The Preacher and the Bear
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Hi There, Acorns. Well, I thought the story song series was over for this year, but my friend Pritish finished this cartoon by Easter morning after all. I didn't want to post it on Easter, so I held it until now. I debated about saving it for next year's story song series, but who knows what the future holds. It could be now or never. KZread will allow me to schedule videos to publish a whole year in advance. I've done that once or twice, when the mood struck me and I sang/filmed a song but didn't want to use it until a special date. Perhaps morbidly, when I scheduled that far in advance, I thought how weird it would be if I somehow died and the video published after I was no longer here. :-) Anyway, after some consideration, I figured some of you might really enjoy this story song, especially if you've never heard it before, so why hold it in reserve when someone could enjoy it now? In some previous posts, I mentioned that our late friend, Mr. Sam Ensley, had a good band back in the late 90's called Roots and Branches. This recording came from their first album. I think Sam did an excellent job with his vocal, and as always, Wayde Powell, III's banjo playing is superb (though I think he would have been only a teenager at the time). I honestly don't know if Sam Sr. or Sam Jr. played the mandolin on this track, but I'm guessing it was Sr. If I find out different, I can always come back to this video and post a correction. It could also have been Niki Powell, Wayde's older brother, though the mandolin used doesn't sound like any that I remember him playing. Whoever played it, played very well. I know that the members of Roots and Branches were all Jerry Reed fans. Reed released this song in 1970. If you are familiar with Reed's sound in the 70's, then you can probably guess that his version had a little more "funk" to it. :-) Interestingly, Reed's verses are a little more detailed than what Sam sang. The last verse is missing in Reed's version, though the chorus is identical. You can hear Reed's version here on KZread. I noticed also that Billy Strings (one of the most popular new bluegrass stars right now) has a video on KZread of him singing this song while sitting on someone's couch. The first time I ever heard this story, it was merely a short joke. I have a vague childhood memory that I might have even heard the joke from a preacher at the beginning of a service. I've known a lot of preachers who are also hunters. The joke consisted solely of the story told through the first chorus of the song. Because of that childhood memory, I figured that the song probably derived from the joke, but after looking online, it seems that the song actually goes all the way back to at least 1904. Tipper of Celebrating Appalachia might be interested to note that the song contains the word "vim" as a term to describe the bear's level of energy or determination. If you've ever heard that old word, it may likely have been paired with the word "vigor," as in "vim and vigor," to describe a person's level of enthusiasm or effort. It also seems that the original version of the song was racist in nature. Someone apparently cleaned up the song somewhere along the way. The fact that Billy Strings also left out the last verse (the one about baptizing the bear) makes me wonder if Sam might have written that verse himself. He was a very skilled songwriter. When I received from Sam a bonus copy of their first CD (just a few months before Sam passed), I knew I wanted to use this story song in the series, so I asked Sam for permission, which he graciously gave. I could certainly have sung it myself, but I knew that as a solo performer I could not bring as much to the song as the band did. I wondered what sort of picture I could show while the song/story played, then I thought that maybe a basic cartoon would work out. Of course, I procrastinated until early March before trying to find someone to make the cartoon. A gentleman named Pritish helped me out. If you're ever in need of animation, you can find him on Fiverr (please see link below). If you enjoy Sam's singing as much as I do, you can also find a few other songs by him on KZread. Looking ahead here at the BPA channel, I will continue to upload old cassette audio tracks of me and Pap as well as of Pap and Granny, that is until I run out of things to share. I'll also be uploading a song for Ira Louvin's birthday in April. If we are able to capture any footage of mine and Jamie Shook's performance at the end of June for the Cherokee County Arts Council, I'll share it too. As always, thanks for watching!
Animation by Pritish:
www.fiverr.com/s/v0x6rN
Listen to original singles released on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/artist/5VX6Z...
Listen to original singles on KZread:
/ @paulwilson6260
Listen to Shepherd of My Soul (Album released in 2016):
open.spotify.com/album/4VnoOy...
Пікірлер: 42
Great song loved to hear Granny's voice❤️ Shelby
Wonderful! An elderly friend, when I was in my 20s, sang this song for me! Such a hoot!
Fun little diddy. I enjoyed the singing, and picking, and cartoon. 🐻
Praying and Blessed! 🤗🙏💕
Loved it!!! Thanks Tipper. God bless y’all. 😀♥️
Loved hearing Granny’s little voice! Cute song! My Dad used to sing little story songs, but never heard that one. Thanks!
This is another song that takes me back to my childhood, and the cartoons accompanying it are an improvement over what I recall from way back then. 👍
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
Thanks, Noah. Glad you liked it. :-)
😂 That was so funny! Love Pap singing on it and the cartoons went perfect with it. Thank you for sharing it with us!
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
Thanks, Christine. That was actually our late friend, Sam Ensley, singing the song. His band was backing him. They were called Roots & Branches and featured Sam's son, Sammy, on guitar, and Wayde Powell, III on banjo. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Loved this song.
I really enjoyed this song' thank you for sharing it.God bless.
You just gave me a "light bulb moment"!!! When I read the title to your video/post, I thought "That's it"!!! When I was a little girl my grandfather would tell a story or a poem like rhyme about a bear and a preacher and I've never heard anyone else repeat it. He would tell it and get so tickled and just laugh and laugh. I enjoyed watching him recite it more than hearing the actual story. He passed in 1971 so I'm certain his version was before Jerry Reed's. Thank you for connecting the dots in my memory, and so glad you decided to go ahead and share!
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
That's cool, LikesQuilts. I can remember folks laughing a lot too upon hearing part of the story when I was a kid. Funny how a joke story can survive and be passed around for generations.
Love the bears expressions 😂😂 i imagine it would be hard to baptise bear 😂
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
Thanks, Linda. Me too!
Haha! Cute! ❤
Never heard that song before, and the cartoon was a fun addition. Glad you went ahead and shared it. Enjoyed Granny's introduction as always.
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
Thanks so much, Mhelen!
Pretty cute animation story song. You are right. I have never heard this song before today. I will have to listen to it several times to get all the words between watching the cartoon and trying to catch all the words. Thanks for putting this all together and finding the man to create the cartoon. Debbie
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
Thanks, Debbie. So glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you. Love ❤️ yall
Love this
Love this!
I love this song and video thank you and ofcourse Granny voice ❤️ 😊
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
Thanks so much. Glad you enjoyed it. :-)
I've had an old fashioned good time here this evening, praise God brought tears to my eyes, Hallelujah, yes is that Granny's voice, I hear before the song starts?
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
Thanks, Norman. Yes, that's Granny giving the little intro. :-)
Listen at that banjo and mandolin!
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
Thanks, Denise. Yes, they did a slick job on that song. :-)
That is a great song! Thanks for sharing
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
Cindy, thanks for watching and commenting!
I have this song on an Edison Cylinder Record from the early 1900s. It's a Great song!!! Thanks for sharing this song!!!!
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
Wow! That's cool! I would hang on to that for sure.
@dmcry600
4 ай бұрын
I plan to do just that. It's a cool song!!!@@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
Nice
LOL Awesome song and great animation!!
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
Thanks, Johnny. Glad you liked it!
If ever I have to meet up with a bear I hope it is that one!
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
Ha! True. I'll take a giant teddy bear over the real thing any day. :-)
Tipper is that your daddy singing❤? Patsy
@BlindPigAndTheAcorn
4 ай бұрын
No, it's the late Sam Ensley. If you read the notes under the video, you can learn more about the background of the song and band. Just click on the word "more" to expand the notes. Thanks!