My family roots – the ones I’m familiar with – reach back through the generations to country living and all that entails. I think that’s why the song “Red Clay Halo” by Gillian Welch means so much to me. Well, that, and my own struggle to be accepted for who I am.
If you aren’t familiar with the song, here are the first couple of stanzas:
All the girls all dance with the boys from the city,
And they don't care to dance with me.
Now it ain't my fault that the fields are muddy,
And the red clay stains my feet.
And it's under my nails and it's under my collar,
And it shows on my Sunday clothes.
Though I do my best with the soap and the water,
But the damned old dirt won't go.
I love Welch’s willingness to sing a song about dirt and its effects. And I also love the fact that she’s holding on to hope for the future. Check out out what I mean in this video version of the song:
