Husband of Della Jane McBee Burnett.
Son of James Knox Polk and Louisa Angeline Carter Burnett.
The GPS reading for head stone: N36 16.664 W83 46.684
Cleatus wrote a song about The Norris Dam in the Thirties and called it "A True Song of the Col Creek Dam," (Cove Creek) which he sold on the streets of Knoxville in 1935 for 15 cents. (Selling one copy would equate to three days pay for him of walking five miles each way and working on the road, from morning to night for a nickel a day.)
The Song and an inspiring article were published in "The Tennessee Conservationist". The song was also adapted for the sound track of "The Electric Valley"
In 1984, the Tennessee Folklore Society celebrated its 50th anniversary. Mary Neal Kirkland, the widow of Dr. Edwin C. Kirkland, traveled to Cookeville to introduce a newly-produced record album, The Kirkland Collection, which drew upon the hundreds of field recordings she had made with her late husband in Tennessee and North Carolina in the 1930s and 1940s. It included the most touching, beautiful, and clever of all the Norris Dam songs, "The Song of the Cove Creek Dam," by Cleatus Burnett. Dr. Kirkland had purchased a printed copy for 15 cents from Burnett on a Knoxville street in the summer of 1935. The "ballet" sheet (a single sheet with printed lyrics) was marked with handwritten corrections, including a note that the composer was from Sharp's Chapel, a community in Union County. Apparently, the printer had even incorrectly spelled Burnett's name.
Kirkland learned nothing else about Burnett, and later used a high school student to sing the piece for recording purposes, but Kirkland's lectures soon included the song as an example of contemporary topical compositions in the folk style. He commented, "it has the possibilities of becoming what I should call a folk song. [Burnett] is speaking for the folk of his community; yet he is sadly lacking in metrical skill, good taste and other qualities which are necessary for a first-rate folk song."
Most have disagreed with Kirkland on that point. Burnett's song clearly and poignantly set down the seeming contradictions in the actions of TVA-get a job, but lose a home; flood the productive land and save the waste land; give a home to the wild beasts, and break the hearts of the old folks-all through the bidding of a senator from Nebraska.
Folklorist Charles Wolfe called the song "powerful," in his notes to The Kirkland Collection album. Duncan Emrich, who managed folk lore collections at the Library of Congress for decades, included it in his 1974 anthology, American Folk Poetry, and it was adapted for the soundtrack of The Electric Valley, a major documentary film about TVA that premiered in 1983.
What became of Cleatus Burnett? Though folklorists and historians had admired his work, he had remained almost as anonymous as the composer of "Barbara Allen" until his children were located this past March.
"He never did have worldly goods, because if they'd of had it, and seen someone else needed it, that's where it would have gone. He'd give a person the shirt on his back if they needed it worse that he did," said his daughter-in-law Anna, of Sharp's Chapel. Rubin Cleatus Burnett was 37 years old in 1935 when he wrote the "Song of the Cove Creek Dam." He had just purchased 50 acres of land, after having apparently rented it for some years, when the TVA land appraisers looked it over. He supported his wife and three children, his older brother, and mother in a three room house by the sale of chickens, eggs and a tobacco crop. His income in 1933 was $180, and his expenses on the farm just $30.75. He fed the family with two milk cows, two hogs, 50 chickens and 17 ducks, by TVA's count. The TVA interviewer also noted: "House is a small boxed one, and is equipped with very little furniture," indicating no car, radio, piano, phonograph, sewing machine, floor covering, or dining or living room furniture in the home. The interviewer considered Burnett "suspicious," and noted, "He said the T.V.A. was a bad thing for the people of this section," and, optimistically, "his conversation leads altogether along the line that he believes the government will jip him but began to gather a different idea before I left him [sic]."
"I believe what hurt him most was moving the graves," says Aundra of Maryville, Burnett's daughter. He was hurt by the removal of his infant daughter, who died from meningitis, and his father's remains to a new cemetery, and he grieved for the families whom he felt would not be able to recover their loved ones in poorly marked or unmarked graves.
