I grew up during the big ballad years. If you can hum along with "...a green alligator and a..." then you remember the ballad years. The movie, "A Mighty Wind" was a parody on those groups that had their moment in the musical sun.
But there were also the immortal balladeers like The Chieftains, the Clancy Brothers (later with Tommy Makem), and Burl Ives, along with names I cannot pull out of my morning brain. The ballads covered every range from traditional ballads to humorous folk songs to Civil War songs--ballads were telling a story, making people remember, seeing something from the past or maybe the future.
A new series of books just published, English and Scottish Popular Ballads by James Frances Childs, promises to keep those ballads remembered. Too often, these words and events fade into history, and someone says, "What were the words...oh, my mother used to sing that song to me..."
Now, at least these words will stand, be read and enjoyed.
English and Scottish Popular Ballads is the site for these newly released books.
Many Thanks! to Tony Benson for high-lighting this series.
