in Harvey H. Fuson’s Ballads of the Kentucky Highlands, in which a former slave leaves the South in hard times; the index names no author.[6]
Elwood Donnelly includes the song, in DAD tuning, in Such Singing You Will Hear: 35 Songs Of The Carter Family, a collection of Carter Family songs with instructions for mountain dulcimer, backup and voice.[7]
Sources
- Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor matrix BVE-59982. The little log hut in the lane / Carter Family".
- Wikipedia: "Thomas Westendorf".
- Grainger.de: "Thomas P. Westendorf (1848-1923)".
- Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection, Johns Hopkins University: "Going From De Cotton Fields".
- Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas: "Going From De Cotton Fields".
- The Traditional Ballad Index: "Goin' from the Cotton Fields".
- Elwood Donnelly: "Such Singing You Will Hear: 35 Songs Of The Carter Family".
- Image: William Trost Richards, Camp A: Log Cabin in Woods, from a sketchbook, graphite on off-white wove paper, 1885. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.