Nunna Daul Tsuny

Nunna Daul Tsuny translates roughly from Cherokee to The trail on which we cried, or as we know it, The Trail of Tears. I was looking for a folk song theme and asked my daughter if she had any ideas. Her response was “Why don’t you write a song about the Tail of Tears,” and I thought that was a spectacular idea. This is one of the few songs I’ve written that required a lot of research. Mentioned in the song is The Battle of Horse Shoe, in which a Cherokee warrior actually saved Andrew Jackson’s life. Still, when gold was discovered on Cherokee land in Georgia, Jackson signed an order that allowed the U.S. military to remove the Cherokee from that land even though the Supreme Court had declared the Cherokee to be a sovereign nation, just like Spain or France. The entire Cherokee Nation was rounded up and forced to march from Georgia to Oklahoma. That wouldn’t have been so bad had that march not taken place during one of the harshest winters on record. The march resulted in roughly 4000 Cherokee deaths including the wife of the Chief John Ross. According to Cherokee legend, a flower aptly named the Cherokee Rose blooms every year all along the trail and commemorates this tragedy. At 4:48, the song is long but it had to be to tell the whole story. Enjoy.