by Kip Lornell
Uncle Dave Macon. Early Recordings. County 521. This set includes some of Macon’s finest solo and group performances from the 1920s and 1930s.
Bill Monroe. The Music of Bill Monroe from 1936-1944. MCA MCAD4-11048. This set of four compact discs, along with the fine booklet, offers the best and most affordable view of Monroe’s early career.
Almeda Riddle. Ballads and Hymns from the Ozarks. Rounder 0017. This album surveys Riddle’s vast repertoire of Native American and British ballads.
Jimmie Rodgers. First Sessions—1927/28. Rounder 1056. The first in a comprehensive series that reissues all of the recordings by America’s “blue yodeler.”
Pete Seeger. Darling Corey and Goofing off Suite. Smithsonian Folkways 40018. Two of Seeger’s earliest (and important) 10” albums are found here on one compact disc.
Bob Wills. Anthology: 1935-1976. Rhino 70744. A first-rate sampling of Wills’s important and influential western swing.
Various. 16 Down Home Country Classics. Arhoolie CD 110. This sampler of the Arhoolie catalogue includes Rose Maddox, Sam McGee, Del McCoury, and the Carter Family.
Various. Back in the Saddle Again. New World 80314. This nicely conceived, two-compact-disc package includes early recordings by Gene Autry, Patsy Montana, Carl T. Sprague, Jimmie Rodgers, Girls of the Golden West, and others.
Various. Brave Boys: New England Traditions in Folk Music. New World 80239. A well-balanced selection of instrumental selections, ballads, and lyric folk songs, many of which can be traced directly to the British Isles.
Various. Classic Bluegrass from Smithsonian Folkways. Smithsonian Folkways SFW40092. A very nice sampling of the Folkways catalogue, which is particularly strong for the 1960s performances by Red Allen, the Friendly City Playboys, and Roger Sprung.
Various. Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian Folkways. Smithsonian Folkways SFW40094. Another solid release in the “Classic” series that includes the usual suspects, including Pop Stoneman, Wade Ward, Olla Belle Reed, and Dock Boggs.
Various. Cowboy Songs on Folkways. Smithsonian Folkways 40043. An anthology that encompasses some of the best performances from its vast catalogue, including older-style ballads.
Various. Native Virginia Ballads. Global Village/BRI 004. This fine collection of Native American/native Virginia ballads taken from early commercial as well as field recordings comes from a comprehensive booklet.
Various. Old Love Songs and Ballads from the Big Laurel, North Carolina. Smithsonian Folkways 2309. These solo, a cappella vocals cover a wide range of material, including both Native American and British ballads.
SUGGESTED READING
Simon Bronner. Old-Time Music Makers of New York State. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1987. A folklorist’s view of the varied musical culture of twentieth-century hillbilly music in up-state New York.
Bertrand Bronson. The Ballad As Song. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969. The regional collection of Frank C. Brown (North Carolina), Cecil Sharpe’s southern explorations, and others are the subjects of Bronson’s insightful essays.
T. P. Coffin (with Roger Renwick). The British Traditional Ballad in North America, 3rd edition. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977. The classic study of this genre.
Norm Cohen. Long Steel Rail. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981. The book’s subtitle, “The Railroad in American Folksong,” sums up the focus of this exhaustive study, which contains many Native American ballads.
Diane Dugaw, ed. The Anglo-American Ballad: A Folklore Casebook. New York: Garland, 1995. A lengthy study of the development of balladry and the study of ballads in the United States.
Carl Fleischhauer and Neil V. Rosenberg. Bluegrass Odyssey: A Documentary in Pictures and Words, 1966-86. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007. A lovely blend of great photos and insightful writings about this distinctive musical form.
Cary Ginnell (with Roy Lee Brown). Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993. Ginnell focuses on the beginnings of western swing in central Texas during the early to middle 1930s.
Thomas Goldsmith. The Bluegrass Reader. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004. Editor Goldsmith has assembled an excellent sampling of the writings about bluegrass and presents them in roughly chronological order.
