I was stunned to look through the list and see no one had done a rendition of Gospel Plow for the Tune of the week so here it is! A bit of info from the Wiki and then I'll relay my personal connection to the song. "Gospel Plow" (also known as "Hold On" and "Keep Your Hand on the Plow") is a traditional African American Spiritual. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index, number 10075.
The tune was popularized during the folk movement of the sixties and re-titled 'Keep Your Eyes on the Prize'
An early reference to the older song, "Gospel Plow," is in Alan Lomax's 1949 book "Our Singing Country."[1] The book references a 1937 recording by Elihu Trusty of Paintsville, Kentucky, which is in the Library of Congress (Ref No .1397 A1). Lomax's references for Gospel Plow cite two earlier works. The first is from English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians [2] published in 1917, indicating that Gospel Plow dates from at least the early twentieth century. The second reference is to a 1928 book, American Negro Folk-Songs,[3] which shows an African-American heritage for the original song."
I first heard this done by the Hackensaw Boys in Charlottesville Virginia way way back in 2001 or 2002. I may still have the ticket stub laying around somewhere. Then Old Crow medicine show did a rendition that caught my ear and I morphed this song around a few times. Every band I've been in since 2006 has played some form of this song and the crowd always loves it.
Cheers and thanks for the reminder to play it! I find it so similar to other songs I play in sawmill (Cuckoo, Wayfaring Stranger, Hills of Mexico etc) that all rely on that first position and the ubiquitous 'f shape' chord (yes, yes, I know that would only be in f tuning, but y'all know what I mean) that I rarely play it.
I've been a big fan of what Clifton Hick's and Otis Taylor refer to as the trance element of banjo. Clifton has said that Pretty Polly (which I would do in dgad) is, for him, the song that readily places him in a trance.
For me, it's gospel plow. It was fun to tune the banjo to the lowest I know and just play this over and over. I'll keep practicing it and enjoy 're-discovering' it. Thanks again.
Edited by - BelfastFiveString on 07/24/2020 10:27:55
One of my favorite old time albums in my whole collection. Troublesome Creek String Band, “Fast as Time Can Take Me.” Here’s their Gospel Plow. m.youtube.com/watch?v=a8lpr7vRr6Y
Wonderful choice, Joshua, and heartfelt video you shared of your playing and singing. I got brave and sung it here, too, based partially on Mike Compton (whom I'm a great fan of) with the Nashville Bluegrass Band and on the classic Dwight Diller version, from which John Thornburg and Chance McCoy most likely got theirs from. I need to listen to Clifton Hick's tutorial.
I stayed in G tuning and used an F chord to get that mixolydian modal sound I especially heard in the NBB's version.
This is almost always the first song I play when I switch in to sawmill tuning. I went off a video of Clifton Hicks that he played upstroke style (youtube.com/watch?v=R2SV3aZ7bzQ )to write my tab (attached). I've made at least one change to the way I play it since I made that tab (a bunch of open string pull-offs on the first string at the start of the refrain) . I also attached a recording I just made of my playing (and singing, sorry in advance about that).
Ya keep your hand on the plow, well, hold on, hold on, hold on
Keep your hand on the plow, well, hold on
If I could only stand on the rock
If I could only stand on the rock
I'd keep my hand on the plow, well, hold on, hold on, hold on
Keep your hand on the plow, well, hold on
Paul and Silas locked in jail
They didn't have no one to go their bail
Ya keep your hand on the plow, well hold on, hold on, hold on
Keep your hand on the plow and hold on
Keep your hand on the plow and hold on
***
There's rakes of recordings and versions. I get the idea that you can sing whatever you want, as long as there's some gospel reference and a general feeling of overcoming some evil through perseverance through the metaphor of a plow. I don't know if anyone else sees it differently.
