Musical Kentucky: A Song from each County, LaRosa’s Pizza, USS Louisville, and More
Good morning!
In four hours, I’ll lead my weekly 11 a.m. tour of the Frazier’s Cool Kentucky exhibition. When I end the tour in the Musical Kentucky section, I emphasize the breadth, quality, and worldwide impact of Kentucky music.
Starting today, we’re going to share that music with you!
Album covers on display in Musical Kentucky, 2020. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
In today’s issue of Frazier Weekly, we’re rolling out a monthly listicle called Musical Kentucky: A Song from each County. We’re curating a Spotify playlist of 120 songs: one song from each county in Kentucky. In 2023, once a month, we’ll add songs from ten counties, in alphabetical order, completing the playlist in December. Today’s listicle covers the first ten counties: Adair to Boyd.
Keep in mind, this is not a who’s who of famous Kentucky artists—instead, it’s a grab bag of legendary artists, moderately popular artists, and artists with a half-dozen Spotify followers. (Think about it, who gets to represent Johnson County: Loretta Lynn, Chris Stapleton, or Tyler Childers? Only one can!) We try to establish each artist’s relationship to their county—and, when possible, pick a song whose lyrics do that.
So, in the coming year, you’ll hear songs—dating from 1910 to 2022—from each of the 120 counties in Kentucky. And it’s not all country and bluegrass: you’ll hear gospel, indie, jazz, new wave, Motown, opera, techno-funk, dance pop, jug band, Latin acoustic, Irish slides, Southern rap, Appalachian folk, emo, yodeling, R&B, show tunes, “prison rock,” and more.
So stay tuned!
Also in today’s Frazier Weekly, we’re selling bumper stickers from Kentucky’s most historic record store, ear X-tacy. Megan Schanie announces a teacher PD on Black Kentuckians and the Civil War, Stephen Yates sips Passion Projects with Wilderness Trail, Haley Hicky teases our next Masters Series with New Riff and Ten20, and Morgan Hancock spotlights one of the artists featured in the soon-to-open Barrels of Heart exhibition.
Plus, a beloved Cincinnati pizza chain arrives in town, and Owen Treolo details the combat history of the USS Louisville, a stunning model of which can be viewed in the Frazier’s vestibule.
Come see it!
Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist
Frazier History Museum
This Week in the Museum
Musical Kentucky: A Song from each County, Adair–Boyd
As a supplement to the Musical Kentucky section of our Cool Kentucky exhibition, we’re curating a Spotify playlist of 120 songs: one song from each county in Kentucky. In 2023, once a month, we’ll share songs from ten counties, completing the playlist in December. For January, we’re sharing songs from these counties: Adair, Allen, Anderson, Ballard, Barren, Bath, Bell, Boone, Bourbon, and Boyd.
Cover art for “Break the Deal” by Maggie Cox, 2021. Credit: Maggie Cox.
Cover art for The New Lost City Ramblers with Cousin Emmy, 1968. Credit: Folkways Records.
Cover art for The Sheriff of Boone County by Kenny Price, 1971. Credit: RCA.
“Break the Deal” by Maggie Cox. (Released October 29, 2021.) Columbia, Adair County’s Maggie Cox began singing in church at seven, playing guitar at nine, and writing her own songs at fourteen. “A few years ago, I just sat down at the piano and started writing on my closet with a Sharpie,” she said last year”—“and I’ve been writing songs ever since.”
“100,000 Women Can’t be Wrong” by Lattie Moore. (Released 1956.) As a teen, Lattie Moore (1924–2010) ran the projector at the movie theater in Scottsville, Allen County. By thirty, he was a rockabilly playboy with a nightly gig in Indianapolis. “You don’t like my lovin’ or my turtledovin’,” he sings, “but 100,000 women can’t be wrong.”
“River that Speaks” by Fred Keams and Seth Murphy. (Released April 26, 2023.) A Harrodsburg resident who lived nearly twenty years in Lawrenceburg, Anderson County, Fred Nez-Keams is a Native American flute maker born from the Red Bottom Charcoal People. “My grandfather is the One who Walks Around; my maternal grandfather is the Red Bottom Water.” He performs traditional and original compositions.
