I was born upon a hillside
Where the pines sing in the wind
Where my Daddy lived before me
and my Grandpa before him
We believe in simple living
It’s the only life we’ve known
All we need here is our freedom
and a place to call our own.
The words are from a song, The Hills That I Call Home written by Bob Amos. Paul and Pap have been singing the song for years-and from the first time I heard it-I loved it. The song gives me a sense of belonging-one of those songs you feel so strongly about-you feel as though you could have written it yourself.
Funny I should feel such a connection with the song-because it isn’t about my beloved Appalachia. The chorus tells you the song is about “the land of Ethan Allen where the sugar maples grow” in other words well north of here.
I believe Bob Amos knew people who were not from the land of Ethan Allen would relate to his song too. Part of the 2nd verse:
Yet I found no peace within me till the day that I returned For there’s two things you can count on as the troubled world we face Every season has an ending and every person has a place.
The Southern Highlands of Appalachia are by no means perfect-there are problems the folks who live here face-but it’s my home-it’s my place.
Listen to this week’s Pickin’ & Grinnin’ In The Kitchen Spot-The Hills That I Call Home-afterwards-please leave me a comment about your place. Maybe it’s the land of Ethan Allen maybe it’s the plains of the midwest or like me-maybe it’s a holler in Appalachia.
Hope you enjoyed Bob Amos’ great song. Don’t forget-leave me a comment about your place.
Tipper
Dear Tipper,
Another beautiful song from Paul & Pap to add to my favorites! (The Hills That I Call Home) I love the way I can hear Pap’s voice so clearly……more so than in other songs I’ve listened to. They’re an amazing duo! I have their Christmas CD. I’m blessed to live along the beautiful, rocky coast of Maine, but we also have hundreds of clear blue lakes, along with our famous Mt. Katadin……..which is either the beginning or end of the Appalachian Trail……depending on where you start. It makes me so proud when “those from away” come and fall in love with Maine, just because I love it so much!! As Sheila posted, Home is definitely where the heart is!
Blessings, J.
Hey there, I really enjoyed your family version of my song “The Hills That I Call Home” as well as this nice post with all the photos. Wonderful! Though I wrote it about my home, family and friends in northern Vermont, you are absolutely right that it could be about any place that folks love and feel a tie to. I love the fact that it speaks to you about your own home place. I recently recorded a new version with my daughter (Bob and Sarah Amos/The Hills that I Call Home), which you can hear on youtube or spotify etc. Blessings to you and your family – Bob Amos
After listening to Paul and Pap singing What a friend we have in Jesus today Feb 7 ,2021 …thinking how delighted they both must have been at Corie’s playing with them …and how true it really is -What a friend we have in Jesus ….. then I noticed this blog posts day and came over here to hear again this delightful song and be amazed at their talented playing and singing …and just joy in the love of a dad and a son … as for us two it’s the bluegrass of Kentucky …all our lives … we love visiting other places but are always glad to the city sign on the interstate …ramping us right on home ☺️
Love the song and the blog! I live in SW Virginia.
I love your web site, so peaceful, kinda helps to forget about the fast pace of life today, and remember life when it was simple.
I love this. The hills and mountains surely do call me. My Dad wrote songs and was from beautiful northwest Arkansas originally, but moved to Oak Ridge, Tn. during WWII. He wrote a song about his new home where I was born. “When it’s springtime in the Tennessee Valley, that is where I long to be. Springtime when the dogwood is blooming…a beautiful sight to see. They say that the good Lord made springtime for love. And a lover of nature is He. For when He gave to the world all its beauty. He was liberal to East Tennessee.” by Ed Blalock
Just a beautiful Ballad – typical of the “Hill Folks” – love it!
I’m from the Hills of the Madawaska Valley in Renfrew County, Ontario Canada and really relate to the piece.
Nels Boehme
Combermere Ontario Canada.
Hey Tipper,
Your roots have grown strong and deep here in this rich Appalachian soil. How blessed you are! Although I’m not a native, it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. I’m very grateful to be living here. Love the song! Take care, Janet S
Tipper, that’s a beautiful song and so true for me. I’ve lived a lot of places, a couple of them big cities. But the place that I’ll always call home is the hills of southern Ohio, across the Ohio River from Kentucky and West Virginia. That’s where my heart is.
I thought I left a comment, but it didn’t show up.
Anyway, I live in a tiny apartment in the ‘big harsh’ city, but I call Ocean City my home away from home. I adore being at the ocean and would like to retire there. I also love being in the hills, as most of my family hails from Harrisonburg, VA. Guess I’m kinda fickle that way. 🙂 xxoo
Love it. The pictures with the words. It was written for you.
Tipper,
I enjoyed this posting very much. As a native of the Blue Ridge Mountains, this really resounds with me and my love for this region. I don’t have a credit card to subscribe for your newsletter. Will you please e-mail me and let me know how I could subscribe by the US Postal Service?
Wonderful song and pics Tipper! Thank you!
It seems like a song about loving the place you’re from. Feeling like you belong. Great song!
Tipper , That was a great post and also loved all the comments from folks all over the country , we can all relate to a place called home, I love the song by the late great John Denver ” Take me home country road to a place where I belong “. I think in the back of our minds we all feel this way. And some sweet day we’ll go to that Home way over there in the other Holler. Malcolm
This song brought tears to my eyes tonight. I think the older we get, the more we just want to go home. (Those of us who have wandered that is.)
My home is the Blue Mountians of Northeastern Oregon. Those mountains and valleys are part of my soul and no matter where I’ve lived – California, Wyoming, Alaska and the Oregon Coast – those Blue Mountains always are calling me back home. As the song says, I’m never more at peace than when I’m back.
