Our Song of the Day comes from Sounds of the South a new project featuring Justin Vernon (Bon Iver, Volcano Choir), Sharon Van Etten, Megafaun, Matthew E. White, and Fight the Big Bull. The song, Trials, Troubles, Tribulations, is an American bluegrass gospel song written by EC Ball (more below). This is the first song from the compilation MusicNOW: 10 Years set for digital release on March 10th, 2015.
About EC Ball
EC Ball hailed from Rugby, Virginia, a town so small that he had to go over the nearby North Carolina border to get his mail. He started playing guitar at 13 and cited Riley Puckett, Chet Atkins, Sam McGee, and Maybelle Carter as influences. In addition, he was part of a long-standing musical world in that part of the Virginia mountains where black and white musicians shared music. He recorded for Alan Lomax and the Library of Congress in 1941, and some of his recordings appeared on albums issued by the Library of Congress. For most of his career he performed strictly gospel music with his wife (1907–2000) as E.C. and Orna Ball and the Friendly Gospel Singers. The group recorded again for Lomax in the late 1950s, and their recordings were released on the County and Rounder labels. The Balls also performed locally on radio on WKSK-AM from North Carolina and WBOB-AM from Galax, Virginia. Ball was also a mentor to another Rugby resident, the fine guitarist and luthier, Wayne Henderson. Henderson became the postman in Rugby for a number of years, thus saving Ball the trip to North Carolina.
MusicNOW 10 Years
MusicNOW 10 Years features 16 live tracks including Robin Pecknold playing the traditional song “Silver Dagger” for the first time, the debut performance of Grizzly Bear’s “While You Wait for the Others”, the premiere of Sufjan Stevens’ “The Owl & The Tanager”, as well as collaborations featuring Owen Pallett, Justin Vernon, Sharon van Etten, Tinariwen and Dirty Projectors.
This year’s MusicNOW festival will take place on March 11-15. For the full schedule and more details visit www.musicnowfestival.org