Book of Folklore of American Folk Songs

[yankees1]

I am looking for a book that describes the legend/folklore of all early American Folk Songs ! Does such a book exist ?

[StuartE]

All? Don't think so, but these might be helpful.

Carl Sandburg 1927 anthology, the American Songbag, was immensely influential.

John and Alan LomaxAmerican Ballads and Folk Songs and Our Singing Country: Folk Songs and Ballads

Greil Marcus and Sean Wilentz, The Rose & the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad

There's is an outstanding 6 CD box set from Smithsonian Folkways with great liner notes Anthology of American Folk Music The sixth bonus CD really only works with older Windows systems, but there is a workaround for some of it.

[yankees1]

All? Don't think so, but these might be helpful.

Carl Sandburg 1927 anthology, the American Songbag, was immensely influential.

John and Alan LomaxAmerican Ballads and Folk Songs and Our Singing Country: Folk Songs and Ballads

Greil Marcus and Sean Wilentz, The Rose & the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad

There's is an outstanding 6 CD box set from Smithsonian Folkways with great liner notes Anthology of American Folk Music The sixth bonus CD really only works with older Windows systems, but there is a workaround for some of it.

Thank you !

[StuartE]

You might want to check this out as well.


Rural Roots of Bluegrass (Book)
Songs, Stories & History


Rural Roots of Bluegrass is a songbook and history book that takes a deep at the roots of bluegrass music: ballads and fiddle tunes of Scots-Irish pioneers, black spirituals, plantation melodies, blues, murder ballads, sentimental parlor songs from Tin Pan Alley, North Carolina banjo styles and gospel songs. This book is richly illustrated with 107 vintage photos and includes history, lyrics to 94 songs, musical notation, chords, playing tips, and historical sources for each song. Includes profiles on the Bill Clifton, Bill Monroe, the Blue Sky Boys, Bradley Kincaid, the Callahan Brothers, Carolina Tar Heels, the Carter Family, Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, the Coon Creek Girls, Earl Scruggs, Eck Robertson, Ernest V. "Pop" Stoneman, Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, Fiddlin' John Carson, G. B. Grayson & Henry Whitter, Jimmie Rodgers, Karl and Harty, the Lilly Brothers, Monroe Brothers, the Morris Brothers, Riley Puckett, Samantha Bumgarner, Vernon Dalhart, Snuffy Jenkins and Wade & J. E. Mainer. 6" x 9", 180 pages. The perfect companion to the CD "Rural Roots of Bluegrass."

[Fred Keller]

A Treasury of American Folklore, Benjamin Albert Botkin, makes for some fascinating reading.