cecil sharp in america: collecting in the appalacians

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Article MT047 Cecil Sharp in America collecting in the Appalachians Foreword: I first visited the Appalachian Mountains in the summer of 1979. The following year I wrote a short article about the singer/banjo-player Dan Tate, which was published in the Folk Music Journal . In the article I made one or two mildly critical comments about Cecil Sharp, the English folksong collector who had made a remarkable collection of songs in the mountains during the period 1916-1918. A number of people, including Douglas Kennedy who had known Sharp in the early 1920s, were offended by my remarks and, realising that my knowledge of Sharp was, at best, secondhand, I decided to seek out Sharp's original diaries and extant correspondence, so that I could let Sharp himself tell me what had happened during his Appalachian forays. Sharp had been accompanied by Maud Karpeles, his secretary, and I found that her diaries were also available for study. Clearly, in order to gain a less one-sided view, it would have been better to also have had access to other contemporary records, i.e. from other people who knew Sharp or who had accompanied him during this period of his life. In a few instances I managed to trace people who remembered Sharp visiting their parents or other elderly relatives to collect songs. I also consulted contemporary newspaper accounts, such as there were, which documented Sharp's lecture tours outside the mountains. About 15 years ago I put all this material together in the first draft of Cecil Sharp in America, an article which eventually disappeared, unpublished, into the depths of my filing cabinet. At one time it had seemed that the article would form the foreword to a book of Cecil Sharp's Appalachian photographs, but this was not to be. Instead, some eighteen months ago, I decided to submit the article to the Folk Music Journal for possible publication. It was accepted, but only on the understanding that it would be some years before space could be found in this annual publication. For various reasons I was not willing to wait and so the article was submitted to Musical Traditions . In the meantime, the Editorial Board of the Folk Music Journal had made a number of suggestions designed to improve - and update - the article. Most of these ideas were accepted with gratitude and incorporated into the article - usually in the form of extended notes. The article that appears below is, in effect, a second draft. I have also made one important alteration that would not have appeared in the Folk Music

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This is an article by ethnographer and musicologist Mile Yates about Cecil Sharp, the English folksong collector who made a remarkable collection of songs in the Appalacian mountains of the US during the period 1916-1918.

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Article MT047

Cecil Sharp in America

collecting in the Appalachians

Foreword:

I first visited the Appalachian Mountains in the summer of 1979. The following year I wrote ashort article about the singer/banjo-player Dan Tate, which was published in the Folk MusicJournal. In the article I made one or two mildly critical comments about Cecil Sharp, the Englishfolksong collector who had made a remarkable collection of songs in the mountains during theperiod 1916-1918. A number of people, including Douglas Kennedy who had known Sharp inthe early 1920s, were offended by my remarks and, realising that my knowledge of Sharp was,at best, secondhand, I decided to seek out Sharp's originaldiaries and extant correspondence, so that I could letSharp himself tell me what had happened during hisAppalachian forays. Sharp had been accompanied byMaud Karpeles, his secretary, and I found that her diarieswere also available for study. Clearly, in order to gain aless one-sided view, it would have been better to alsohave had access to other contemporary records, i.e. fromother people who knew Sharp or who had accompaniedhim during this period of his life. In a few instances Imanaged to trace people who remembered Sharp visitingtheir parents or other elderly relatives to collect songs. Ialso consulted contemporary newspaper accounts, suchas there were, which documented Sharp's lecture toursoutside the mountains.

About 15 years ago I put all this material together in thefirst draft of Cecil Sharp in America, an article whicheventually disappeared, unpublished, into the depths ofmy filing cabinet. At one time it had seemed that thearticle would form the foreword to a book of Cecil Sharp'sAppalachian photographs, but this was not to be. Instead, some eighteen months ago, I decidedto submit the article to the Folk Music Journal for possible publication. It was accepted, but onlyon the understanding that it would be some years before space could be found in this annualpublication. For various reasons I was not willing to wait and so the article was submitted toMusical Traditions. In the meantime, the Editorial Board of the Folk Music Journal had made anumber of suggestions designed to improve - and update - the article. Most of these ideas wereaccepted with gratitude and incorporated into the article - usually in the form of extended notes. The article that appears below is, in effect, a second draft.

