Little White Dove

Background

It was several years ago that I found myself driving south to meet up with some friends in Atlanta, Georgia. On this particular trip, I had left with enough time to make a stop in Berea, Kentucky. For those that are familiar with Berea and the college there, you’ll know that it is something of a hotbed for Appalachian roots music.

However, my pilgrimage had little to do with music and everything to do with Tim Weckman and his wonderful Berea Bonsai Studio. I had taken an interest in the hobby a few years earlier and was hoping to meet up with Tim to pick up some pointers.

The whole experience did not disappoint. The studio was wonderful, the trees were inspirational, and Tim was patient and welcoming. While showing me how he approached pruning an old juniper, he noted that it was very important to, “always leave room for the birds to fly in.” That evocative advice has hung around.

Process

With many songs that I’ve written, I can place or remember where I was during the process of creating the song. For whatever reason, with Dove, I can’t. I know that the chords and the melody came from somewhere and had to have been set down at some point over a certain amount of time. I can’t tell you if that was immediate (like Bridge) or prolonged (like Stranger). All I can recall about this particular process is standing in my backyard one early spring day, looking at my Cortland apple tree, and then the song is there. Strange, but so it goes.

I can tell you that the chord progression, melody, and lyrical approach to the song certainly give a nod to mournful minor-key traditional mountain tunes like Shady Grove. Perhaps that was floating around in the back of my mind. At any rate, I could visualize this bird sitting in my apple tree, sad and lonesome, wishing that I had pruned the thing when I was supposed to so that it could move about a bit more freely.

That was the lyrical start. The end product became much more metaphorical and personally meaningful than I had intended, but I won’t project that meaning for anyone else. The dove coos in the chorus to answer the questions the verses ask. What is the answer? Is there an answer? Much like a modern abstract painting, that decision is up to the listener.

Listening Notes

Scott’s bass sets the mood with a great dive. He then used a bow on his electric bass to create a low drone since my hands were at the guitar and I couldn’t add a synth layer live. Aubrey’s banjo and vocals pull at that mournful high mountain sound. Kevin’s drumming with brushes then provide wonderful texture and Joe’s fiddle solo takes the song where it was wanting to go.

Despite our musicianship, this recording almost didn’t make the cut. As you’ll recall, this eight song project was all done in one evening at Akron Recording Company with only two takes per song. Because of the format, splicing and overdubbing and the like was virtually impossible. We knew that going in. What we got is what we got.

And when we first listened to the two takes of Dove, something(s) just felt off. It was probably the roughest listen of the whole project and we initially felt pretty deflated. Should we just cut the song off and put seven on the project? It was considered. But something about that felt disingenuous. The ethos of the Crooked Step live recording project was to present a snapshot of where we were at as a band at that point in time. Music without makeup. To throw Dove out seemed to be pretending that we weren’t human and weren’t going to make mistakes. So we kept it, lumps, bumps and all.

Special thanks to Bernie Nau at Peachfork Studios in Athens, Ohio who did masterful work in the mixing stage to help this track shine on the record. We've heard from several listeners that this song has become their favorite.

In spite of (or perhaps because of?) the human flaws, we hope you find this tune compelling.

"Little White Dove" from Crooked Step, Open Gate

You can purchase the full album on Bandcamp starting June 6, 2025. All songs will follow on the streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, etc), trickling out through the summer and fall. "Little White Dove" will begin streaming September 26, 2025.