Thursday, August 11, 2011

For The Love Of Old Time Music and Ballads


This weekend Barneveld will be treated to the second annual Stone Soup Reunion. It will be a wonderful time to enjoy many kinds of music made by friends and families with ties to the beautiful Barneveld area.
I am thrilled to be among the performers - Sunday 2-3 PM is my slot and I am hereby shamelessly promoting attendance. 
There will be several performers focusing on what we might call handmade, acoustic music - some blues, some bluegrass and some folk.
For myself, this will be a chance to share the old time songs and ballads I love so dearly. Many of these originated in England, the Childe Ballads, but flourished in the hearts and hands of Appalachian singers each of whom added their own uniquely American tunefulness.  And adding-adapting is what true folk music is all about. As soon as a piece becomes set in stone, it is no longer folk. I learned reverence for real folk ballads from my singing partner when I sang in the 60’s as Daniel & The Deacon. Gerry Parsons later became a legendary head of ethnomusicology at the Library of Congress until his passing; and I will sing in memory of this great champion of America’s true folk music.
The literature in some of these songs is breathtakingly beautiful and haunting - every time I sing these lines the people and their stories come to life for me. 
As I hope they will for you.
Lady Margaret, sittin’ in her high hall door
Combin’ her long yellow hair
Oh she saw sweet William and his new made bride
Riding from the church so near.
She throwed down her ivory comb
She throwed back her long yellow hair 
She says I’ll go down and bid him farewell
And never more go there

1 comment:

  1. Sing well, sweet Dan'l
    The world's a better place with troubadours in it.

    ReplyDelete