As it turned out, Burnett did not have to move his family's home. TVA leased a right of way from him, but did not force him to a new location. For a couple of years he owned a guitar, and rarely, sang for friends and neighbors. His son, Milus, remembers hearing him sing the Cove Creek Dam song only three or four times, but learned a number of the verses himself.
Norris Dam continued to affect his life. His daughter, Bonnie, remembered, "Someone asked Dad, 'what good are the C.C. boys?' He said, 'For son-in-laws.'" Both daughters married C.C.C. members from the nearby camp. He finally got electricity, around 1950, 14 years after the promise of it. He fished in Norris Lake occasionally, but more often scouted the banks for fishing tackle abandoned in the brush, which could be reused or resold.
In 1980, at a family gathering, a granddaughter asked Cleatus to sing the Cove Creek Dam song again for her tape recorder, probably the last time he performed the piece. He spent his final two years in a nursing home in Maryville in poor health, and died in 1984, the same year his song was reintroduced on the Tennessee Folklore Society's record album, The Kirkland Collection. Though none of his children or grandchildren had a complete version of the song he wrote in 1935, his daughter, Aundra, kept an envelope with the shredded remains of one of the old printed ballets. Like the copy Kirkland purchased, it shows handwritten corrections that Cleatus must have made on each sheet, to set straight the only song he ever wrote. The outside of the envelope is marked in Cleatus' own hand "a True Song of the Col Creek Dam by R.C. Burnett." Inside is a most eloquent account of the sacrifice called for by the creation of the Norris Dam.
Through the above article that appeared in the "The Tennessee Conservationist", I researched and found the song in archives in The Kirkland Collection at Middle Tenn. State University in Mufreesboro, TN. After several emails and phone calls I received a copy of the recording. A cassette tape was made by my cousin of Papo singing his song in the early 1980's at his home in Maryville, TN. The song did not come into being until after Papo's death.
Son of James Knox Polk and Louisa Angeline Carter Burnett.
The GPS reading for head stone: N36 16.664 W83 46.684
Cleatus wrote a song about The Norris Dam in the Thirties and called it "A True Song of the Col Creek Dam," (Cove Creek) which he sold on the streets of Knoxville in 1935 for 15 cents. (Selling one copy would equate to three days pay for him of walking five miles each way and working on the road, from morning to night for a nickel a day.)
The Song and an inspiring article were published in "The Tennessee Conservationist". The song was also adapted for the sound track of "The Electric Valley"
In 1984, the Tennessee Folklore Society celebrated its 50th anniversary. Mary Neal Kirkland, the widow of Dr. Edwin C. Kirkland, traveled to Cookeville to introduce a newly-produced record album, The Kirkland Collection, which drew upon the hundreds of field recordings she had made with her late husband in Tennessee and North Carolina in the 1930s and 1940s. It included the most touching, beautiful, and clever of all the Norris Dam songs, "The Song of the Cove Creek Dam," by Cleatus Burnett. Dr. Kirkland had purchased a printed copy for 15 cents from Burnett on a Knoxville street in the summer of 1935. The "ballet" sheet (a single sheet with printed lyrics) was marked with handwritten corrections, including a note that the composer was from Sharp's Chapel, a community in Union County. Apparently, the printer had even incorrectly spelled Burnett's name.
Kirkland learned nothing else about Burnett, and later used a high school student to sing the piece for recording purposes, but Kirkland's lectures soon included the song as an example of contemporary topical compositions in the folk style. He commented, "it has the possibilities of becoming what I should call a folk song. [Burnett] is speaking for the folk of his community; yet he is sadly lacking in metrical skill, good taste and other qualities which are necessary for a first-rate folk song."
Most have disagreed with Kirkland on that point. Burnett's song clearly and poignantly set down the seeming contradictions in the actions of TVA-get a job, but lose a home; flood the productive land and save the waste land; give a home to the wild beasts, and break the hearts of the old folks-all through the bidding of a senator from Nebraska.
