Story Behind The Song
At the end of the last Crusades, the Pope received a letter from one "Prester John," a Christian king from the East, ruler of a land with rivers of diamonds. Prester John pledged to send his great army as reinforcements. The Pope sent a man named Magister Phillip to meet with Prester John. He was never heard from again. The only army the crusaders ever saw coming from the east were Attila's Huns.
For this song, I considered what approach a charlatan like Prester John would take in Appalachia. It seemed reasonable that he would take advantage of the good folk on King Mountain in the guise of an itinerant minister like the kind described in the PBS series "Appalachia."
Song Description
An itinerant preacher goes up on King Mountain to spread his version of "The Word." After gaining the trust of the congregation, he steals off in the night with all their whiskey.
| Song Length |
2:51 |
Genre |
Country - Bluegrass, Country - Alternative |
Lyrics
A stranger came into these hills, singin' funny songs,
A-carryin' his Christian poem, thousand pages long.
He opened up the poem, said his name was Prester John,
He read right through suppertime and finished up at dawn.
(chorus)
Prester John in Appalachia come to baptize you and me,
In the mighty Diamond River in the land beyond the sea.
He carried Christ before him from the day that he was born,
And I loved to hear him preach and I loved to share his corn.
He went up on King Mountain there to share his Christian poem
To those who whupped up Ferguson and sent the Brits back home.
He get the folk all in a frenzy every Sunday morn,
And they'd pay him every Sunday night with liquor made of corn.
(chorus)
The day he left the mountain, you know, something in us died.
The woman folk looked real sad and the men stood 'round and cried.
That Sunday mornin' came along and everyone looked blue,
For he took with him our innocence and all our whiskey too.
(chorus)