“Pine Tree” was written by Sarah Siskind, a singer and songwriter born in 1978 who grew up in North Carolina. Her songs have been recorded by artists from Alison Krauss, whose 2007 recording of Siskind’s “Simple Love” on A Hundred Miles or More drew a Grammy nomination, to Randy Travis and the Infamous Stringdusters.
The singer is on the way home: starting out from Rome, Georgia, bound for the mountains of the Carolinas, aiming to arrive before the sun drops behind the tallest pine. The chorus speaks to the tree itself, growing from the soil of Galilee, and urges it not to hang back, since roots that never go never grow. The verses follow a life from a child standing at the tree’s foot and looking out over the valley, through years of being afraid to take a step, to being kept safe through the worst rain by a steady guiding hand. The last wish is to be buried beside the tallest pine in the Carolina hills.
Della Mae, a band formed in Boston in 2009, recorded it for This World Oft Can Be, their second album, released by Rounder on 28 May 2013. The album was made at Cash Cabin Studios in Hendersonville, Tennessee, with Bryan Sutton producing; on “Pine Tree” Celia Woodsmith played guitar, Courtney Hartman lead guitar, Jenni Lyn Gardner mandolin, Kimber Ludiker fiddle and Shelby Means bass. This World Oft Can Be was nominated for Best Bluegrass Album at the 56th Grammy Awards in 2014.
