When Marty Falle sits down to write a song, he often draws on two facets that interest him most—history and heritage. Not surprisingly, those threads run through Falle’s seventh album, Wanted in Kentucky. The title song, co-written with Rick Lang, is set in 1883, exploring the consequences when deep-seated feuds become violent. That song, from the perspective on Milton Wyatt, one of his wife’s ancestors, gives the account of a blood feud in the Bluegrass State between the Wyatts and the Youngs, perhaps less publicized but no less violent than that of the Hatfields and McCoys.
“I'm deeply affected by Appalachian history and by all that has happened in and around my farm. over the years. I love to write about events that happened before. I can still write the love song or a sad song, but I prefer to write about historical events.” Just as important to his songwriting are the places that mean the most to him, particularly eastern Kentucky and Appalachia America.
Falle grew up in Ohio and attended Ohio University in Athens, in the southeastern part of the state. His first job after graduation, selling law books, took him all over Eastern Kentucky where, Falle said, “I fell in love with the place Appalachia. It was strange; it was beautiful; it was so different. I had to go to places like Pikeville and Harlan and Hazard and spend many weeks at a time in these places that seem to have their own law and culture.”
Falle’s Kentucky farm is at the center of much of his music. The painting by Disney artist T. J. Matousek on the cover of Falle’s 2023 album My Farm, My Bluegrass depicts the old tobacco barn on his property. The stories and songs from that album, says Falle, were inspired by that barn and the land surrounding his property, 200 acres bordering the Daniel Boone Forest.
When he needs inspiration for a song, Falle says, he likes to take his ATV through the Appalachian countryside, with no one around. On one such excursion, he saw an old chimney standing where a house had once been, that sparked his imagination.
“I realized that that a couple hundred years ago, some family, maybe some little child, would have been keeping warm by the hearth right there, and I wrote ‘Chimney Letters.’ that was also on that album.” Dale Ann Bradley, Kentucky Bluegrass Hall of Famer, sang on the record, giving it what Falle calls an “Eastern Kentucky coal country feel on vocals.”
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Falle’s love for story songs resulted in at least three songs co-written with Jonathan Holmberg, the haunting “Ghost Bride of Cumberland Falls,” “Freddie’s Runaway Balloon,” and “Breaker Boys.”
He came upon the idea for “Breaker Boys” when he read about ten-year-old boys forced to work the coal mines back at the end of the nineteenth century. He was moved by photographs of the boys, whose small hands were desirable to separate the anthracite. Coming from poor families, many of them didn’t learn to read and write, and without child labor laws, the boys worked long days for fifty cents a day.
Falle admits he has been deeply affected by the coal industry and its demise in Eastern Kentucky. He has observed strip-mined hills and mountains, land that has been clearcut without replanting. His own farm is part conservancy land, home to many animals, some endangered species. He also acknowledges the influence on songwriting of his wife, part Native American, whose family goes back hundreds of years in Eastern Kentucky.
“Up Against the Big Hill Line” pits “a Kentucky daughter with a Cherokee soul” against slick and greedy energy company men who would “steal nickels off a dead man’s eyes.”
One hallmark of the songs is the specificity of detail, particularly the sense of place—Falle’s Appalachia. True but little-known stories appeal to Falle. “Freddie’s Runaway Balloon” is one such narrative song, set in 1910, when a young boy somehow managed to climb into the basket of a hot air balloon just before it became untethered and floated along before finally landing safely.
A songwriter at his core, Falle says he at first swore he would not record cover songs. The exceptions, however, often have strong ties to Kentucky. On his last album Appalachia Rust, he recorded his version of Darrell Scott’s “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive,” which has held a Top 10 place in the Roots charts for several months. He noted his surprise at the reception, since in addition to Scott’s version of the song, Pike County native Patty Loveless had also recorded a definitive version. “I couldn’t resist; I had to sing it. I wish I’d written that one.” said Falle.
Another highlight on the album, Dwight Yoakam’s “Bury Me,” features Carly Greer of Crandall Creek on lead vocals. For Wanted in Kentucky, Falle reached further back into the canon, choosing Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home” for the closing track.
His original instrumental tracks on Wanted in Kentucky also serve to establish the mood of the album, and Falle placed them with intention. The album opens with the instrumental “Dance on the Emerald Grass,” which should appear on any playlist for St. Paddy’s Day. Falle wrote it after shutting his eyes and hearing the tune in his head. He pictured “people dancing an Irish jig on a Kentucky farm surrounded by beautiful green pastures” and composed the tune, even incorporating the pennywhistle, to achieve that feeling.
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