I have also made one important alteration that would not have appeared in the Folk Music

Journal. Although mention is made of Sharp's encounters with American Negroes, I had omittedan instance which shows Sharp in a rather poor light (certainly by today's standards) and I havedecided that, in order to present as full a picture of Sharp as possible, I should now include thisreference. I hope that my intention in doing so will not be misunderstood. When I hadcompleted my first draft of the article I found that I had totally revised my ideas about Sharp, andI hope that readers will also come to share in these ideas and opinions. Cecil Sharp is, Ibelieve, the most important English folksong collector of the century. His achievements are trulymonumental. Bertrand Bronson once said that Sharp's Appalachian collection was the bestregional song collection ever made in America. I hope that by reading this article, people will atlong last come to realise just how much Sharp gave of himself in the assembly of his collection.

Michael Yates. Berwick-upon-Tweed. 23.12.99

Cecil Sharp in America

When A H Fox Strangways published his biography of Cecil Sharp in 1933 he headed theAppalachian section with a couplet from the 1808 - 1811 note book of William Blake:

Great things are done when men and mountains meet,This is not done by jostling in the street. 1

According to Sharp:

Chance brought me to America in the early days of the war ... and while here MrsJohn C Campbell of Asheville, NC told me that the inhabitants of the SouthernAppalachians were still singing the traditional songs and ballads which their Englishand Scottish ancestors had brought out with them at the time of their emigration. 2

When Cecil Sharp met Mrs Campbell in 1915 he was almost certainly the most experiencedfolksong collector then working in England. But that was not all. As well as collecting folksongs,Sharp had spent much of his time researching the history of the songs and dances that he wasdiscovering, so that by 1915 he was also one of the foremost experts on the subject.

Sharp, prior to meeting Mrs Campbell, had been touring America as dance advisor for aproduction of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Cecil Sharp, who has been in New York some weeks in the interest of the dances inGranville Barker's Midsummer Night's Dream, is at last able to spend a day or two inBoston. On Wednesday afternoon he will address a limited invited audience on 'TheValue of the Folk-song and the Folk-dance to the Community.' On these subjects heis the greatest authority in the world. Among his hearers there will doubtless besome who have studied at his famous (English) summer school at Stratford-on-Avon. In its four years of existence its graduates have gone out to all parts of theworld, and the teaching of folk-dancing has become a science under his originalmethods. 3

The following month he was in Pittsburgh.

A public lecture on 'English Folk-song' was given in Carnegie Music Hall last night,under the auspices of the Art Society, by Cecil J Sharp, one of the most eminentauthorities on the subject. His talk was desultory, but delightful, filled with sincereenthusiasm and expressed with such simplicity and directness that he made doublyenjoyable a topic which is in itself of very great interest. Folk Music - the communalproduct of an entire people, rather than of an individual possesses a peculiar vitalityand charm which Mr Sharp succeeded admirably in communicating to his audience... He laid especial stress last night upon their careful diction and upon theimpersonal simplicity of their performance, pointing out that (as we have ampleopportunity to observe for ourselves) if the performer attempts to intrude his ownpersonality or to add the graces of execution appropriate to more cultivated songs,the wild flavour evaporates. Miss Mattie Kay gave an excellent demonstration of theproper style of singing. Her voice is not very well trained, but it is of attractive quality,and her simple delivery of the six or eight songs used as illustrations to the lecturewas most enjoyable. The photographs which Mr Sharp threw on the screen alsoincreased the interest of the occasion. 4

By the time he reached Chicago it was apparent that Sharp had already concluded that therewas no such thing as American folk music

Mr Sharp told of rescuing English folk music; how he and his associates, seeking outpersons untouched by the on-rush of education, had entered the workhouses andjotted down the songs of old peasants now living on the parish. No one under 70, hesaid, had yielded a song worth the taking. Another twenty years and English musicwould assuredly have dissolved in sophistication ... By Mr Sharp's definition a newfolk music is impossible without a complete reversion to a feudal state. This is true,because folk music is the product of an unselfconscious peasantry; a peasantrywhich refuses to transmit the eccentricities of any individual; which simply omits andforgets what does not belong to the spirit of the people ... But this is a doleful theoryto propound to Americans who feel the urge of nationality. How can we have any folkmusic? We are in the clutches of compulsory education. The farest backwoodsfarmer has a phonograph with records of Rubinstein's melody of F and MischaElman's richly sentimental reading of Dvorak's humoresque ... Thus Mr Sharp leavesus to a barren fate, not possessing a folk music and not able to get one. 5

