Kat, the Sharyn McCrumb novels are quite good. I am reading "The Songcatcher" (2001)now. The new ballad by McCrumb reads like old Child-collected verses and is worth recording:

Lyr. Add: THE ROWAN STAVE

Upon the hill above the kirk at moonrise she did stand
To tend her sheep that Samhain eve, with rowan stave in hand.
And where she's been and what she's seen, no living soul may know,
And when she's come back home, she will be changed- oh!

When midnight came, the owls cried out, the shepherd girl did hide;
She saw the churchyard dead come forth, from graves laid open wide.
And where she's been and what she's seen, no living soul may know,
And when she's come back home, she will be changed- oh!

When all the dead but one returned, she neared the empty grave,
And 'cross its narrow earthen sides she laid her rowan stave,
And where she's been and what she's seen, no living soul may know,
And when she's come back home, she will be changed- oh!

"Oh, what has barred me from this grave I left for Sanhain tide,
I've journeyed far to Denmark's shore; I left there as a bride;
And where I've been and what I've seen, no living soul may know,
And when I've come back home, I will be changed- oh!

"If you will let me gain my grave before the end of night
I'll gie your babe a magic stane that he may have the sight
And where he'll go and what he'll see, no living soul may know,
And when he's come back home, he will be changed- oh!"

McCrumb says: "The story told in 'The Rowan Stave' is a Scots legend about the mother of the Brahan Seer, telling how she got the stone that gave him the Sight. I wrote the words, and my friend Shelly Stevens, a dulcimer player and singer with the Ohio folk group Sweetwater, wrote the melody."
I hope that it is recorded, or will be recorded soon.

I also am a fan of "Gabriel Du Pre," the creation of Peter Bowen. A few years back, a Metis combo played at one of the more disreputable joints here; I especially enjoyed their fiddle playing. Indians frequented the place, so it was not on the list of approved clubs in Calgary.