One of my mama’s favorite songs was Wildwood Flower, a song originally recorded by The Carter Family that Mama must have heard as a very young child (Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs also did a version of the song that no doubt Mama also heard).
I suspect that everything about Wildwood Flower reminded Mama, especially during the twelve years as a child when she was away, of east Tennessee and the family she loved – and who loved her – who lived there in small little communities named Telford and Flag Pond. tucked safely into the hills and valleys of the Appalachian Mountains.
Today would have been Mama’s 88th birthday, so in remembrance, Wildwood Flower (both the song and the picture my daddy drew in the last year of his life for Mama) seems appropriate.
I’ve always liked Rosanne Cash’s music and that has only grown with time as she, like her dad, has consistently dug deeper and defied the constraints of genre to make music worth listening to, both lyrically and instrumentally.
So when I heard this version of Wildwood Flower a while back, I immediately thought of Mama.
And since both Rosanne Cash (via June Carter Cash) and Randy Scruggs (the song of Earl Scruggs) perform here, it makes it a little more special, in my opinion.
And here is Daddy’s picture, circa 1997:
I miss you both more than words can say. I love you both now and always. And I can’t wait to see and be with both of you again.
Until then, rest well, Mama and Daddy.
Fields of Gold: A Love Story - The Book 
Beautiful post, thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Michelle! I hope all is well with you, my friend.
This was so beautiful! Such a tender, touching love story — and a perfect tribute to the two extraordinary souls who shared it. And Roseanne Cash does the song justice like no other. Thanks for bringing their story and their love alive once more. It was a great pleasure to read.
Thanks, Marth!