Album: Carry Me Back (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is about Leevi Barnard, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who joined the national guard and was sent to fight in the Iraq War. Three week after arriving in Iraq, he was killed in an explosion at a Baghdad market.

    Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show heard about Leevi in a story broadcast on North Carolina Public Radio, and was moved by his story. He contacted Leevi's family, who told him that Leevi was a big fan of OCMS and was a true country boy from the Galax, Virginia area who loved to ride ATVs and hunt for ginseng. Secor wrote the story about his life and considers it a tribute to the many country boys who ended up in the war.
  • The song's chorus is borrowed from Bob Dylan's song "George Jackson," while the fiddle line is taken from the traditional "The Girl I Left Behind Me."

Comments: 2

  • Barry Hale from Columbia, ScLeevi was not only a graduate of UNC Charlotte (now Charlotte University), he earned his commission through the Army ROTC program there. He was one of of my cadets there and a great young man. Leevi was a great American
  • Barry Groomes from Davison Co TennI try and try to get the radio stations to play this honor for the veterans day and Memorial Day special plays in Md Pa and Tn. They wont do it. Shame on them for not play it for our vets.
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