Search - Various Artists :: Oh My Little Darling: Folk Song Types

This superb anthology of old ballads and other folk-song types comprises pre-war commercial and field recordings made in the rural Southeast, the part of the United States that most closely met the textbook definition of a "folk culture," in which culture was relatively homogeneous and customs were shared across class and ethnic lines. For this reason, this album focuses on the rural Southeast as a rich source of American folk life, ranging roughly from Virginia and Kentucky south to Alabama and west to Texas. These songs are the "varied carols" of Walt Whitman?s singing America, and the recordings enable us to hear a population of Americans, some born in the nineteenth century, who developed their repertoires and performing artistry before the era of films, phonograph records, radio, and television. "I am large," said Whitman in his role of American Everyman, "I contain multitudes." So sing the country people we hear on this record. They introduce us to songs that have been, in the words of the old hymn, "a long time traveling away from home." Here, on a new stage, the songs portray the old dramas, conflicts, and celebrations of the American character. This classic reissue from the Recorded Anthology of American Music contains a 48-page booklet with lyrics and the customary scholarly liner notes. Of related interest:
80223 I?m On My Journey Home: Vocal Styles and Resources in Folk Music 80239 Brave Boys: New England Traditions in Folk Music 80294 The Gospel Ship: Baptist Hymns and White Spirituals from the Southern Mountains