The gentle fierceness of David Mallett

By BDN Editorial Board

Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow. All it takes is a rake and a hoe, and a piece of fertile ground.

Maine musician David Mallett wrote those words roughly 50 years ago as part of his most famous title, “Garden Song.” The seeds he planted with that popular song, voiced not only by Mallett but by a string of big names ranging from John Denver to the Muppets, grew into a long and impactful folk music career.

The branches of Mallet’s career and life here in Maine have stretched across generations, with his sons Luke and Will giving voice to their own musical journey as leaders of the Mallett Brothers Band. They have taken up the same tools and worked in the same garden, perhaps with no bigger fan than the father who tilled the folk music soil before them. 

David Mallett’s death earlier this month at the age of 73 was a loss first and foremost for the family he loved so fiercely, but also for the big family that is the state of Maine. So many Mainers have been proud to be able to count him among our own. His work resonated broadly, not just with gardeners but governors as well. His deep connection with the land in turn helped create connections with his listeners. His “Garden Song,” and so much of his other work, spoke to a love and respect for the Earth and its ability to sustain life — when properly tended, that is. 

In an interview with Emily Burnham of the Bangor Daily News, Mallett’s daughter Molly Mallett described him as “fierce” in his love of family, music and Maine. It was an introspective fierceness from a man who, not unlike his singing voice, somehow managed to seem both soft and sturdy at the same time. He could sweetly celebrate the humble acts of working in a garden, and he could sternly diagnose society’s collective failure to nurture that garden responsibly, imploring us to both appreciate and protect the simple beauties of life. 

And like the generational roots that Mallett and his family of musicians have planted, a generation of Maine parents and children have had the joy of living that journey with them. From community halls to family rooms, churches to bars, David Mallett has undoubtedly helped write the soundtrack to Maine life for many people over the past few decades. Maine was an inescapable part of his story, and he an indelible part of Maine’s. 

“The smell of coffee and baked goods in a church or town hall is always going to immediately make me feel my dad’s presence,” Molly Mallett told Burnham recently. “People all over the world knew his songs, but when it was here in Maine, it was really special.”

Those spaces will feel just a little emptier without his presence, especially in Piscataquis County which his family has called home for generations, but his music and his legacy will remain. Just as he helped connect people to the land around them, he will continue to help connect people to each other. Give “Garden Song” a listen, think about how Mallett was inspired to write that while working on the family homestead in Sebec, and you’ll know what we mean. 

“He just belonged here. He was so deeply connected to this place. I’ve heard so many people refer to him as a ‘son of Maine’ or a ‘brother of Maine,’ and I think that’s because people really felt like he was family,” Molly Mallett continued. 

David Mallett was perhaps best known for singing about a garden. But his greatest legacy may prove to be the fertile ground he left for others, both his actual family and his larger Maine family, to recognize beauty in the simple things, and to live life with a ferocious love for those around us.