Folklorist Charles Wolfe called the song "powerful," in his notes to The Kirkland Collection album. Duncan Emrich, who managed folk lore collections at the Library of Congress for decades, included it in his 1974 anthology, American Folk Poetry, and it was adapted for the soundtrack of The Electric Valley, a major documentary film about TVA that premiered in 1983.
What became of Cleatus Burnett? Though folklorists and historians had admired his work, he had remained almost as anonymous as the composer of "Barbara Allen" until his children were located this past March.
"He never did have worldly goods, because if they'd of had it, and seen someone else needed it, that's where it would have gone. He'd give a person the shirt on his back if they needed it worse that he did," said his daughter-in-law Anna, of Sharp's Chapel. Rubin Cleatus Burnett was 37 years old in 1935 when he wrote the "Song of the Cove Creek Dam." He had just purchased 50 acres of land, after having apparently rented it for some years, when the TVA land appraisers looked it over. He supported his wife and three children, his older brother, and mother in a three room house by the sale of chickens, eggs and a tobacco crop. His income in 1933 was $180, and his expenses on the farm just $30.75. He fed the family with two milk cows, two hogs, 50 chickens and 17 ducks, by TVA's count. The TVA interviewer also noted: "House is a small boxed one, and is equipped with very little furniture," indicating no car, radio, piano, phonograph, sewing machine, floor covering, or dining or living room furniture in the home. The interviewer considered Burnett "suspicious," and noted, "He said the T.V.A. was a bad thing for the people of this section," and, optimistically, "his conversation leads altogether along the line that he believes the government will jip him but began to gather a different idea before I left him [sic]."
"I believe what hurt him most was moving the graves," says Aundra of Maryville, Burnett's daughter. He was hurt by the removal of his infant daughter, who died from meningitis, and his father's remains to a new cemetery, and he grieved for the families whom he felt would not be able to recover their loved ones in poorly marked or unmarked graves.
As it turned out, Burnett did not have to move his family's home. TVA leased a right of way from him, but did not force him to a new location. For a couple of years he owned a guitar, and rarely, sang for friends and neighbors. His son, Milus, remembers hearing him sing the Cove Creek Dam song only three or four times, but learned a number of the verses himself.
Norris Dam continued to affect his life. His daughter, Bonnie, remembered, "Someone asked Dad, 'what good are the C.C. boys?' He said, 'For son-in-laws.'" Both daughters married C.C.C. members from the nearby camp. He finally got electricity, around 1950, 14 years after the promise of it. He fished in Norris Lake occasionally, but more often scouted the banks for fishing tackle abandoned in the brush, which could be reused or resold.
In 1980, at a family gathering, a granddaughter asked Cleatus to sing the Cove Creek Dam song again for her tape recorder, probably the last time he performed the piece. He spent his final two years in a nursing home in Maryville in poor health, and died in 1984, the same year his song was reintroduced on the Tennessee Folklore Society's record album, The Kirkland Collection. Though none of his children or grandchildren had a complete version of the song he wrote in 1935, his daughter, Aundra, kept an envelope with the shredded remains of one of the old printed ballets. Like the copy Kirkland purchased, it shows handwritten corrections that Cleatus must have made on each sheet, to set straight the only song he ever wrote. The outside of the envelope is marked in Cleatus' own hand "a True Song of the Col Creek Dam by R.C. Burnett." Inside is a most eloquent account of the sacrifice called for by the creation of the Norris Dam.
Through the above article that appeared in the "The Tennessee Conservationist", I researched and found the song in archives in The Kirkland Collection at Middle Tenn. State University in Mufreesboro, TN. After several emails and phone calls I received a copy of the recording. A cassette tape was made by my cousin of Papo singing his song in the early 1980's at his home in Maryville, TN. The song did not come into being until after Papo's death.
Husband of Della Jane McBee Burnett.
