Singer-songwriter Gillian Welch grew up playing the guitar in house full of keyboards, a collection which included a grand piano, spinet, harpsichord, and a pump organ. In this Bitter Southerner profile by Jewly Hight, Welch reflects on how audiences respond to her music, being encouraged to be artistic right from childhood, her love of books, and her evolution as a musical storyteller.
Consider “Hard Times,” one of Welch’s many contributions to the American folk canon. It’s been part of her and Rawlings’ repertoire since 2011, when President Obama was in office, and it’s a song of strained but determined resilience. Lending a bluesy lilt to the melody’s sighing descent, Welch sings of a farmer who keeps himself and his mule going until the day’s hard labor is done with this refrain: “Hard times ain’t gonna rule my mind.”
A decade and a half on, she’s struck by the emotional response the song has been getting from audiences. “I’ve never heard so many people sobbing in the shows,” she says. “It’s not like someone says to me, ‘Yeah, I cried a little.’ I’m literally hearing people breaking down. The shows have had this feeling of a refuge — a place to grieve, a place to cry, a place to feel joy. People are really hanging on for dear life.” Never has there been a greater need for Welch’s profound regard for humanity.
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