Olive Dame Campbell of Asheville, North Carolina, was the wife of John Campbell, an employeeof the Russell Sage Foundation who was engaged in a social project upgrading the Appalachianschool system. It was a job which necessitated long trips into the mountains and Mrs Campbellhad often accompanied her husband on his journeys. It was during such trips that she firstbegan to hear mountain ballads and songs. In December, 1907, the Campbells visited HindmanSettlement School in Kentucky and it was there that Olive Dame Campbell heard a student, AdaSmith, sing a version of the ballad Barbara Allen.

Shall I ever forget it. The blazing fire, the young girl on her low stool before it, thesoft strange strumming of the banjo - different from anything I had heard before - andthen the song. I had been used to singing Barbara Allen as a child, but how far fromthat gentle tune was this - so strange, so remote, so thrilling. I was lost almost fromthe first note, and the pleasant room faded from sight; the singer only a voice. I sawagain the long road over which we had come, the dark hills, the rocky streams

bordered by tall hemlocks and hollies, the lonely cabins distinguishable at night onlyby the firelight flaring from their chimneys. Then these, too, faded, and I seemed tobe borne along into a still more dim and distant past, of which I myself was a part. 6

In 1897 a lady called Frances Louisa Goodrich came to Allenstand in the Laurel section ofMadison County, NC to establish a chain of schools, Sunday schools, craft programmes and acompany called 'Allenstand Cottages Industries'. Olive Dame Campbell first visited thiscompany in 1907 to help in her husband's survey of mountain life.

In October 1913 the Campbells attended the Country Life Conference in Big Laurel,one of Frances Goodrich's missions in Madison County ... There Olive DameCampbell heard some ballad singing and had an opportunity to explain thesignificance of the ballads. By 1914 she had visited singers in the Laurel Country,Rosin Hensley and Mrs Sotherland [sic], and in 1915 she took down a song fromMandy Shelton. 7

By the time she met Sharp, Mrs Campbell had collected over two hundred songs and balladsand when, in 1915, she presented him with her songs she was probably showing her collectionto the person best suited to appreciate the value of her material. She was also showing hersongs to a man possessed with an almost missionary zeal when it came to the collection ofEnglish folkmusic.

Mrs John C Campbell of Asheville, NC, called upon me the other day in order thatshe might show me and ask my opinion about a large collection of ballads words andtunes - which she had herself taken down from the lips of singers in the mountainsnear her home - the Southern Highlands. I had no time to give to her mss more thana cursory examination, but I saw more than enough to convince me that she hastapped a mine which if properly and scientifically explored would yield results -musical, historical, literary, etc - of the first importance. The ballads in question wereapparently of Irish, Scottish or English origin which had presumably been carried tothat district by the original settlers and passed down by oral tradition to theirdescendants and so generation by generation to the present inhabitants. 8

True, most of Mrs Campbell's songs were known to Sharp, in one form or another, but:

the collection contained many interesting and illuminating variants of ballads whichhave been recently noted in England by members of the Folk Song Society includingmyself; and also variants of many ballads known to us in the older compilations ofMotherwell, Kinloch, Walter Scott etc., but which so far as we know are not nowbeing sung in England or Scotland. 9

Maud Karpeles, writing in the Fox Strangways biography of Sharp, gives the following accountof the meeting, as told by Mrs Campbell:

