{"id":235,"date":"2025-05-07T03:05:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T03:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/?page_id=235"},"modified":"2025-05-11T01:06:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T01:06:50","slug":"the-wilder-flower","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/?page_id=235","title":{"rendered":"The Wilder Flower"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The history of bluegrass, folk, and old-time music has not always been kind to women. Even when included in making such music, women are frequently relegated to background positions. Not unlike opera, the lyrics often center around the misconduct or misfortune of women, namely through the prevalence of murder ballads depicting their gruesome deaths. Amid such a hostile musical climate, many women shy away from these genres. Fortunately, Madeline Dierauf (a current Davidson senior!), Molly Johnson, and Danielle Yother were undeterred by these challenges, instead coming together to form The Wilder Flower, an ensemble fusing folk, Americana, bluegrass, and old-time influences. In a concert for the Traditional Music Series at Davidson College\u2019s Duke Performance Hall on April 29, The Wilder Flower exhibits its own take on Appalachian music, emphasizing equality, feminism, and camaraderie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As an all female ensemble in a period where Appalachian music remains male-dominated, the very existence of The Wilder Flower is a political statement and a testament to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/how-history-books-erased-the-marginalized-voices-that-built-bluegrass\/\">generations of women<\/a> who fought for inclusion in bluegrass. Even more notably, the group takes its feminism a step further through its particular artistic choices. Explaining afterwards that \u201cmost bluegrass ballads are about women dying, doing the wrong thing, cheating, leaving, or lying,\u201d Yother wrote a song where it is the man who is in the wrong. She opened up about the struggle to make genuinely scalding insults, settling with \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter with you?\u201d as an expression of her anger. She cites Molly Tuttle, a renowned feminist advocate in the bluegrass community, as a songwriting inspiration. The Wilder Flower also integrates voices from outside its musical context into its songs. For instance, Dierauf drew inspiration for one of the songs she wrote from Zora Neale Hurston\u2019s <em>Their Eyes Were Watching God<\/em>, a seminal Black American feminist text. Finally, the mere act of disclosing these influences is a feminist act itself. Not just playing the songs but empowering its audience with knowledge on the gendered subtexts, The Wilder Flower embraces its pedagogical potential.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As well as an often sexist one, modern music is a hierarchical industry. Some venues are more prominent than others. Among the bands that play at those top venues, certain ones stand out more. And even within those standout groups, some individual performers rise above the rest. This perpetual jockeying for position within the music industry makes The Wilder Flower\u2019s emphasis on equality so refreshing.&nbsp; Each playing an instrument, singing, and addressing the crowd between songs, The Wilder Flower\u2019s founding trio prevents the audience from anointing one of them the frontwoman and the others mere background. Even their guests\u2014a bassist touring with The Wilder Flower this summer, a mandolinist from a nearby music festival hopping in for two songs, and a Davidson student artist singing with them\u2014all are seamlessly invited into the group. By and large, Dierauf, Johnson, and Yother paid their guests more respect and applause than they saved for themselves. Even the audience members are included in the music, as the ensemble urged us to clap, stomp, and sing along to the beat at various points in the show. Without a sense of superiority defining the interpersonal dynamics of the concert, a focus on enjoying beautiful music together can take over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unsurprisingly, out of such emphasis on equality and feminism, a palpable camaraderie emerges between Dierauf, Johnson, and Yother. During almost every song, at least two of them will turn to face one another as they play and relish each other\u2019s music and company. At every break, they crack jokes, share stories from their travels together, and praise each other\u2019s abilities in everything from fiddle solos to literary analysis. Not unlike the parasocial friendships of a podcast, it is the kind of connection that makes the audience feel like it too is included in the fun. That community of The Wilder Flower is clearly one they emphasize at every concert; however, it is especially salient given its location at Dierauf\u2019s college. Referencing the highlights of her Davidson experience, profusely thanking her professors, and bringing up a classmate to sing with the group, Dierauf invites the audience into a connection with her via its connection with the college. These relationships\u2014both between performer and performer and between performer and audience\u2014are central to the inclusive, community-driven ethos that defines The Wilder Flower\u2019s artistic identity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The history of bluegrass, folk, and old-time music has not always been kind to women. Even when included in making such music, women are frequently &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-235","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326,"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/235\/revisions\/326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}