Son of James Knox Polk and Louisa Angeline Carter Burnett.
The GPS reading for head stone: N36 16.664 W83 46.684
Cleatus wrote a song about The Norris Dam in the Thirties and called it "A True Song of the Col Creek Dam," (Cove Creek) which he sold on the streets of Knoxville in 1935 for 15 cents. (Selling one copy would equate to three days pay for him of walking five miles each way and working on the road, from morning to night for a nickel a day.)
The Song and an inspiring article were published in "The Tennessee Conservationist". The song was also adapted for the sound track of "The Electric Valley"
In 1984, the Tennessee Folklore Society celebrated its 50th anniversary. Mary Neal Kirkland, the widow of Dr. Edwin C. Kirkland, traveled to Cookeville to introduce a newly-produced record album, The Kirkland Collection, which drew upon the hundreds of field recordings she had made with her late husband in Tennessee and North Carolina in the 1930s and 1940s. It included the most touching, beautiful, and clever of all the Norris Dam songs, "The Song of the Cove Creek Dam," by Cleatus Burnett. Dr. Kirkland had purchased a printed copy for 15 cents from Burnett on a Knoxville street in the summer of 1935. The "ballet" sheet (a single sheet with printed lyrics) was marked with handwritten corrections, including a note that the composer was from Sharp's Chapel, a community in Union County. Apparently, the printer had even incorrectly spelled Burnett's name.
Kirkland learned nothing else about Burnett, and later used a high school student to sing the piece for recording purposes, but Kirkland's lectures soon included the song as an example of contemporary topical compositions in the folk style. He commented, "it has the possibilities of becoming what I should call a folk song. [Burnett] is speaking for the folk of his community; yet he is sadly lacking in metrical skill, good taste and other qualities which are necessary for a first-rate folk song."
Most have disagreed with Kirkland on that point. Burnett's song clearly and poignantly set down the seeming contradictions in the actions of TVA-get a job, but lose a home; flood the productive land and save the waste land; give a home to the wild beasts, and break the hearts of the old folks-all through the bidding of a senator from Nebraska.
Folklorist Charles Wolfe called the song "powerful," in his notes to The Kirkland Collection album. Duncan Emrich, who managed folk lore collections at the Library of Congress for decades, included it in his 1974 anthology, American Folk Poetry, and it was adapted for the soundtrack of The Electric Valley, a major documentary film about TVA that premiered in 1983.
What became of Cleatus Burnett? Though folklorists and historians had admired his work, he had remained almost as anonymous as the composer of "Barbara Allen" until his children were located this past March.
"He never did have worldly goods, because if they'd of had it, and seen someone else needed it, that's where it would have gone. He'd give a person the shirt on his back if they needed it worse that he did," said his daughter-in-law Anna, of Sharp's Chapel. Rubin Cleatus Burnett was 37 years old in 1935 when he wrote the "Song of the Cove Creek Dam." He had just purchased 50 acres of land, after having apparently rented it for some years, when the TVA land appraisers looked it over. He supported his wife and three children, his older brother, and mother in a three room house by the sale of chickens, eggs and a tobacco crop. His income in 1933 was $180, and his expenses on the farm just $30.75. He fed the family with two milk cows, two hogs, 50 chickens and 17 ducks, by TVA's count. The TVA interviewer also noted: "House is a small boxed one, and is equipped with very little furniture," indicating no car, radio, piano, phonograph, sewing machine, floor covering, or dining or living room furniture in the home. The interviewer considered Burnett "suspicious," and noted, "He said the T.V.A. was a bad thing for the people of this section," and, optimistically, "his conversation leads altogether along the line that he believes the government will jip him but began to gather a different idea before I left him [sic]."
"I believe what hurt him most was moving the graves," says Aundra of Maryville, Burnett's daughter. He was hurt by the removal of his infant daughter, who died from meningitis, and his father's remains to a new cemetery, and he grieved for the families whom he felt would not be able to recover their loved ones in poorly marked or unmarked graves.