He was sitting very straight in an imposing high-backed chair ... a table in front ofhim. He could not get up, but he greeted me with an easy apology to the effect thathe was indulging in a rich man's malady - gout, but that he owed it to his ancestorsrather than to any luxuries permitted by his own income. I got a quick impression ofhis fresh colour, high, clearly cut features and the nervous force of his personality. His eye was obviously on my bundle of papers, and I wasted no time in laying it

before him."How did you take this down?" he asked.I explained meekly that I was not a trained musician. I had to learn the melodies fromthe lips of the singer, noting down rough helps. I worked out the whole afterwards,using a piano if I could and going back again to the singer to check myself. A longtime after he paid a compliment to my exactness of memory, which I am proud toremember, but at the time: "Of course, you know that that is a very unscientific wayof recording", was his uncompromising observation. The moments fled by. Iconsulted my watch from time to time, but did not like to interrupt him. Moreover, Icertainly could not detect any signs of boredom or exhaustion. When he finally laidthe pile of manuscripts on the table and turned to me, it was with a keen but relaxedand almost lenient look. All the charm of his most winning mood was shed upon meas he explained how many people had brought 'ballads' to him before, but that thiswas the first time that he had come on any really original and valuable material. I amtold he improved from that day. 10

Sharp, true to his nature, took little time to make up his mind about what had to be done. On 24June, 1915, he wrote to Mrs Campbell.

I have been thinking a great deal about your ballads and of the necessity ofcompleting the work which you have so ably initiated.. Something ought to be doneto ensure the preservation of all these ballads before it is too late and also to discoverwhether there are not other folk survivals in the district besides ballads of equalvalue such as singing games, dances, carols etc. 11

Mrs Campbell had clearly suggested the possibility of Sharp paying a visit to the Appalachians,because he concludes his letter thus:

Please understand that I do not wish for the world to queer your pitch so that I shallnot move in the matter any further except with your complete concurrence. Indeed itwould be quite impossible for me or anyone else to do the work without your goodhelp. 12 Sharp, who could at times be short tempered, was also possessed of tact,a necessary asset for such a successful collector. Two days later in a letter toRichard Aldrich, music critic to the New York Times, he was to confide that:

Mrs Campbell is avowedly not a technical musician and she is fully alive to thisdeficiency and to the fact that her notation of the tunes lacks scientific accuracy. 13

Sharp had, however, realised the urgency of the task.

Mrs Campbell furthermore told me that, as is the case in my own country, the customof traditional ballad singing in the Southern Highlands is rapidly falling into disuetude[sic] so that time is urgent and consequently if the work is to be done at all it must bebegun at once without delay. 14

The purpose of Sharp's letter to Aldrich was primarily to solicit aid for the job in hand and withina month Aldrich was telling Sharp that Dr Henry S Pritchett, head of the Carnegie Foundation,was considering the idea that the Foundation should fund Sharp's proposed collecting activity inthe Appalachians. 15

By the time that Aldrich's letter reached him, Sharp had returned to London only to find his wife,Constance, had suffered a serious heart-attack. Because of this Sharp was unable to return toAmerica later that year as he had originally intended, Mrs Campbell having suggested that theautumn would be the best time to collect because the mountaineers would be involved in:

frolics, log rollings. corn huskings, 'lasses bilings, watermelon cuts and so on. 16

Mrs Campbell added, though, that such events:

may be accompanied by excessive drinking and even less desirable features. 17

Sharp used his time in London to continue his search for financial backing and for research intothe history and social background of the area that he proposed to visit. It was clear to him thatMrs Campbell was the key to his intended success.

I am very anxious not to do anything discourteous to her ... After all she is thepioneer in this matter and it is solely through her that we have heard of the matter. 18

It is interesting that Sharp appeared to be unaware of such material, especially as there werealready other collectors apart from Mrs Campbell working in the Appalachians. State FolkloreSocieties had been founded in North Carolina and Kentucky in 1912, in Virginia in 1913 and inWest Virginia in 1915. New York collector Josephine McGill spent the summer of 1914searching for songs in Knott and Letcher Counties, Kentucky; although she did not publish theresults of her work until 1917. In 1916 Sharp was probably aware that Loraine Wyman andHoward Brockway were also collecting in several Kentucky Counties.

Sharp proposed that he entered into some form of partnership with Mrs Campbell and that theresult of their collecting should be published under their joint names.

