Okay Max...Here's one that ought to really appeal to your folk society. The World is Old-Request Info

Let me tell you why.........

Kytrad is Jean Ritchie, a truly legendary and famous folkie who brought the music of her Kentucky mountains and the Appalachian Dulcimer to the folk scene in the 50's and 60's. Her influence on folk music as well as her fame cannot be overemphasized. Many books by and about her and her family have been written and she will be very well known to and extremely respected by any folk society. We are all happy to have her here at the 'Cat and she's been a source of great info and a lot of fun. I'm not trying to "use" Jean here, but the thread I linked is unique in several ways.

Jean recorded the song she is asking about! AND, she is the only artist to ever record the song. Like many of her songs, this one came from her family, in this case a sister. On the thread, Jean says this:
Re the song: Here's the story. Way back in the 1930s, one of my sisters wrote and directed a Christmas play at the Hindman Settlement School, and included this "Shepherds' Song." She has passed on now and no other soul in the world, it seems, can find where she got the song. Maybe she wrote it herself! But somehow I don't think so- it MUST have a source. I think it's very beautiful and it certainly SOUNDS ancient... Jean

As you can also read on the thread, Jean has been looking for this info for years. Think about this a minute........Generally we go to someplace the artist or songwriter has written about a song to get some history right? In this case, the ONLY artist to record the song and the sister of the writer is ASKING for info!!! The fact that it's Jean is pretty fun too as she is a wellspring of knowledge herself.

Bottom line......By keeping the thread going and involving lots of folks banging ideas back and forth.......THE SONG'S ORIGIN WAS FOUND....AT MUDCAT!!!! To me, this thread really shows what can happen here because of the forum and the way it's laid out to work.

Spaw