The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #56126   Message #1805915
Posted By: GUEST,Sandy Paton
10-Aug-06 - 12:58 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: The Miller's Will / Miller's Three Sons
Subject: RE: There Was an Old Miller / Miller's Will
I recorded Horton Barker, blind trditional singer from Chilhowie, Virginia, singing this one. That was before I started Folk-Legacy Records (1961), so I gave the tapes of his songs to Moe Asch at Folkways. The resulting record should be available now from Smithsonian/Folkways, perhaps as one of their "custom-made" CD-Rs.
    Horton was a fine old singer, easily accessible, even to the uninitiated. As a young man, he had sung at the White Top Festival in Virginia (1930s) put on by Anabel Buchanan. I may not be spelling her name right, but her partner in the venture was John Powell, a classical composer who borrowed heavily from folksong. Unfortunately, he was also a classic southern racist. It was good that he dropped out of the festival management. While he was in a position of authority, it was strictly "whites only." The only African-American who ever got into the festival grounds was Eleanor Roosevelt's chauffer when she attended the event as a guest of honor.
    Sandy