It would be very nice if you could spare the time to accompany me when I amcollecting, but if not you could direct me whither to go and I could bring the results ofmy work back to you for examination by both of us. 19

Mrs Campbell was quick to reply and on 4 September, 1915, she wrote:

As I have written before, I shall be only too happy to co-operate ... Now in the firstplace, I want to make it clear to you that I in no way have a special right in collectingmaterial from this region ... I want you to understand that I could not for a momentthink of your plan as interfering with anything that I may have done in the past, evensupposing that sometime in the future I might want to do more collecting; indeed itwould be a distinct advantage to work with you. 20

Mrs Campbell stressed how rugged the mountains could be and she was clearly aware at thatearly stage that Sharp was not in the best of health:

the only real objection that I could see would be in the matter of your health, for thecountry is very rough, distances are great and living conditions often hard. I think,however, that Mr Campbell and I could be of real help to you in alleviating the lastsituation. 21

It has been suggested by some authorities that Cecil Sharp approached the Appalachian

inhabitants with preconceived ideas based upon the work of so-called 'local colour writers',people who had previously portrayed the mountaineers as either 'hill-billies' or else as'Elizabethans'. It is now too late to say precisely what Sharp had read prior to visiting themountains. 22 But we do have this interesting exchange preserved in the Campbell-Sharpcorrespondence. It was Mrs Campbell who wrote:

There is one other point to consider - the very democratic spirit of the people, whichis, I imagine, rather more independent than that of English people of the same class -although, frankly, I know little of the English people. The mountain people aresensitive, proud and shy but will do things for you if they like you and feel that you likethem. 23

A comment which brought this reply from Sharp:

I should probably find the singers a little different from the peasants in this countrybut I do not think that I should find much difficulty in getting on with them andpersuading them to sing. Our peasants are by no means all of one type in thiscountry; for instance, in those parts where they are not wage earners, but are theirown masters, they display a much more independent spirit. I expect that the peoplein your part are more like these than the normal agricultural labourer who has workedall his life for hire. 24

Finance was once again mentioned when Sharp wrote:

Like you, my enthusiasm is wholly for the subject itself. I am not out to make money,although, like you, I cannot afford to neglect that side of the question altogether. Ihave a wife and a family of four children dependent upon me and I am a poor man ... I must have something to live upon, so that it will be impossible for me to come outand work with you unless I can get substantial help from the Carnegie Trust or someother public authority ... Pioneers rarely become rich men, but then they have manycompensations, for it is no small pleasure to have taken a hand in preserving such afine peasant art as folk-singing and folk-dancing. 25

Eventually, Aldrich wrote to Sharp on 10 December, 1915, to say that the Carnegie Corporationhad turned down Sharp's application for financial assistance. Aldrich, who had worked hard onSharp's behalf, was understandably upset and despondent by this turn of events. He did not,however, know of Sharp's tenacity and single-mindedness, for Sharp, who had prepared himselffor the bad news, had been following other lines of enquiry. These included an approach to MrsJ J Storrow of Boston, a philanthropic American supporter of Sharp's work. Mrs Storrow hadinvited Sharp to return to America in 1916 to continue his teaching work. Sharp agreed toreturn, adding that he would like to visit the Appalachians for a month or two in the hope ofcollecting songs there. In the final weeks of 1915 Mrs Storrow wrote to Sharp offering him thesum of $1000 to use as he saw fit in the mountains. Sharp accepted at once and beganpreparation for his first collecting trip into the Appalachian Mountains.

1916

When Sharp returned to America he at first continued to work with musical productions.

Forty girls ranging from 16 to 24 years of age learned the meaning of real dancing

yesterday afternoon at the Central Public Library in preparation for the production ofAs You Like It at Forest Park Highlands in June, under the auspices of the St LouisPageant Drama Association. The girls were told to get out of the 'ho-hum club' andto learn the meaning of the word 'pep'. Of course that isn't the language Cecil Sharpof London, authority on English folk dancing, used. He's very English, but figurativelyspeaking, he told the girls to 'get a move on themselves', 'put some punch into theirwork', 'a little more speed' and to 'get some action'. And he got his meaning over allright. Before afternoon was over the energetic, nimble-footed Englishman had thegirls as light on their feet as bits of thistledown before a stiff spring breeze. Theybounded, flew, they floated until their cheeks grew red and their hair almost tumbledabout their shoulders. "Dancing has been corrupted by the social dances of today",said Mr Sharp. "It has taught people to slouch through dancing instead of puttingrhythm, grace and life into it." 26

Katherine Richardson, a staff writer on the St Louis Star, concluded a lengthy interview with thefollowing observations:

Sharp is a man of middle age, of slight stature, exceedingly active, and a rapidtalker. Several talks given in St Louis, he had illustrated with folk songs which heplayed on the piano. His method of handling dancers amounts almost to genius. 27

However, there was another side to Sharp' s personality and to some people he could appearbrusque, if not downright rude. Sharp was a perfectionist in all that he did, a fact which mayexplain why he drove himself so hard. Those who failed to reach his standards could expectshort shrift, as a fellow teacher, a Mrs C C Hardcastle of St Louis, was to discover.