“Kentucky, 1988” by Kelsey Waldon. (Released October 3, 2019.) At twelve, Kelsey Waldon got a job stacking tobacco in the river bottoms of Monkey’s Eyebrow, Ballard County. Each evening, sun blisters dotted her ears—an experience she recounts on “Kentucky, 1988,” a nod to her origin.
“Bowling Green” by the New Lost City Ramblers and Cousin Emmy. (Recorded 1968.) Hillbilly musician Cousin Emmy (1903–80) grew up in Lamb, Barren County, eighteen miles from the nearest railroad station. “Bowling Green” was originally a fiddle tune when she added floating lyrics and a chorus.
“Sugar Hill” by “Dad” Crockett. (Recorded August 9, 1929.) West Virginia’s “Dad” Crockett (1877–1972) moved to Bath County, Kentucky, and formed a band with his children. ““Dad” Crockett, patriarch of the Crockett Mountaineers,” a 1930 plug reads, “picks up his banjo and harmonizes on “Sugar Hill,” long a classic of the hills.”
“Run Rufus Run” by Dale Ann Bradley. (Released October 10, 2006.) Performed by Calvin, Bell County, native Dale Ann Bradley, “Run Rufus Run” follows a twelve-year-old Bell Countian whose father, a coal miner ailing from black lung, puts him to work running moonshine to Harlan. A trigger-happy agent—think Timothy Olyphant in Justified—gives chase.
“The Sheriff of Boone County” by Kenny Price. (Released November 1970.) Performed by Kenny Price (1931–87), a farm boy from Boone County, “The Sheriff of Boone County” satirizes a petty tyrant who sits in a speed trap on I-75, waiting for a Tennessean to ticket. “If you’re tryin’ to push your Caddy from Nashville to Cincinnati / You have to come across the Boone County line.”
“Bangum and the Boar” by Logan English. (Released 1957.) Folk singer Logan English (1928–83) hailed from a farm in Shawhan, Bourbon County. In 1957, he recorded Kentucky Folk Songs and Ballads, most of which farm tenants from the Appalachian Mountains had brought to the Bluegrass. English first heard “Bangum and the Boar” at an ice cream supper at the Presbyterian Church in Shawhan.
“Why Not Me” by the Judds. (Released September 1984.) At twelve, Wynonna Judd—an Ashland, Boyd County, native raised in LA—returned to Kentucky with her mother, Naomi. Living in rural poverty, without a phone or TV, Wynonna turned to guitar, laying the base for what would become country music’s most successful mother-daughter duo.
Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist
Museum Store: ear X-tacy Bumper Sticker
ear X-tacy bumper stickers sold in the Frazier’s Museum Store. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Remember these? Trick your car out like its 2005 with an ear X-tacy bumper sticker! You can even get creative and cut up a couple to make your own custom phrase. Our favorites were “create art,” “ate X-ray,” and “axe yer cat.” These bumper stickers are just as fun now as they used to be. Pick up your own in the museum store!
February 8 Teacher PD to Explore Black Kentuckians and the Civil War
Teacher Professional Development
They Fought for Freedom: Black Kentuckians and the Civil War
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
4:45–7:45 p.m.
Admission: FREE with advanced registration! Learn more or make PD reservations here.
Flyer for They Fought for Freedom: Black Kentuckians and the Civil War. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
By the end of the American Civil War, Black soldiers made up ten percent of the Union Army, including over 23,000 in Kentucky. Why is it difficult to uncover their stories? How did Black soldiers impact the war? We’d love for local educators to join us for an evening of discovery as we partner with Reckoning, Inc. to share stories and resources from their KY US Colored Troops Project.
The session begins with an overview on Frazier Museum connections to the theme and a presentation on utilizing Reckoning, Inc. resources to support inquiry-based learning. Two units of focus will include: What hidden stories do primary sources tell? and How did Black soldiers bring freedom?
