Researchers at Library of Congress Reframe 'Swannanoa Tunnel' as Work Song Tied to Convict Labor

At a Library of Congress Rare Book Division program, researchers Jeffrey A. Keith, a writer and history professor at Warren Wilson College, and Kevin Kehrberg, a musicologist and Warren Wilson music professor, presented archival findings that reframe the folk song known as "Swannanoa Tunnel" or "Asheville Junction." The presenters said their research shows the tunnel (opened in 1879) was completed using incarcerated laborers — many African American — who worked under harsh conditions and whose experience shaped the song's rhythm and purpose.

"We came to see the song Swannanoa Tunnel in a completely new light," Keith said, describing how reading congressional reports and other primary sources shifted the research team’s interpretation from a later-era disaster ballad to a work-song context tied to railroad construction. Kehrberg added that archival evidence and a distinctive field recording made the case: "it became clear to us that this song had originated as a work song, not a disaster song."

The presenters described finding a 1930s field recording of the tune — cataloged as Asheville Junction and attributed to a singer listed as Will Shorty Love — whose a cappella, hammer-song cadence matched patterns of songs used on labor sites. "We tracked the recording down and it was stunning," Kehrberg said, pointing to the recording’s rhythmic accents that mimic hammer blows.

Keith and Kehrberg also described community outreach tied to the project: they located and met a descendant, Clarice Thorpe, who provided family context and corrected archival notes about Love’s occupation. The researchers said that in some archival notes Love was listed as a janitor but family testimony and additional records showed he worked delivering campus mail and was a recognized community figure. The presenters described working with university libraries and repatriation efforts to restore recordings and information to families and communities.

The researchers placed the music in broader historical context, citing congressional reports and later scholarship that documented the use of incarcerated labor in North Carolina railroad construction and the high human cost. "The incarcerated workers completed the final and longest tunnel," Keith said, noting many laborers were African American men convicted under laws that often produced inflated sentences. The presenters also referenced a local anecdote in which prisoners were made to drag a 17-ton train so the governor could celebrate the whistle-blowing ceremony, an episode they said illustrates the gap between public commemoration and the labor that made it possible.

Keith said the team published an article online ("Somebody Died, Babe") and is now writing a book to expand the research. He described a careful approach to presenting painful history: working with descendant communities, repatriating recordings, and sharing findings with local churches, schools and arts groups. Kehrberg said the research started in a classroom context and expanded into a 14-year project incorporating field recordings, congressional materials and oral history.

The presentation included live performance and was paired with a crankie (a hand-cranked illustrated scroll) by Jessica C. White that visually represented research findings and local landmarks; White said she incorporated a historic photograph to "put real faces to the stories" rather than leaving the history abstract. The presenters said the project aims to surface overlooked labor histories in Appalachian music and to prompt conversation about how songs travel and change over time.

The program closed with audience questions about cultural appropriation, repatriation and teaching the material; Keith emphasized the team's efforts to make records accessible to descendants and local communities and described ongoing work to identify names and records through state archives. The presenters said they will continue public engagement and scholarly publication of their findings.