Larry Groce brings ‘Louise and Me’ to the West Virginia Museum of Music

By Matthew Young, RealWV

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Some 60 people came out to the West Virginia Museum of Music on Sunday, for Larry Groce’s performance of “Louise and Me: A Love Letter to Louise McNeill and West Virginia.”

For nearly 90 minutes, attendees were treated to recorded readings of McNeill’s poetry, as well as musical recordings of Bob Thompson and John Blisard. Interspersed throughout the program was live narration and musical performance from Groce, a longtime admirer and close friend of the late Louise McNeill.

“That’s what Louise was to me, the last dark current of the wilderness,” Groce said toward the end of the program, referencing McNeill’s poetry. “I think it’s still here. I think it’s still in West Virginia – the last dark current of the wilderness.”

“There’s two poems that she wrote, one in rage and one much more softly,” Groce continued, before reading McNeill’s words.

Threnody for Old Orchards

There is such sorrow here in these old orchards

That had I, of the Greek, some darker strain,

These stradia of hill should curve to answer,

And I would rant the echo of my pain,

Here was the fruited tree-land of my fathers,

And here the bended bough-land of the fall,

And here the winesap bending and the pippin,

And here the heartwood growing – and the gall…

Gone is that time and gone my orchard country,

And all the fields and farmsteads of this plain;

And all so lost – so lost – the hardhack tangles,

And nettles choke the footpath and the lane – 

And all so lost – and all so lost forever – 

That had I, of the greek, some tragic song,

Here, from the sounding well of this old orchard,

I would inflict my wrong

On all the world, and all the world would answer,

And draped in hairy garments, walk the stage,

And cry the death of kinsmen and of orchards,

And rage and rage and rage.

Chestnut Orchard

Saturday morning – no school today,

And we are up in the smokey dawn,

Hunting our sugar pokes from the press,

Putting our heavy stocking on.

Up the path to the chestnut grove,

Over the fence – first you, then I.

Acres of leaves for our scuffling feet,

And the rich burrs open against the sky.

A stick for you and a stick for me – 

Sticks to scatter the leaves that hide – 

Then the shining nuts with their silver tails,

And we bend and pick from the brown hillside.

Plenty for you and plenty for me,

And a bushel left for the gray squirrel’s store,

And all the morning the squirrels and we,

In our golden house with its leafy floor.

Saturday morning – no school today.

This last gold harvest before the snow – 

Let us go up to the chestnut trees.

It is Saturday morning and we must go,

Back through the years beyond time and space,

On a hill – by a dream – we will find that place,

And the great trees standing, untouched by blight,

In the silver fog and the golden light.

To close the program, Groce told attendees, “This is a labor of love for me, and I don’t even know what it is exactly. But I wanted to do it.”

“I’m not sure if I’ll ever do it again, but it’s something that I wanted to put out there,” Groce added. 

Among those in attendance for the event was Louise McNeill’s niece, Cheryl McCallister, who made the trip from the Parkersburg-area. Also in attendance was Vincent Andwan, from McNeill’s hometown of Buckeye, in Pocahontas County. Andwan is the owner of Buckeye Bend Books, which operates from the old one-room schoolhouse in which McNeill first taught. 

To learn more about Louise McNeill, or for more information about Groce’s program, “Louise and Me: A Love Letter to Louise McNeill and West Virginia,” read RealWV’s previous article HERE.