My Cabin in Caroline was the first song recorded by Flatt & Scruggs after they left Bill Monroe and formed their own band in 1948. Though the tune is credited to Lester Flatt, it was written by John Ralph Pennington who sold it to Flatt for $50.
Pennington’s daughter, Vivian Pennington Hopkins, has made it her mission to share her late father’s legacy. Earlier this year, she released a project, Back to the Cabin in Caroline – A Tribute to Bluegrass Pioneer, John Ralph Pennington, that featured Herb Pedersen and host of top notch North Carolina pickers and singers.
Ralph was not only a songwriter, he was a multi-instrumentalist and luthier, and Vivian has sought to give long overdue credit to her daddy’s talents with the album. Since its release, she has been busy in the creation of two music videos from that album. One is her dad’s My Cabin in Caroline, and the other is her own composition, a sequel tune, Back to the Cabin in Caroline.
“In producing these videos, I hope along with recording the album, I have done justice to my dad’s memory, and it is an honor to pay tribute to him,” Vivian shared.
Visible in both music videos is the cabin in the western North Carolina community of Hays in Wilkes County, the home place of Vivian’s mother, and inspiration for both the initial tune penned by Ralph, and the latter one by his daughter.
Hopkins is grateful that the project has come to fruition. “Tim Vogel of Lancer Films did a phenomenal job in creating these videos. He went above my expectations and created magic especially on My Cabin in Caroline. I couldn’t be more proud of these videos and I can’t say thank you enough to all of the musicians and individuals that came together to make it all happen.”
She elaborated on how the first video came to be.
“With the production and filming of My Cabin in Caroline, I had to find that Studebaker from the original picture of my dad that was taken in the yard of the farmhouse/cabin. Charlie King, the car’s owner, was so gracious to let us use it. That was an important piece of the video.
My son, Shaun, colorized the original photo of my dad and his Studebaker. Not long after that photo of my dad with his car was taken, our family was hit head-on in a crash on the highway. My dad saved my life because I hit the windshield along with his fist. I was standing in the seat between him and my mom when the crash happened. I was hospitalized, but recovered from the accident.”
For the second video, Back to the Cabin in Caroline, Vivian concluded, “It is a nostalgic return to My Cabin in Caroline to find my own blue-eyed darling.”
She offered special thanks to the musicians who appeared in each video. In My Cabin in Caroline, the pickers on the original cabin’s porch are Danny Bowers on fiddle, John Marler on guitar, Tim Perry on mandolin, Travis Brady on bass, Tom Hyatt on banjo, and Pennington’s nephew, Joe Couch, on vocals. Members of the youth band, Carolina Detour, Lake Carver and Cooper Eades, appear as a young Ralph and Ruby Felts Pennington. Vivian and her cousin, Debbie, are seen sitting on the cabin porch beside the band snapping green beans.
In the second video, musicians seen with Vivian, who is singing lead, are Greg Blake on guitar, Jonah Chaney on mandolin, Tom Hyatt on banjo, Lake Carver on fiddle, and Daniel Schronce on bass. The picking portion was filmed inside the historic EH Montgomery Store in Gold Hill, NC where Vivian hosts jams each Friday night.
Each video is a pure work of art by Vogel, and Hopkins has surely achieved her desire to shine a light on her father, a true bluegrass pioneer.
For information on the album and the videos, visit CabinInCaroline.com.
