"Rise Up Singing" started life as "The Folksinger's Wordbook," from Oak Publications, and was an attempt to provide material to the uninitiated/unschooled/uneducated beginner folk-song-fancier.

I learned to play guitar, (way) back in the day, from a similar book (though it had tunes as well as words), "The Hootenanny Songbook." For me, the book was a leg-up, a kick-start, but as soon as I encountered versions which differed from that book, I realized that the book contained only ONE version of a given song, so I felt free to take from each source what I needed or wanted (or could play & sing with my limited abilities -- like I said, I was a beginner). There are those who never progress from the first level -- I know banjo players who play EVERYTHING in "C" tuning, even the tunes better played in "G" or "D" (not to mention the 25 other standard banjo tunings found in the world).

"Rise Up" is for some people an anchor. For others, it's a grounding. You know the difference.


Bob