Laurie Lewis and Si Kahn - Long Way to Harlan

7. Long Way to Harlan (Laurie Lewis and Si Kahn): My songwriting is deeply rooted in what I think of as “The Tradition.” I try to pay tribute to and honor the tradition by incorporating elements of it in my original songs: a few words here, a few notes there. Here I’m drawing on an old song written in the 1920s, later made popular by Merle Travis, that goes “It’s a long way to Harlan/It’s a long way to Hazard/Just to get a little brew, boys/Just to get a little brew/Roll on, buddy/Don’t you roll so slow/How can I roll, roll, roll/When the wheels won’t go.”