As it turned out, Burnett did not have to move his family's home. TVA leased a right of way from him, but did not force him to a new location. For a couple of years he owned a guitar, and rarely, sang for friends and neighbors. His son, Milus, remembers hearing him sing the Cove Creek Dam song only three or four times, but learned a number of the verses himself.
Norris Dam continued to affect his life. His daughter, Bonnie, remembered, "Someone asked Dad, 'what good are the C.C. boys?' He said, 'For son-in-laws.'" Both daughters married C.C.C. members from the nearby camp. He finally got electricity, around 1950, 14 years after the promise of it. He fished in Norris Lake occasionally, but more often scouted the banks for fishing tackle abandoned in the brush, which could be reused or resold.
In 1980, at a family gathering, a granddaughter asked Cleatus to sing the Cove Creek Dam song again for her tape recorder, probably the last time he performed the piece. He spent his final two years in a nursing home in Maryville in poor health, and died in 1984, the same year his song was reintroduced on the Tennessee Folklore Society's record album, The Kirkland Collection. Though none of his children or grandchildren had a complete version of the song he wrote in 1935, his daughter, Aundra, kept an envelope with the shredded remains of one of the old printed ballets. Like the copy Kirkland purchased, it shows handwritten corrections that Cleatus must have made on each sheet, to set straight the only song he ever wrote. The outside of the envelope is marked in Cleatus' own hand "a True Song of the Col Creek Dam by R.C. Burnett." Inside is a most eloquent account of the sacrifice called for by the creation of the Norris Dam.
Through the above article that appeared in the "The Tennessee Conservationist", I researched and found the song in archives in The Kirkland Collection at Middle Tenn. State University in Mufreesboro, TN. After several emails and phone calls I received a copy of the recording. A cassette tape was made by my cousin of Papo singing his song in the early 1980's at his home in Maryville, TN. The song did not come into being until after Papo's death.
Son of James Knox Polk and Louisa Angeline Carter Burnett.
The GPS reading for head stone: N36 16.664 W83 46.684
Cleatus wrote a song about The Norris Dam in the Thirties and called it "A True Song of the Col Creek Dam," (Cove Creek) which he sold on the streets of Knoxville in 1935 for 15 cents. (Selling one copy would equate to three days pay for him of walking five miles each way and working on the road, from morning to night for a nickel a day.)
The Song and an inspiring article were published in "The Tennessee Conservationist". The song was also adapted for the sound track of "The Electric Valley"
In 1984, the Tennessee Folklore Society celebrated its 50th anniversary. Mary Neal Kirkland, the widow of Dr. Edwin C. Kirkland, traveled to Cookeville to introduce a newly-produced record album, The Kirkland Collection, which drew upon the hundreds of field recordings she had made with her late husband in Tennessee and North Carolina in the 1930s and 1940s. It included the most touching, beautiful, and clever of all the Norris Dam songs, "The Song of the Cove Creek Dam," by Cleatus Burnett. Dr. Kirkland had purchased a printed copy for 15 cents from Burnett on a Knoxville street in the summer of 1935. The "ballet" sheet (a single sheet with printed lyrics) was marked with handwritten corrections, including a note that the composer was from Sharp's Chapel, a community in Union County. Apparently, the printer had even incorrectly spelled Burnett's name.
Kirkland learned nothing else about Burnett, and later used a high school student to sing the piece for recording purposes, but Kirkland's lectures soon included the song as an example of contemporary topical compositions in the folk style. He commented, "it has the possibilities of becoming what I should call a folk song. [Burnett] is speaking for the folk of his community; yet he is sadly lacking in metrical skill, good taste and other qualities which are necessary for a first-rate folk song."
Most have disagreed with Kirkland on that point. Burnett's song clearly and poignantly set down the seeming contradictions in the actions of TVA-get a job, but lose a home; flood the productive land and save the waste land; give a home to the wild beasts, and break the hearts of the old folks-all through the bidding of a senator from Nebraska.
