Lookout Mountain native and longtime Signal Mountain resident Robert Thatcher has always loved writing, poetry in particular. Coming from a very musical family, he probably learned to play the guitar before he learned to ride a bike. Those were always two separate activities, and Robert wrote poem after poem in various notebooks and on scrap sheets of paper and whatever was handy when the words came to him. And he has played guitar for a lifetime, strumming other folks’ songs.
His uncle is the late legendary Fletcher Bright of The Dismembered Tennesseans fame, and his cousin is Frank Bright, a great musician and songwriter. Both encouraged Robert’s music, but Frank planted the seed that Robert might want to try writing some tunes on his own, something that simmered for a while on the back burner.
But then things changed when he went to college.
“When I was at Davidson College, a friend from Selma, Ala., was looking at a notepad of my poems and asked if he could borrow [a poem] I’d written about a freight train. I said sure, wondering what in the heck he wanted it for. He surprised me by singing it in a talent show a few weeks later. He won. Hearing the music he’d paired with my words made me want to do more,” Robert said, and a songwriter was officially born.
Robert writes about all manner of things, but one thing he consistently champions is the river. The marshes and streams and waterways, creeks he grew up playing in. Those waters speak to him, and in turn, he speaks for them.
“Years ago, I stayed at an old stone hotel along the Suwanee River and was mesmerized by its winding, black waters. It’s a wild river with more springs than about anywhere in the country. Like many rivers in Tennessee, it faces threats from development, pollution, and mines,” Robert said.
One of his songs in this ilk is “Kentucky Blue,” which is a lyrical protest against strip mining. He wrote this one after he was listening to the radio one day, but it wasn’t exactly music playing on the station.
“The idea came after hearing an NPR report about families displaced by this mining practice in West Virginia and Kentucky,” Robert explained.
This particular song, “Kentucky Blue,” was selected for the Scenic City Sampler CD, a local compilation of roots music, and Robert was pleased about this, both because of the honor and the cause that is so important to him.
Robert finds inspiration for his written words everywhere, including good books, hikes, and movies, saying, “Issues I care about are good fodder for protest songs. Anything that stirs your emotions can inspire a song.”
In fact, after watching the WTCI documentary about “The Dismembered Tennesseans” several years back, he couldn’t sleep. “Thoughts kept waking me about my uncle Fletcher Bright and his band - gathered around the radio in the 1950s figuring out Bill Monroe tunes. And how they were still at it 70- plus years later, bringing great bluegrass for us all to enjoy,” Robert said, adding that he ended up staying awake until 3 a.m., when he finally completed a tribute called “Songs You Gave Away.” He gave his uncle the CD for this 80th birthday, noting that it was nerve-wracking to give a musical gift to a true master. “But he liked it, was honored, and encouraged me to keep writing,” Robert said, adding that he and his uncle played the song together on the family’s trips to Pawley’s Island and that Fletcher would laugh and say, ‘It feels funny playing my own tribute.’”
Robert has collaborated with songwriter Tom Brown as well as others. The two met at a songwriting workshop at Barking Legs and they decided to put their heads together and see what they could come up with. And they came up with plenty, including award winners at the John Hartford Festival and WoodyFest contests.
Recently the duo wrote a song, “Roll on, Echo River,” which is a beautiful song with a moving plea to recognize the human role as stewards of the river. A finalist the WWALS Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, “Roll On, Echo River” took home the prize for Best Folk/ Americana/Bluegrass Song.
Not unlike his uncle, Robert downplays this achievement, saying, “In a way, I think the contests are just an excuse to get together and keep moving forward with our songs.”
Where will this wild river take us?
As it winds along its way
Flowing on to tomorrow
For its life, we pray
Lives and towns long forgotten
Fortunes rise and fall
But the wanderin’ Suwannee
Keeps rolling through it all
Roll on Echo River
Roll on clean and free
Wild blackwater beauty
Keep rolling to the sea
We see riches of the river
In the song the bunting sings
In the branches of a live oak tree
By the flow of ancient springs
We think we own the river
But we’re just passing by
Like ripples on the water
Neath a fading summer sky
Chorus
Where will this wild river take us?
