Martha, I think that the singer just before Sheila Kay Adams is Melanie Rice, not Laurin Penland. NPR is not missing the boat, guest! Laurin is the daughter of singer Joe Penland who himself learned the ballads on the Wallins' porch. I thought this was a lovely piece, but the point was not ballad singing on its own--in which case of course La Prelle would have been a fine choice,--but rather it was about how the old songs are still being passed down in the same families and communities. For example, in the shots on the porch, Sheila Kay Adams and Melanie Rice referred to Dillard [Chandler] and the piece also illustrated the youngest singer, a child, getting to hear the ballads sung around the house in the hope that he would learn them too.