Well, fresh from a viewing of Songcatcher, here's Emmy's version of Shiela Kay Adams' version. Note that it includes only selected verses. ABC first.
MATTHY GROVES Emmy Rossum as learned from Shiela Kay Adams
.G A A C A C C Å .G A A C D D-E E E A A C D E E D C A .G .E A C, D C A .G .E.G A
Oh holiday, oh holiday, The first day of the year Little Matthy Groves to church did go Some holy word to hear, hear, Some holy word to hear
She step-ped up to little Matthy Grove, Her eyes kept on the ground, Oh please, oh please come with me, say, As I go through this town, town...
...
Oh what is this, said little Matthy Groves As he sat up in bed, I fear it is your husband's man And I will soon be dead, dead...
But little Matthy Groves he lay back down And soon fell fast asleep, When he woke up Lord Daniels Was standing at his bed feet, feet...
Saying how to you like my snow white pillow, Saying, how do you like my sheet? Saying, how do you like my pretty woman That's a-layin' in your arms asleep, sleep...
The first swing that little Matthy made, It hurt Lord Daniels sore, The next swing that Lord Daniels made, Little Matthy couldn't fight no more, more...
Adams' version, of course, fills out the missing pieces.
My sentiment when I first saw the film, and it's still my sentiment now, is that I wish somebody would convince both Emmy Rossum and Iris DeMent to make innumerable CDs of traditional songs. They are two of the finest traditional voices alive today.
Of course that's impossible. Emmy, as shown by her more recent films, is a songstress of decidedly stage-style and popular talent who only visited traditional song on her way up...and Iris has her country singer's career to nourish. We're left to cherish immortal moments that are chopped and channeled to fit a film.
Still great, though. And DeMent fully justifies her film attribution as "Mrs. Gentry" -- a reference to Jane Gentry, the great North Carolina ballad singer recorded by Cecil Sharp, whose songs I mostly know from meeting and recording her daughter, Maud Long, in Hot Springs in 1955. DeMent is in her league as a singer, which is high praise indeed.