Appalachian Music Request

Subject: RE: Appalachian Music Request
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 13 Jun 02 - 03:39 PM

If you're looking for songbooks, for a start, check your library or folk music resource for "English Folk-Songs from the Southern Appalachians," collected by Cecil Sharp (the Englishman who was the source of the character who came in as our heroes were going out at the end of the movie), and for "Traditional American Folk Songs from the Anne and Frank Warner Collection", edited by Anne Warner. The Warner book has lots of lovely information about and pictures of the singers. Mr. Sharp just has lots of songs.

Of course the Mudcat permathread A Basic Folk Library" has these and more to suggest.

For source recordings (recordings of the original singers): Folk-Legacy's "Ballads and Songs of Tradition" is a good sampler, as are the two cds from the Warner collection, "Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still" and "Nothing Seems Better to Me." Rounder's Alan Lomas Collection, Portraits series has Texas Gladden (from southwest Virginia), and others.

You can get good stuff from Folk-Legacy (recordings with good notes), Country Dance & Song Society has a lot of good books and recordings, as do Andy's Front Hall, and Elderly, and Camsco (recordings only).

Have fun!

~ Becky in Tucson

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Hi, Becky. If you use quotes within a link, you have to use both opening and closing quotes. I fixed it.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: BS: Apallachian Music Request
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Jun 02 - 02:56 PM

We have run a lot of threads on the movie and if you'll enter songcatcher up in that filter box and set the refresh for 1 year you'll find all of them.

Appalachian Music is discussed all the time around here and you'll find a lot of archived threads on individual songs. I'm glad you have found an interest in the music of the southern mountains and if you'll hang out here a bit you'll find a lot of knowledge going around. Pick some of the ones from the movie or just try a supersearch on some of them and you'll be on your way. I'd start with the songs and recordings of Jean Ritchie, the Mother of the Appalachian dulcimer (posts here at Mudcat as "KyTrad") and also check out the many recordings available at Folk-Legacy Records. Ordering anything from them gets you a set of liner notes that's an education in and of themselves!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Apallachian Music Request
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Jun 02 - 02:53 PM

hi, merripan, if you go to the Search Box at the top of the threads on the main Forum page and enter the word "songcatcher," without the quotation marks, then use the drop-down next to that to set the age filter to 1 year, then hit GO, you'll find about 10 different threads on that movie and the music. That should be a good start, as well as what others will post here.

Have fun!

kat

Subject: Apallachian Music Request
From: GUEST,merripan
Date: 13 Jun 02 - 02:29 PM

Recently I found a movie I heartily enjoyed called "Songcatcher". For those who haven't heard of it, it was little known when released about 8-10 months ago (Even with Aiden Quinn in it), and I could only find one copy of it in Blockbuster (which shows just how popular it was). Unlike it's later-set counterpart Oh Brother, Songcatcher followed the tracings of Apallachian music during the turn of the century, as seen by a woman trying to find her way into a "man's world" of University music teaching.

There were some great songs in there, and I wonder if anyone has a list of more Apallachian music (lyrics included) that I could find to learn. I know that the Digitrad has some, but sometimes it's hard to pick out which are "new" versions and which are "older" versions.

~Merripan