As it winds through troubled times
When some would trade true riches
For the promise of a mine
By Ferris Robinson
His uncle is the late legendary Fletcher Bright of The Dismembered Tennesseans fame, and his cousin is Frank Bright, a great musician and songwriter. Both encouraged Robert’s music, but Frank planted the seed that Robert might want to try writing some tunes on his own, something that simmered for a while on the back burner.
But then things changed when he went to college.
“When I was at Davidson College, a friend from Selma, Ala., was looking at a notepad of my poems and asked if he could borrow [a poem] I’d written about a freight train. I said sure, wondering what in the heck he wanted it for. He surprised me by singing it in a talent show a few weeks later. He won. Hearing the music he’d paired with my words made me want to do more,” Robert said, and a songwriter was officially born.
Robert writes about all manner of things, but one thing he consistently champions is the river. The marshes and streams and waterways, creeks he grew up playing in. Those waters speak to him, and in turn, he speaks for them.
“Years ago, I stayed at an old stone hotel along the Suwanee River and was mesmerized by its winding, black waters. It’s a wild river with more springs than about anywhere in the country. Like many rivers in Tennessee, it faces threats from development, pollution, and mines,” Robert said.
One of his songs in this ilk is “Kentucky Blue,” which is a lyrical protest against strip mining. He wrote this one after he was listening to the radio one day, but it wasn’t exactly music playing on the station.
“The idea came after hearing an NPR report about families displaced by this mining practice in West Virginia and Kentucky,” Robert explained.
This particular song, “Kentucky Blue,” was selected for the Scenic City Sampler CD, a local compilation of roots music, and Robert was pleased about this, both because of the honor and the cause that is so important to him.
Robert finds inspiration for his written words everywhere, including good books, hikes, and movies, saying, “Issues I care about are good fodder for protest songs. Anything that stirs your emotions can inspire a song.”
In fact, after watching the WTCI documentary about “The Dismembered Tennesseans” several years back, he couldn’t sleep. “Thoughts kept waking me about my uncle Fletcher Bright and his band - gathered around the radio in the 1950s figuring out Bill Monroe tunes. And how they were still at it 70- plus years later, bringing great bluegrass for us all to enjoy,” Robert said, adding that he ended up staying awake until 3 a.m., when he finally completed a tribute called “Songs You Gave Away.” He gave his uncle the CD for this 80th birthday, noting that it was nerve-wracking to give a musical gift to a true master. “But he liked it, was honored, and encouraged me to keep writing,” Robert said, adding that he and his uncle played the song together on the family’s trips to Pawley’s Island and that Fletcher would laugh and say, ‘It feels funny playing my own tribute.’”
Robert has collaborated with songwriter Tom Brown as well as others. The two met at a songwriting workshop at Barking Legs and they decided to put their heads together and see what they could come up with. And they came up with plenty, including award winners at the John Hartford Festival and WoodyFest contests.
Recently the duo wrote a song, “Roll on, Echo River,” which is a beautiful song with a moving plea to recognize the human role as stewards of the river. A finalist the WWALS Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, “Roll On, Echo River” took home the prize for Best Folk/ Americana/Bluegrass Song.
Not unlike his uncle, Robert downplays this achievement, saying, “In a way, I think the contests are just an excuse to get together and keep moving forward with our songs.”
Where will this wild river take us?
As it winds along its way
Flowing on to tomorrow
For its life, we pray
Lives and towns long forgotten
Fortunes rise and fall
But the wanderin’ Suwannee
Keeps rolling through it all
Roll on Echo River
Roll on clean and free
Wild blackwater beauty
Keep rolling to the sea
We see riches of the river
In the song the bunting sings
In the branches of a live oak tree
By the flow of ancient springs
We think we own the river
But we’re just passing by
Like ripples on the water
Neath a fading summer sky
Chorus
Where will this wild river take us?
As it winds through troubled times
When some would trade true riches
For the promise of a mine
By Ferris Robinson
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