Afterwards, teachers will join the public for a discussion titled Help Me Find My People: How Archival Documents can Connect African Americas with Enslaved Ancestors.
JCPS has approved three hours of PD credit for teachers completing the training. Educators from other districts should inquire at their school about credit approval. Participating teachers do not need to sign up for the public program separately. Making reservations to the PD will hold your spot at the program.
And, if you’re not an educator—but you would like to attend the public portion of the evening—please sign up here.
Megan Schanie
Manager of School & Teacher Programs
Sippin’ with Stephen: Passion Projects with Wilderness Trail
As the official starting point of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®, the Frazier History Museum shares stories of the people, places, and producers of the Kentucky Bourbon industry. To learn more, visit our Kentucky Bourbon Trail® Welcome Center or tour our Spirit of Kentucky® exhibition.—Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist
This month’s Sippin’ with Stephen is a double shot of information and opportunity. We highlight the exciting goings-on at Wilderness Trail Distillery in Danville, Kentucky, and we preview the next release from the Frazier’s new Bourbon Limited Members’ Club. My guests are Wilderness Trail’s national brand manager Haley Perros and welcome center manager Emily Toadvine. These women will inform my viewers about all the fun and exciting things happening at Wilderness Trail. Then my good friend Macaulay Minton, who is the barrel pick coordinator, will give you a sneak peek at the next release from Frazier’s Bourbon Limited club: the Wilderness Trail 6-Year-Old Bottled in Bond Rye Whiskey. As always, we conclude with a new cocktail—one Macaulay has dubbed the best cocktail he’s ever crafted. Called the Passion Project, this cocktail utilizes the new expression.
Recipe for the Passion Project
Ingredients:
1 oz. Wilderness Trail 6-year-old Rye Whiskey
1 oz. Passion Fruit Liquor
1 oz. Aperol
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
Instructions:
Mix in shaker over ice. Stir, then strain into glass. Enjoy!
For viewers who live in Kentucky and would like to find out more information about the Bourbon Limited club, please visit bourbon.limited.
Stephen Yates
Community & Corporate Sales Manager
February 17 Masters Series Program to Feature New Riff, Ten20
Bring your valentine or favorite Bourbon buddy to join us on Friday, February 17, for our Twin Barrel program! This is one of our Masters Series, a tasting experience that celebrates Kentucky’s booming Bourbon and craft beer industries. We’re featuring two distinct single barrel selections from New Riff Distilling and two top selling brews from Ten20 Craft Brewery! Since it’s a Friday night, we’re also going to open up the whole museum at 6 p.m. for a little pregame party or a fun date night. So come early and explore!
Frazier staff attend a barrel selection at New Riff Distillery in Newport, Kentucky, October 12, 2022. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
The two single barrel Bourbon expressions from New Riff are staff picks, chosen by me and some of my co-workers. We were offered the amazing opportunity to visit New Riff Distillery in Newport, Kentucky, to select our own one-of-a-kind barrels. It was a fantastic experience—as you can tell by our photo—and I highly recommend making the trip to Northern Kentucky to visit them. Find out more about New Riff Distilling here.
Ten20 Craft Brewery was founded by Armed Forces veterans who opened a mecca for great beer, great friendships, and great fun here in Louisville. They currently have two locations: one in Butchertown and another in Anchorage. They have so many fantastic brews on tap, and there’s really something for everyone. I can’t wait to see what they bring for us to taste! Read more about Ten20 and find out what they currently have on tap here.
We can’t wait to taste and celebrate with you on February 17!
For more information or to buy tickets, click here.
Haley Hicky
Product & Program Manager
Barrels of Heart Artist Spotlight: Jon Cecil
Barrels of Heart logo. Credit: Bourbon with Heart.
