English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians

Our Archives contains some fascinating volumes in its collection, and one of these is English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, edited by Cecil J. Sharp. Sharp traveled throughout the southern mountains from 1916 to 1918, collecting songs from numerous singers in North Carolina, Tennesse, Virginia, West Virginia, and, of course, Kentucky. His travels in this state included several counties -- Fayette and Madison, plus Lee, Breathitt, Clay, Knott, Perry, Leslie, Harlan, Knox, and Bell. There are ballads and songs, hymns and nursery song, jigs and play-party songs. Tunes and variants of tunes, texts and various texts, are found in the book. For anyone who delights in singing these songs, for scholars of English ballads, for researchers in Appalachian studies, this is a resource to treasure.