The dirt roads and traditions of a small Great Northern Peninsula town have inspired a new song from artist Jackie Sullivan.
From Calvert on the Avalon Peninsula, Sullivan has a new album out. It includes a song called “Old Dirt Roads” that pays tribute to the town of Croque, a small community of about 50 people on the eastern side of the Great Northern Peninsula. A dirt road still leads to the few remaining houses.
Sullivan’s husband, Glen Kearney hails from Croque and the song was written from his perspective.
“He’s constantly retelling stories to me and to our children about specific moments of him growing up in the boat on the water, in the woods hunting, on the ski-doos,” she told The Northern Pen. “So, I felt like I just knew the subject so well because I heard him reminisce so much.
“I don’t think I’ve seen anybody have such an immense love for a place.”
Sullivan felt obliged to write the song for him and all of those who feel a sense of pride for their community in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
In the song, she has Kearney reflect on his upbringing in Croque and his love for the place and its traditions.
But it’s also about keeping the memory of these traditions and this lifestyle alive in the next generation.
It's something her husband has done so well with their children, she says, as his stories made a strong impression on them.
“My children know Sailor Jack’s hill and they know White Hook Pond and they’ve eaten seal and they’ve been in the woods catching rabbits, and they’ve been on the boat,” she said. “He has fostered such a great love of that lifestyle and that community in our children, they would all move there tomorrow.”
It’s a way of life that was foreign to Sullivan, but one she's developed a profound appreciation for.
“I had never been to a community that still had dirt roads,” she said. “It’s very remote but also very sacred, historic and very pristine. It’s a very unique way of life there that I didn’t experience as a child.”
Residents of Croque will have the opportunity to see Sullivan perform “Old Dirt Roads” soon.
As part of the launch for her new album, Find Your Light, she will perform at the Sacred Heart Church in Conche, 80 km from Croque, on July 31.
A teaser of “Old Dirt Road” can be heard on YouTube or on Sullivan’s website jackiesullivanmusic.com
“Old Dirt Road” lyrics by Jackie Sullivan
Some enjoy the city lights
But I prefer a pond by night
And the smell of the salt sea summer air
The magic of this little place
Sweet memories I still retrace
Of days when I was just a boy
Hours spent alongside of men
In the woods and on the ocean then
We’d toil until the sun went down
The lessons learned I’ll n’er forget
Etched in my heart with no regrets
I’d give anything, to have those days back now
Chorus:
Cause old dirt roads and boats and water
It’s in my veins just like my father
And now I take my son and daughter there
To the ponds and coves and fishin' holes
The hills I climbed, the paths I roamed
Old dirt roads made me who I am
The fondest days and nights I’ve known
Come from old dirt roads.
And now it’s time to pass them on
Traditions of where I belong
To the little feet that follow in my steps
'Cause it’s sacred and it’s history
And it’ll always be a part of me
I promise you, I won’t let them forget
Chorus
