The Town
Song -
"Ode to Vine Grove"
From left, Pamela Marrelli, Steve
Ritchie, Mary Smith and
Donna Broadway work out harmony Friday to their song,
"Ode to Vine Grove," at Kentucky Craft Merchantile.
The group hopes the song will help unite the town.
| Vine Grove will always be "Home, Sweet
Home" to four musical residents. So much so that the budding group has written a song
about the town - one it hopes will catch on. So far, the little ditty has prompted the
songwriters - Pamela E. Marrelli, Mary Smith, Donna Broadway and Steve Ritchie - to
consider expanding their repertoire. Broadway, a Vine Grove city councilwoman, hopes to
persuade the rest of her council to adopt "Ode to Vine Grove," which is getting
a little airplay on a Brandenburg radio station, as the town's official song. "Our
hearts are in this town," she said. The songwriting began in early August. Smith,
owner of Kentucky Craft Mercantile, and Marrelli, Vine Grove event coordinator, went to
the back of the arts and crafts store and started jotting down lyrics to be sung to the
tune of "Rocky Top." Smith thought it would be a good way to preserve the town's
history. Worried about breaking a copyright law, the women took the song to Ritchie, who
wrote a new melody the next day. The notes, he said, came quickly and he finished the song
in about two hours. Then he, Marrelli, Smith and Broadway reworked the lyrics to make them
fit the tune. Ritchie sang the song at his cafe, Cobblestones, that night and stayed up
until 3 a.m. making a recording. When Marrelli began promoting Vine Grove Autumn Daze, she
got permission from Mayor Donovan Smith to use the song as background music in radio
commercials. One station, WMMG-FM in Brandenburg, agreed to play the song by itself.
The group hopes the tune will enhance Vine Grove's identity as a regional center of music
and give residents a sense if pride. "It brings the community together,"
Marrelli said. "Instead of being the town Hardin County forgot, it's a town that's
becoming a cultural bed of music," Ritchie said. The group also hopes the song will
teach future generations about their town. "A child may not pick up a history book
and read it," Marrelli said, "but they'll pick up a song and remember those
lyrics." Ritchie said, "Sometimes history gets lost. A song takes that history
and makes it personal in people's minds." The lyrics recount Vine Grove's early days
when settlers went to Otter Creek, naming it Vine Grove because of the grapevines. They
talk about the town moving to be closer to the railroad and fires and winds that
threatened to destroy it. The chorus reminds Vine Grove residents, "Oh ... Vine Grove
you'll always be home, sweet home to me. Beloved Vine Grove, you'll always be in my heart
and memory." The group is working on harmony to play along with Ritchie's guitar and
vocals, as well as parts for the dulcimer. All four songwriters play the state's official
instrument. The quartet also hopes to write more songs to offer residents and visitors as
a memento from Vine Grove.
[Excerpt from News-Enterprise 2001 - Written by Suzanne Nagel] |
|
The entire "Ode
to Vine Grove" song can now be heard on Steven Fairbank's Official Website: http://stevenfairbanks.com
[Note: Steve Ritchie currently lives in Tacoma, WA and is promoting his
music career as Steven Fairbanks. He is currently working on a new music CD and expects to
have it finished by year's end.]
|