Archie Green. Only a Miner. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972. The approaches of musicology, literary studies, anthropology, and folklore inform this unique study of mining songs.
Guy Logsdon. “The Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing” and Other Songs Cowboys Sing. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990. A very personal yet scholarly view of cowboy songs in the early to mid-twentieth century.
Bill Malone. Country Music, U.S.A., rev. edition. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985. The breadth of this genre is covered in this broad and masterly survey.
Kristine M. McCusker. Lonesome Cowgirls and Honky-Tonk Angels. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008. The author profiles five artists, including the Girls of the Golden West and Rosa Lee Maphis, who helped shape the sound of country music in the 1930s through the 1950s.
Marty McGee. Traditional Musicians of the Central Blue Ridge: Old Time, Early Country, Folk and Bluegrass Label Recording Artists, With Discographies. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press, 2000. Another of those titles that summarizes the book’s scope and content.
W. K. McNeil. Southern Folk Ballads, 2 vols. Little Rock, AR: August House, 1987, 1988. These two volumes constitute a fine overview of this field, including Cajun and Tex-Mex material.
Nolan Porterfield. Jimmie Rodgers: The Life and Times of America’s Blue Yodler. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1979). A richly rewarding study of this influential country singer.
Neil V. Rosenberg. Bluegrass: A History (20th Anniversary Edition). Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2005. The most complete and well-balanced history of the genre.
Neil V. Rosenberg and Charles K. Wolfe. The Music of Bill Monroe. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007. This masterful examination of the recorded legacy left to us by the founder of bluegrass was written by two of the best in the field.
Dick Spottswood. Banjo on the Mountain: Wade Mainer’s First Hundred Years. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2010. Chockful of photographs and illustrations, the author provides a biography of this important banjo player based on Mainer’s own words.
Ivan Tribe. The Stonemans. Urbana: Unviersity of Illinois Press, 1993. A solidly researched history of this important musical family, which helped introduce bluegrass to our nation’s capital.
John Wright. Traveling This Highway Home: Ralph Stanley and the World of Traditional Bluegrass Music. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992. Not a history, per se, but an idiosyncratic view of the life and career of one of the genre’s earliest and most powerful performers.
SUGGESTED VIEWING
Flatt and Scruggs. Best of the Flatt & Scruggs TV Show, Vol. 10. Shanachie SH-DV. This is the most recent multi-DVD series (all of which are worthwhile and orginally aired as Flatt and Scruggs Grand Ole Opry) devoted to the bluegrass and traditional country artists, such as Mother Maybelle Carter and Hylo Brown, who appeared on these shows from the middle 1950s through the early 1960s.
Tommy Jarrell. Sprout Wings & Fly. Flower Films. One in a series of strong ethnographic/music films by Les Blank; this one focusing on this North Carolina fiddler whose music influenced not only local musicians but those who came south to study with him.
Jimmy Martin. King Of Bluegrass: Life & Times Of Jimmy Martin. George Goehl Films. Martin always wanted to be a regular on the Grand Ole Opry and this film documents not only his quest but his life through footage of Jimmy at home, out coon hunting with his dogs, and playing music on stage.
Bill Monroe. Father of Bluegrass Music. Steve Gebhardt/Folkstreams.net. This 1991 film offers a detailed musical biography of the father of bluegrass.
Lawrence Older. Adirondack Minstrel. New Pacif
ic Productions/Folkstreams.net. A portrait of a fiddler and singer who lived in the southern Adirondacks for his entire life, playing mostly for friends and neighbors.
Patoka Valley Boys. Tough, Pretty, or Smart: A Portrait of the Patoka Valley Boys. Kane-Lewis Productions/Folkstreams.net. The life and music of a semiprofessional old-time and bluegrass group from rural Indiana.
Almeda Riddle. Now Let’s Talk About Singing. Talking Traditions/Folkstreams.net. Riddle (a lifelong resident of north-central Arkansas) learned scores of English and American ballads, which she sang mostly locally until the folk revival brought her to Boston and New York to sing and record.
Morgan Sexton. Bull Creek Banjo Player. Appalshop/Folkstreams.net. Eastern Kentucky banjo player and singer is the focus of this film.
