Yes, Dani, Betty Smith is still around, still singing, and has just had a fine book published: Jane Hicks Gentry, A Singer Among Singers (University Press of Kentucky), an in-depth study of one of Cecil Sharp's most important informants. Jane Gentry was kin to the Hicks family of Beech Mountain, North Carolina, a descendant of Council Harmon, source of many of our traditional "Jack Tales." Her daughter was Maud Long, who recorded a number of items for the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress.

The book includes much about Jane Gentry's life, plus words and music to many of her songs, and some transcriptions of her "Jack Tales." Her relationship with the visiting English collector, Cecil Sharp, is also described. This book is well worth the effort it might take to obtain it. First support your local bookstore, but, when all else fails, there are those great Internet book sites....

Betty lives in Hot Springs, North Carolina, and continues to perform regularly.

Sandy