Folklorist Charles Wolfe called the song "powerful," in his notes to The Kirkland Collection album. Duncan Emrich, who managed folk lore collections at the Library of Congress for decades, included it in his 1974 anthology, American Folk Poetry, and it was adapted for the soundtrack of The Electric Valley, a major documentary film about TVA that premiered in 1983.
What became of Cleatus Burnett? Though folklorists and historians had admired his work, he had remained almost as anonymous as the composer of "Barbara Allen" until his children were located this past March.
"He never did have worldly goods, because if they'd of had it, and seen someone else needed it, that's where it would have gone. He'd give a person the shirt on his back if they needed it worse that he did," said his daughter-in-law Anna, of Sharp's Chapel. Rubin Cleatus Burnett was 37 years old in 1935 when he wrote the "Song of the Cove Creek Dam." He had just purchased 50 acres of land, after having apparently rented it for some years, when the TVA land appraisers looked it over. He supported his wife and three children, his older brother, and mother in a three room house by the sale of chickens, eggs and a tobacco crop. His income in 1933 was $180, and his expenses on the farm just $30.75. He fed the family with two milk cows, two hogs, 50 chickens and 17 ducks, by TVA's count. The TVA interviewer also noted: "House is a small boxed one, and is equipped with very little furniture," indicating no car, radio, piano, phonograph, sewing machine, floor covering, or dining or living room furniture in the home. The interviewer considered Burnett "suspicious," and noted, "He said the T.V.A. was a bad thing for the people of this section," and, optimistically, "his conversation leads altogether along the line that he believes the government will jip him but began to gather a different idea before I left him [sic]."
"I believe what hurt him most was moving the graves," says Aundra of Maryville, Burnett's daughter. He was hurt by the removal of his infant daughter, who died from meningitis, and his father's remains to a new cemetery, and he grieved for the families whom he felt would not be able to recover their loved ones in poorly marked or unmarked graves.
As it turned out, Burnett did not have to move his family's home. TVA leased a right of way from him, but did not force him to a new location. For a couple of years he owned a guitar, and rarely, sang for friends and neighbors. His son, Milus, remembers hearing him sing the Cove Creek Dam song only three or four times, but learned a number of the verses himself.
Norris Dam continued to affect his life. His daughter, Bonnie, remembered, "Someone asked Dad, 'what good are the C.C. boys?' He said, 'For son-in-laws.'" Both daughters married C.C.C. members from the nearby camp. He finally got electricity, around 1950, 14 years after the promise of it. He fished in Norris Lake occasionally, but more often scouted the banks for fishing tackle abandoned in the brush, which could be reused or resold.
In 1980, at a family gathering, a granddaughter asked Cleatus to sing the Cove Creek Dam song again for her tape recorder, probably the last time he performed the piece. He spent his final two years in a nursing home in Maryville in poor health, and died in 1984, the same year his song was reintroduced on the Tennessee Folklore Society's record album, The Kirkland Collection. Though none of his children or grandchildren had a complete version of the song he wrote in 1935, his daughter, Aundra, kept an envelope with the shredded remains of one of the old printed ballets. Like the copy Kirkland purchased, it shows handwritten corrections that Cleatus must have made on each sheet, to set straight the only song he ever wrote. The outside of the envelope is marked in Cleatus' own hand "a True Song of the Col Creek Dam by R.C. Burnett." Inside is a most eloquent account of the sacrifice called for by the creation of the Norris Dam.
Through the above article that appeared in the "The Tennessee Conservationist", I researched and found the song in archives in The Kirkland Collection at Middle Tenn. State University in Mufreesboro, TN. After several emails and phone calls I received a copy of the recording. A cassette tape was made by my cousin of Papo singing his song in the early 1980's at his home in Maryville, TN. The song did not come into being until after Papo's death.
Gravesite Details
Shared stone Della McBee Burnett
Family Members
Parents
Siblings
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