Doc Watson. Doc Watson. CMNS. Watson is joined by his older neighbors and mentors Clint Howard and Fred Price in the performance of folk songs from western North Carolina.
Various. Appalachian Journey. Association for Cultural Equity/Folkstreams.net. A sampler of performers ranging from fiddler Tommy Jarrell to storytellers/singers Ray and Stanley Hicks.
Various. Banjo Spirits. John Paulson Productions/Folkstreams.net. This film explores the roles of the banjo in the lives of bluegrass legend Don Stover and raconteur, musician, scholar Stephen Wade.
Various. Billy in the Lowground. Vetapol. This film, another featuring Alan Lomax-shot footage, features performances by Clark Kessinger, Kilby Snow, the Coon Creek Girls, and ten other performers who appeared at the 1966 Newport Folk Festival’s “Old Time Music” stage.
Various. High Lonesome Sound. Schanachie. Arguably the best video documentary of the genre with performances by and interviews with the best of the old-time musicians encountered by filmmaker/musician John Cohen.
Various. Legends of Old Time Music. Vestapol. There are some truly legendary artists, such as Sam McGhee, Clarence Ashley, and Roscoe Holcomb, featured on this documentary film. Nearly a dozen singers or groups can be heard and seen in performances shot mostly in the 1960s.
Various. Legends of Western Swing Guitar. Vestapol. Composed of short, delightful clips—mostly from the 1940s and 1950s—this anthology ranges from the well known (Eldon Shamblin) to the unsung (Art Greenshaw).
Various. Madison County Project: Documenting the Sound. Martha King & Rob Roberts/Folkstreams.net. This film documents the tradition of unaccompanied ballad singing in Madison County, North Carolina.
Various. “New England Fiddles.” Media Generation/Folkstreams.net. A 1983 film that presents seven, highly varied (from Irish American to Quebecois) traditional musicians playing in their homes and at dances and contests.
Various. Texas Style. Documentary Arts/Folkstreams.net. Three generations of Westmoreland family fiddlers can be heard and seen here.
Various. Shady Grove: Old Time Music From North Carolina, Kentucky, & Virginia. Vestapol. Filmed between 1966 and 1970, this anthology focuses upon autoharp player Kilby Snow and the legendary Tommy Jarrell. One of the highlights are three brief songs by Dock Boggs, the only extant footage of this fine performer.
Various. Why The Cowboy Sings. Western Folklife Center/Folkstreams.net. This 2002 film explores this intriguing question.
Chapter 5
ANGLO-AMERICAN SACRED MUSIC
• Psalmody
• Shape Notes
• Camp Meetings
• Shakers
• Later Hymnody and Gospel Songs
• Sanctified Styles
• Southern Gospel Boogie
• Final Thoughts
Religious beliefs and spiritual concerns of all kinds are core issues for many Americans. And religious music remains a vitally important, often underappreciated aspect of traditional music. The early English-speaking settlers brought their own church songs with them, most notably psalms, so it is very likely that psalms were the first European music sung here. For the first few decades of the establishment of the New World, psalm singing was the only form of music generally allowed in colonial churches. Within one hundred years singing schools had developed throughout the colonies, helping to teach religious singing to the musically illiterate. This method of teaching gradually cultivated the shape note tradition that flourished in the South following the early-nineteenth-century Great Awakening.
As the United States expanded westward following Reconstruction, folk and folklike styles of religious music continued to evolve and flourish. Revival hymns, spiritual songs (both black and white), and gospel hymns emerged by the later part of the nineteenth century, disseminated by way of printed sources as well as oral tradition. These styles helped to shape postindustrial religious music. Despite all of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century innovations Anglo-American religious folk song practices tend to be fairly conservative, but, as we shall see, many distinctly American folk styles of religious singing gradually developed out of these essentially European practices.