We are excited to announce that the Barrels of Heart unveiling party on February 1 is now SOLD OUT! But you can still visit the exhibition during normal Frazier History Museum hours from February 2 to March 30. See twenty custom Bourbon barrels designed by local artists of varying ages, ethnicities, and levels of experience, all while walking through the Frazier’s Spirit of Kentucky® Bourbon exhibition. And make sure to vote for your favorite! The winning artist will receive a cash prize as well as a donation to the charity of their choice. Curated by Morgan Hancock, founder of the non-profit Bourbon with Heart, Barrels of Heart will only be on display for eight weeks, and we promise you don’t want to miss it! Find out more about the artists and vote for your favorite barrel at bourbonwithheart.org. Access to the exhibition is included in the cost of admission to the museum.—Haley Hicky, Product & Program Manager
Artist Jon Cecil poses with his contribution to Barrels of Heart. Credit: Dick Arnspiger Photography.
The Card Catalog Speakeasy, Jon Cecil’s Bourbon tasting room, was voted one of the top eight home bars in the world by Bourbon expert and spirits writer Fred Minnick in 2020 and featured in Louisville Homes & Gardens in July 2021. Jon is excited to share his passion for Bourbon and love for Kentucky through his Bourbon with HeART barrel design. “It is an honor to be included in such an esteemed panel of amazing artists, many of whom I have looked up to for many years. I am proud of what I have done to position myself in such great company and look forward to sharing my work and passion with you, the city I love, and beyond.”
Jon takes his inspiration from the rolling Kentucky countryside of horse farms and distilleries, downtown Louisville’s Whiskey Row cityscape, and the red velvet curtains of his basement speakeasy, which represent a portal to a different time. “Getting into Bourbon, I realized how much art is involved in the industry, whether it is seen in the distilleries or the labeling on the bottles. However, it is never more prominent than the spirit itself.”
Follow @bourbongoggles on Instagram.
Morgan Hancock
Founder, Bourbon with Heart
Guest Contributor
History All Around Us
Tradition-Rich Cincinnati Pizzeria LaRosa’s Arrives in Louisville
Opening in Louisville today is a new pizzeria that will soon be a sponsor at Frazier History Museum programs, including our Summer Beer Fest. If you have any Cincinnati ties or grew up in Northern Kentucky, LaRosa’s Pizza isn’t exactly new to you. As a Cincy transplant myself, LaRosa’s Pizza sat right alongside Skyline Chili and Graeter’s Ice Cream as distinct tastes from my childhood. When I traveled, or when I moved away, I often found myself longing for these Cincinnati staples. As of today, that longing is over. Welcome, LaRosa’s Pizza, to Louisville, Kentucky!—Andy Treinen, President & CEO
A family-owned and -managed pizzeria that has been serving pizza and other Italian favorites for seven decades officially arrives in Louisville today with the grand opening of LaRosa’s in Springhurst. Over the past months, the Cincinnati favorite has been getting to know their new home and the people who live here through a series of visits to popular Louisville destinations by the pizzeria’s original “pizza chef” mascot, Luigi, whose image has appeared on pizza boxes since the earliest days of LaRosa’s.
LaRosa’s mascot Luigi poses with the Model T on Main Street in front of the Frazier, December 20, 2022. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
In December, Luigi “popped up” at the Frazier. What better place to connect with Louisville than at the official starting point of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®? Especially since the new pizzeria pays tribute to the region’s rich distilling heritage with a drinks menu that includes a selection of Bourbons and a special Bourbon Slush, available for the first time ever in LaRosa’s history at the new Springhurst pizzeria.
While the hot brown and burgoo are deeply embedded in traditional Kentucky cuisine, across the Ohio River in Cincinnati, pizza was an integral part of Donald “Buddy” LaRosa’s family’s Sicilian heritage. LaRosa’s origins go back seventy years, to 1953, when Buddy helped his mother and aunts sell pizza at their church festival using a family recipe created by Buddy’s Aunt Dena. While pizza was new to most of Buddy’s German-American neighbors in Cincinnati in 1953, their pizza was a hit and Buddy saw the potential. In 1954, he cashed in a life insurance policy to rent his first restaurant building and pizza oven.