I’m a hillbilly from the Ozarks of Missouri. Our way of life is like yours. Plain, simple, livin’ off the land, growin’ up knowin’ how to take care of ourselves and be self sufficient and just plain survive. I grew up livin’ back in a holler and there’s no place on earth I would have rather been. I still feel that way about these Ozark mountains.
Both sides of my family and my husbands too, lived here in southern Missouri as far back as any of us knows. Back durin’ WWll some members of the family moved to California to find work, after the war, most of them came back. It’s hard to take us out of these hills once we’ve known their magic.
I don’t think it’s like this in north Missouri but here in the south Ozarks, the ones that were born and raised here are proud to be hillbillies!
I love David’s comment above! I guess wherever I’m at I call home. I’m not a native Oregonian, but right now, it’s definitely home, and I’ve grown to love the Central Oregon desert, with the junipers and sage and volcanic rocks. But I adapt, and I’m drawn to my family’s roots, so my mom’s family in Michigan and my dad’s in West Virginia are both very dear places to me.
Unlike some commenters here, I haven’t lived in the same place for a huge portion of my life, but sometimes I wish I had–there is definitely more of a sense of place that way.
Indiana. I lived there until I was 27 and got married. Then I moved to Illinos and lived there until my current husband (and high school sweetheart) go married in 2007 and moved to Texas.
I miss the Midwest sooooo much.
I enjoy your site a lot. The truth is …there is no place like home!! I live in Eastern Canada and we do not have mountains or a Holler which you mention but it intrigues me to hear you talk about your home! We do have sugar maple trees from which we gather sap to make maple sugar, maple syrup and so on…yumm!! The music is a delight as is your every post..tks so much…the best!!
I like to imagine if God came back to Earth, not to claim His own, but to reflect on His creation; if He took earthly form and walked His many lands; I think He would lay himself down and find peaceful rest when He came to these mountains. And, when He got up and continued, He would say, “I am satisfied that my work has been good.”
As usual, you just have the best photos ever. It’s really pretty neat that the area you love and really take to heart is the area you call home. I think a sense of place is wonderful, and important too.
Tipper,
I think almost anyone can relate to this song, especially if they have country background.
I was raised on a farm about a 20 minute drive from where I live today. I haven’t ever lived anywhere else, though I have traveled to British Columbia, Canada’s Maritime Provinces and many places in the USA. I have actually been in 20 of the 50 States and am hoping that one day I will visit others.
Enjoyed the Pickin’ and Grinnin’ in the Kitchen, as always. Have a great weekend.
Blessings,
Mary
There’s no place like home; that’s because home is where the heart is.
These mountains of Western North Carolina are my home though I was not born here. My family roots are here and my heart is here and I have been here most of my life.
I think these mountains call their own. I’ve talked too many folks who grew up here then moved away only to have the mountains call them back.
I’ve also known folks to move here because of the beauty of the mountains only to be rejected by them. They could not stand the desolation of bare mountains in the winter and felt that the mountains were moving in on them.
I guess one mans cradle is another s cage!
Love Ya!
Hi Tipper,
I was born in a holler in Appalachia, too. I will never forget it. I still call it home. I love the song your dad and your brother sing. I could listen to them all day.
Blessings,
Annie
Tipper: Really enjoyed the song and the meaning. I still call Pennsylvania home in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. I love where I live now but at times miss the streams of my youth as they carve through the foothills.
It’s funny that you should write on the subject of the places that we call home – I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately; though my early years were spent in Southern California, I spent my high school years in Texas and that’s where my family is from, so now I think of myself as a Texan – must be the roots showing through.
I really enjoy the music on this blog and the clips you post.
Tipper,
I like your world as is–real, human, beautiful,
love the words to the song. I’m an Oregon girl through and through! Wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. It’s my home.
Home to me has always been in NE Okla. I was born and raised in the same town my daddy, granddad,grandmother, and great grandmother all were raised. It is a small town, but a close knit one. Neighbors are always helping each other. We also have a great school and the best kids around.
I’ve always lived in WV and so have my ancestors. I love that song, it speaks to you. I wrote a poem once about our families, one of the stanzas says:
Some are drawn to the oceans
and the taste of the salty sea.
My people were drawn to the hills
and here we will always be.
I’ve never heard that song but it speaks to your heart. Great post Thanks.
Great post/song Tipper 🙂 Have a great weekend!
Funny, isn’t it? No matter what, home is home. I have been a ton of places, from Florida to Vermont, from Ontario to Sault Ste. Marie Michigan, to Mississippi, from California to Texas and back to Michigan through Illinois, but northwestern Lower Michigan, with it’s hills, sugar maples, red pine and Aspens still looks like home every time I get there. Great song..
Hi Tipper! When I saw the title of your post, I immediately thought of Iris Dement’s “These Hills” which I adore. Wasn’t aware of Bob Amos’ song “The Hills That I Call Home.” Enjoyed it, and this heartfelt post! I can’t believe how blonde you were when you were a child, Tipper?! :))
p.s. I can’t wait to receive your Newletter. I just subscribed!
Beautiful pcs along with beautiful words.
I’ve been a flatlander most of my life, but we did live four years between the Ouachitas and the Ozarks in western Arkansas. We loved the mountains. Tell Paul and Pap they did a great job on the song too. Pappy
I’ve always lived in Arkansas and I love it here. Like you, we have our problems, but we also have real people who live and love and take care of their own. I was born in the Ozark Mountains in north central Arkansas but now I live in west central Arkansas, still with some small mountains, and lots of lakes and the natural beauty can’t be beat. Right now the Dogwood Trees are at their peak and they take your breath. blessings, marlene