PSALMODY
Psalmody, or psalm singing, grew out of the practice of chanting psalms from the Bible and it was eventually replaced by composed hymns. The chanting tradition came over with the first English settlers and was promoted through books such as Thomas Ravenscroft’s Whole Booke of Psalms, published in London in 1621. In fact Ravenscroft’s tome eventually inspired the first book published in the American colonies, the Bay Psalm Book (1640). Its texts are largely unique, though the musical notation was not added for another sixty years when it was reprinted with some of Ravenscroft’s own four-part settings. Early white Americans were also likely to have used the Ainsworth Psalter, which had also been brought over by very early settlers. Calvinist theology suggested that this music be sung without instrumental accompaniment and in keeping with the congregation’s abilities. Some New Englanders learned the melodies and words from books, but for most seventeenth-century white residents, psalm singing was an oral tradition.
Gradually the Old World ties to religious singing grew weaker and more tenuous as the initial settlers’ formal musical skills decreased. This led to the use of a greater number of oral elements, such as slides and other related embellishments, and antiphonal singing. A lack of literacy effected the lining out style, which encouraged more ornate singing from the congregation. All of these factors contributed to a unique, identifiable Anglo-American style of religious folk singing by the early eighteenth century.
This new way of singing did not suit everyone. Cotton Mather and several other important New England clergymen complained that this newly developed style was improper. They called for a reform, which led to the establishment of singing schools. Such schools offered instructions under a “trained” musician who could teach vocal techniques and how to read standard Western notation. People taught at singing schools were supposed to return to their congregation and reinforce the “regular singing” of their forebears.
But the Anglo-American style had such strong adherents that graduates of singing schools met with only limited success. Many enjoyed the new freedom to partially improvise and express oneself. But the idea of printed songbooks with a preface, instructions on singing, and a collection of well-known psalms eventually caught on. The first of these, John Tuft’s A Very Plain and Easy Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes (1721), went through eleven editions in twenty-three years. Most of the subsequent 350 or so songbooks published over the next eighty years were aimed at the singing-school market. One of the most significant of these, A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, printed in Charleston, South Carolina, was the first book by John and Charles Wesley, two brothers whose names are now inseparably linked with the Methodist church.
Singing schools and songbooks helped to encourage a few individuals to became part-time singing-school teachers. These men were among the first professional musicians in North America. They taught that a nice blend of voices and vocal production were important traits for congregational singing. These factors later constituted the basis of the Protestant church choirs that emerged in New England.
/> By the close of the eighteenth century a small school of men writing psalms for American consumption had emerged in New England. Urania, a 198-page opus published by James Lyons in 1761, helped to set the standard for later collections. Lyons included not only contemporary English psalms but truly American creations as well. His landmark compilation was followed in short order by Josiah Flagg’s A Collection of the Best Psalm Tunes and Aaron Williams’s Universal Psalmodist. Shortly after the Revolution, the number of new American songbooks had increased tenfold over a fifty-year period.
William Billings emerged as the most important composer and singing teacher in New England during the last three decades of the eighteenth century. He began his career as a singing teacher in 1869 near Boston and continued teaching until shortly before his death in 1800. He composed nearly 350 psalms or hymns, nearly all of them written for four voices. He also published six tunebooks, beginning with The New-England Psalm-singer (1790) and concluding with The Continental Harmony (1794). “Amherst,” “Brookfield,” and “Lebanon” are among his most popular and enduring tunes.
SHAPE NOTES
The first widely recognized form of white religious folk music was found in the shape note tunebooks first published in the wake of the Second Great Awakening after 1800. The shapes themselves represent a simplified system to help people who were not conversant with standard Western notation. This system is known widely as fasola, referring to the last three syllables used in sight singing—fa, sol, and la. It is also known as sacred harp singing because of the very popular book, The Sacred Harp. These southern and eastern tunesmiths (an encompassing term that refers to compilers, composers, and singing-school teachers) carried on a tradition that is considered here because it is so often maintained through oral tradition. The late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century shape note books of New England and New York contain many musical examples that appear in later tunebooks from other parts of the United States. They also established the practice of including a pedagogical section to assist singing-school teachers with their craft. The first widely used book with all of these components, The Easy Instructor, by William Little and William Smith, was initially published in 1798.