Aunt Dena’s recipe, still used today, helped LaRosa’s become a regional favorite. LaRosa’s later made its entrance into Northern Kentucky, where there are now eleven pizzerias. Central Kentucky’s first LaRosa’s opened in Lexington in 2015. Springhurst, LaRosa’s sixty-sixth pizzeria, is located in Louisville off Westport Road near the Gene Snyder Freeway. The pizzeria will be open for lunch immediately following a 10 a.m. ribbon cutting. The first fifty guests will receive pizza for a year.
History of Heavy Cruiser USS Louisville (CA-28), 1928–59
Last March, the Frazier’s collections team moved a model of the WWII-era Northampton-class cruiser USS Louisville (CA-28) from storage to the museum’s vestibule, where it’s now on display. To shed light on the real ship, we’ve got two contributions for you today. First, curator of guest services Mick Sullivan narrates a sixty-second video on its history. Next, multimedia and videography intern Owen Treolo details its activities before and during the war.—Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist
Fighting her way through the pacific theater of World War Two, the heavy cruiser USS Louisville (CA-28) may not be one of the more famous warships of her time. But, having earned thirteen battle stars during her time at sea, she’s earned every bit of recognition she has received.
USS Louisville was the first large warship to be built in drydock when she was laid down on Independence Day, 1928. The ship was launched in 1930 and subsequently commissioned the following year under the command of Captain Edward John Marquart on January 15, 1931.
USS Louisville was armed with nine eight-inch guns, four five-inch anti-aircraft guns, six twenty-one-inch torpedo tubes, and four scout aircraft.
USS Louisville during a visit to Australia, February 2, 1938. Credit: Allan C. Green (1878–1954), State Library of Victoria.
Model of USS Louisville on display in the Cube, the vestibule to the Frazier, March 17, 2022. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
In the years prior to WWII, USS Louisville represented her country by “showing the flag” throughout Central America and the Caribbean along with trips through the Gulf and the East Coast. In 1938, she began a cruise of the Pacific, traveling through Samoa, Tahiti, and Australia.
While in Australia, USS Louisville helped rescue passengers of the ferry Rodney after it capsized carrying girlfriends and well-wishers of the Louisville crew. A number of sailors dove into the waters to help with rescue efforts. In all, she rescued twenty-six passengers, eighteen of whom were taken to the ship’s hospital—all but one of whom survived.
On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, where the bulk of the United States Pacific fleet was anchored. However, on that day, USS Louisville was in the process of escorting a pair of ocean liners from East Borneo in the South Pacific. USS Louisville stopped at Pearl Harbor to survey the damage before returning to California.
During the course of the war, USS Louisville fought all throughout the Pacific Theater and even offered assistance in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska during the invasion of Kiska. She fought in places such as Guadalcanal, Marshall Islands, Pelau, the battle of Leyte Gulf, and the invasion of Okinawa along with a number of smaller engagements.
In early January 1945, USS Louisville was en route to Lingayen Gulf when two kamikaze planes attacked her. The first attack, on January 5, took out the No. 2 main battery eight-inch fifty-five-caliber gun, knocking it completely out of commission, killing one, and injuring another seventeen. The following day, the second plane attacked, hitting the starboard side of the signal bridge. While helping crew members fight the flames, Rear Admiral Theodore E. Chandler, Commander of Cruiser Division Four, suffered fatal injuries to which he would succumb the following day.
Following her repairs, USS Louisville helped provide gunfire support for the invasion of Okinawa. Another kamikaze hit the ship on June 5, 1945, killing eight and injuring forty-five. She was sent to Pearl Harbor for repairs, thus ending her wartime service.
USS Louisville was decommissioned in 1946 and sent to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She was later sold for scrap in 1959. While the ship’s bell can be found at the Naval Operations Support Center in Louisville, Kentucky, the No. 2 gun battery that was damaged on January 5 was later used as a radiation detector for atomic tests at the Nevada test site during Operation Plumbbob in 1957 and remains there to this day.
CA-28 wouldn’t be the last ship named in honor of the city of Louisville. In 1986, the Los Angles class submarine USS Louisville (SSN-724) was launched.
Owen Treolo
Multimedia & Videography Intern
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