Heart of the Holler

(ooh-ooh-ooh-mmm) In the hush of early morning where the ridge meets rising light

A little girl was born with a voice soft as starlit night

She carried kindness like a lantern,

held it high for all to see

And the mountains learned her footsteps like an old familiar plea

She planted stories in the children,

let them bloom in every town

Lifted hearts the way a river lifts a fallen branch back up

from drown She gave comfort like a cradle,

steady hands in storm and rain

And she never asked for glory,

only love to ease the pain Oh

our darlin' mountain daughter,

sweet wild child of ridge and pine

Your name drifts through Tennessee like a low and holy line

You loved the world so open,

and you never once played small

Heart of the holler,

heart of us all

(hear

the wind call) She kept her kin close as breathing,

kept her roots deep as the stone

Walked the path the hills had given,

never strayed from what she'd known

Her love was quiet thunder,

steady as the river's bend

And she held her people gently,

from beginning to the end

She lived the truth of being honest,

lived the truth of being kind

Carried hope like woven basket,

full of blessings

left behind

And the mountains still remember every step her spirit made

Every soul she lifted upward,

every sorrow

that she

stayed

Oh our darlin' mountain daughter,

carved deep in the cedar hills

Your song keeps on a-rising,

and I reckon it always will

Sweet wild child of the ridges,

hear the wind call out your name Heart of the holler,

forever the same

(forever the same)

(ooh-ooh-ooh) Heart of the holler... (hummmm)