Conceived as a song cycle of sorts, Shawn Camp’s latest release, tellingly-titled The Ghost Of Sis Draper, came about as the result of Camp’s working relationship with the late, great Guy Clark, with whom he collaborated up until Clark’s passing.
Nevertheless, the original inspiration came about many years earlier. Camp was seven years old when a legendary Arkansas fiddle player named Sis Draper made an appearance at a pickin’ party in Camp’s hometown environs of Perry County, Tennessee. He still remembers the first time he saw her as she walked into the house, sporting a big beehive hairdo and a fiddle in a coffin case. She was a legend well before he ever laid eyes on her, due to the fact that his grandpa and uncle had talked about her so frequently.
Of course, Camp’s no slouch himself. He’s worked with the likes of John Prine, Loretta Lynn, The Osborne Brothers, Jerry Reed, Alan Jackson, Shelby Lynne, and Trisha Yearwood, among the many, and penned songs for Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn, Josh Turner, Blake Shelton, George Strait, and others. When Clark won a Grammy in 2014 for his final album, My Favorite Picture of You, Camp took home an award of his own for being one of the record’s producers. A year later, he took home another trophy as lead vocalist for the bluegrass band with whom he still works, the super Flatt & Scruggs tribute group known as the Earls of Leicester.
Naturally then, the new album finds him plowing some archival terrain, given the fact it’s a decidedly down-home, biographical narrative that pays homage to the title character. Songs such as Sis Draper, Soldier’s Joy 1864, The Fiddlin’ Preacher, Old Hillbilly Hand-Me-Down, The Checkered Shirt Stomp, and New Cut Road convey tender and touching sentiment, all while remaining consistent with the historical context. So too, the quiet, contemplative offerings, Hello Dyin’ Day, The Death Of Sis Draper, Magnolia Wind, and the title track each add a reflective element to the proceedings.
Ultimately, this is more than a memorable album. It’s a set of songs that offer appreciation for the very roots of timeless tradition.
