Welch and Rawlings have collaborated on seven critically acclaimed albums, five released under her name, and two released under the name Dave Rawlings Machine. Her 1996 debut, Revival, and the 2001 release Time (The Revelator), received nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Her 2003 album, Soul Journey, introduced electric guitar, drums, and a more upbeat sound to their body of work. After a gap of eight years, she released a fifth studio album, The Harrow & The Harvest, in 2011, which was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Welch was an associate producer and performed on two songs of the soundtrack of the Coen brothers 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a platinum album that won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002. She also appeared in the film attempting to buy a Soggy Bottom Boys record. Welch, while not one of the principal actors, did sing and provide additional lyrics to the Sirens song "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby." In 2018 she and Rawlings wrote the song "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" for the Coens' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, for which they received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Welch has collaborated and recorded with Alison Krauss, Ryan Adams, Jay Farrar, Emmylou Harris, the Decemberists, Sam Phillips, Conor Oberst, Ani DiFranco, and Robyn Hitchcock.
Gillian Howard Welch was born on October 2, 1967 in New York City, and was adopted by Mitzie Welch (née Marilyn Cottle) and Ken Welch, comedy and music entertainers. Her biological mother was a freshman in college, and her father was a musician visiting New York City. Welch has speculated that her biological father could have been one of her favorite musicians, and she later discovered from her adoptive parents that he was a drummer. Alec Wilkinson of The New Yorker stated that "from an address they had been given, it appeared that her mother ... may have grown up in the mountains of North Carolina". When Welch was three, her adoptive parents moved to Los Angeles to write music for The Carol Burnett Show. They also appeared on The Tonight Show.
As a child, Welch was introduced to the music of American folk singers Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and the Carter Family. She performed folk songs with her peers at the Westland Elementary School in Los Angeles. Welch later attended Crossroads School, a high school in Santa Monica, California. While in high school, a local television program featured her as a student who "excelled at everything she did."
Welch and Rawlings incorporate elements of early twentieth century music such as old time, classic country, gospel and traditional bluegrass with modern elements of rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, jazz, and punk rock. The New Yorker's Alec Wilkinson maintained their musical style is "not easily classified—it is at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms".
The instrumentation on their songs is usually a simple arrangement, with Welch and Rawlings accompanying their own vocals with acoustic guitars, banjos, or a mandolin. Welch plays rhythm guitar with a 1956 Gibson J-50 (or banjo), while Rawlings plays lead on a 1935 Epiphone Olympic Guitar.The New Yorker's Wilkinson described Rawlings as a "strikingly inventive guitarist" who plays solos that are "daring melodic leaps". A review in No Depression by Andy Moore observed that Rawlings "squeezes, strokes, chokes and does just about everything but blow into" his guitar.
Many songs performed by Welch and Rawlings contain dark themes about social outcasts struggling against such elements as poverty, drug addiction, death, a disconnection from their family, and an unresponsive God. Despite Welch being the lead singer, several of these characters are male. Welch has commented, "To be commercial, everybody wants happy love songs. People would flat-out ask me, 'Don't you have any happy love songs?' Well, as a matter of fact, I don't. I've got songs about orphans and morphine addicts." To reflect these themes, Welch and Rawlings often employ a slow pace to their songs. Their tempo is compared to a "slow heartbeat", and Cowperthwait of Rolling Stone observed that their songs "can lull you into near-hypnosis and then make your jaw drop with one final revelation".
Hickory Wind
Gillian Welch Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In South Carolina there are many tall pines
D A G A
I remember the oak tree that we use to climb
A G A D
But it makes me feel better each time it begins
D G A D
Calling me home Hickory Winds
D A G D
I started out younger at most everything
D A G A
All the riches and pleasures what else could life bring
A G A D
But now that I'm lonesome I always pretend
D G A D
That I'm getting the feel of Hickory Winds
D A G D
It's a hard way to find out that trouble is real
D A G A
In a far away city with a far away feel
A G A D
But it makes me feel better each time it begins
D G A D
Calling me home Hickory Winds
The lyrics to Gillian Welch's song "Hickory Wind" evoke a strong sense of nostalgia and longing for home. The song depicts a narrator who has left her childhood home for the allure of the city, but finds herself yearning for the simplicity and comfort of her roots. The first verse describes the natural beauty of South Carolina and the memories the singer has of playing amongst the tall pines and climbing an oak tree. The chorus then brings in the titular hickory winds as a symbol of the singer's yearning for a return to her childhood home.
The second verse takes a more introspective turn, as the singer reflects on her youthful ambition and pursuit of wealth and pleasure. However, she now finds herself alone and lonesome, and instead finds comfort in imagining the hickory winds blowing her home. The final verse brings the song full circle, acknowledging that the singer has left behind her small town life and has experienced the harsh realities of the world. Yet, the hickory winds continue to bring her back to her true home in her heart.
Line by Line Meaning
In South Carolina there are many tall pines
In South Carolina, there is an abundance of tall pine trees
I remember the oak tree that we use to climb
I recall the times when I climbed the oak tree
But it makes me feel better each time it begins
Whenever the sound of the hickory wind starts, it comforts me
Calling me home Hickory Winds
The hickory winds seem to call me back home
I started out younger at most everything
When I was young, I had an advantage in most things
All the riches and pleasures what else could life bring
I had everything I could desire in terms of wealth and happiness
But now that I'm lonesome I always pretend
Now that I am lonely, I try to imagine the feeling of the hickory wind
That I'm getting the feel of Hickory Winds
I am trying to recreate the sensation of being in the hickory winds
It's a hard way to find out that trouble is real
It is difficult to come to terms with the reality of trouble
In a far away city with a far away feel
In a distant city, where everything feels foreign
But it makes me feel better each time it begins
Whenever the sound of the hickory wind starts, it comforts me
Calling me home Hickory Winds
The hickory winds seem to call me back home
Contributed by Christian A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Shannon Lee
David Rawlings is a genius at harmonies! He blends so well with Gillian, it's like they are two sides of the same coin! Love Gram and love that they covered this song. <3
Tuzotonic
This is a fitting cover of a timeless song. If anyone was to cover Gram Parsons, I'm glad Gillian Welch did. She and Emmylou Harris have my two favorite voices in music.
Melinda Zupan
So grateful for all of the beautiful memories that this song brings up. The tears are worth it.
Shakeytunes
Despite loving Gram's, Emmylou's and others versions this has to be the best. It's so haunting and lovely at the same time. Thanks Gram for writing it.
Rosie McNamer
I thought I had heard everything they had, what a treat to hear something new. Thanks!
John Harrington
While I love Gram Parson's version but I must say this one has hit me hard. My sister died two days ago and she is was from South Carolina. My father was her biological father from his first wife but I never knew her until two years ago. My dad had not seen her since she was 2 years ago and months before he died I found her and they met after 67 years. And now she has died and forever they will be together. This song has new meaning for me and I dedicate it to Pat....my sister. A beautiful version. I'll suggest it be played at her funeral.
BaronVK1
So many versions of this great song, and this is a very good one. Gillian puts a lot of her soul into this version. Thanks for posting it.
Milt Rudy
The harmony couldn't be more perfect. What a gift!
Aidan Heffernan
I'm well acquainted with GP, but this is another beautiful version of a Classico! Nice.
Meagan Smith
her version is a beautiful tribute to gram parsons! :)