Mountain Singer: The Life and the Legacy of Byron Herbert Reece

by Raymond Allen Cook

Book by Cook, Raymond A.

341 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1980

Reviews

[valpal · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Dad was a big fan of Byron Reece as they grew up in the same area and graduated from the same college about 10 years apart. I enjoyed reading his story and some of the history of North Georgia.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read this entire book, but I read the first 143 pages that comprise the biography of Reece, the farmer poet who lived not far from our mountain cabin. This is a sad story, indeed. Reece was born into a poor farming family on Wolf Creek, in a house that now lies under the lake at Vogel State Park in north GA. His family "legacy" was to be a dirt poor farmer (he used his first royalty to buy a tire for his 16 year old Ford truck), take care of his parents who both had TB, and write lyrical ballads that no one wanted to pay to read. Reece was lauded by the critics and traveled around the country trotting out his poems for women's groups and other swells; evidently, there was no money in that, either, because he never made enough to support himself either by writing or by teaching -- he taught a semester at UCLA and later at North Georgia College in Young Harris. Reece was obviously a talented man, but what a tragic story. He never married because he lived in the hollow with his parents and never met women since he was keeping farmer's hours; later he decided not to marry because he became infected with TB. Reece ended up shooting himself in his infected lung in the same room at the college where an early teacher and mentor committed suicide. If you would like to understand how hard mountain life was during the Great Depression, this is your book. You can also visit the Reece Farm and Heritage Site (for free) if you're in the area south of Blairsville. The second part of this book is a collection of some of Reece's poems. Many of them are based on Biblical stories/themes and will read like the Dead Sea Scrolls for most of us today.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only recently even heard the name Bryon Herbert Reece. Now I greatly admire his work. As I read this biography I also am reading one of his novels - Bow Down in Jericho. What a gifted writer and amazing story

[Reeca Ratcliff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this one for Christmas Byron and I came from the same Klan and I wanted to learn more about him, his life, and his poetry. I enjoyed this book. Just wish I could find the one on our ancestry from Wales!

[S.G. Benson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reece was part of our local culture and tradition. His life was hard, and quite interesting. I found the book difficult to get through.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some people can see beauty in the direst of circumstances but no matter how hard they work at making things better for some people life is too hard and too short. An amazing mind. He never had time to find love although he wanted a wife. Page 224 The Dream Made Flesh is a beautiful poem about the longing to find Love.