Cecil J Sharp, English dancing master, who has charge of the As You Like It folkdancing, arrived in St Louis Monday night and read the 'riot act' to dozens of dancinggroups when he toured the studios of well-known St Louis dancing teacher ... MrsHardcastle says Sharp entered, hurried through an introduction to her, strode up tothe perspiring pianist, clutched his arm, shook his shoulder, and in loud voiceshouted, "play those notes right." Then Sharp, according to Mrs Hardcastle, mountedthe stage. The dancers went through their numbers. Sharp pointed a forefinger atfirst one dancer and then others. He exclaimed, "He has to get out", or, "she has toget out", or, "What's the matter with that booby?" 28

Cecil Sharp reached the Appalachians in July, 1916, arriving at the Asheville, NC home of Mrand Mrs John Campbell in company with his secretary and assistant, Miss Maud Karpeles, whowas also a member of his English folkdance demonstration team.

The couple spent a few days acclimatising themselves to the mountains and Sharp noted sometunes from Mrs Campbell's singing. In this way Sharp felt that he was accurately preserving thetunes which she had previously collected, but which he felt she had been inaccuratelytransmitted to paper.

Finally, early on Thursday morning the 27th July, Sharp and Karpeles were driven north intoMadison County, towards the Tennessee State line, by Mr Campbell who drove them to thecommunity of White Rock. Miss Fish, a resident Presbyterian Missionary, took them the nextday to Allanstand and introduced then to a number of singers.

Without her, and Mrs Campbell's help, it would have been very difficult to get started. 29

It is only recently that the area around Allanstand has become relatively easy to negotiate. InSharp's day it would have been an extremely isolated region, although the name Allanstanddoes suggest that it was sited on a pack-horse route where the animals could 'stand' overnight,presumably at a lodging originally owned or run by a person called Allan.

When I first visited the area in 1980 I was told by Berzilla Wallin (nee Chandler) that theinhabitants at first suspected that Sharp was in the region to survey a site for a dam which wouldstore water for Asheville. Berzilla's neighbours feared that if the project went ahead they wouldlose some of their land and so they were apprehensive when Sharp first appeared in their midst.

One singer encountered on Sharp's first day was Aunt Polly Shelton who sang them a fineversion of the old ballad Earl Brand. The next day Mr Campbell took a buggy to drive Sharp andKarpeles to meet Norah Shelton, 'Who sang me 2 or 3 beautiful songs', 30 and other membersof the Shelton family. Within four days Sharp had collected over fifty songs, and had doubledthis figure within seventeen days.

Sharp, as was his manner, had let it be widely known in England that he was planning to visit theAppalachians and there was great interest at home in his activities. So much so, that when hereturned to Boston in August he found himself unable to answer many of the letters which wereawaiting him. As most of these letters were asking for information about his collecting workSharp cobbled together four of his previous letters, and using the title Ballad Hunting in theAppalachians, had a small booklet printed to send out as a reply.

July 26, 1916

Maud and I left New York in tropical heat on Sunday afternoon, got to Knoxville onMonday at 1.30, left for Copper Hill an hour or so later, arriving at this very primitivelittle mining village at 10 P.M. Our train left at 6.30 A.M. yesterday (Tuesday), goton to Murphy at 11, where we changed onto the Southern Railway, and eventuallyarrived here at 11.30 P.M. - or, rather, what was left of us. Maud's suit case was lost- I am almost afraid, stolen - between Knoxville and Copper Hill, which made thejourney very uncomfortable for her. But, despite the heat, the dust, the lack of food,the swarms of flies, hay fever, asthma, etc., it was a wonderful trip. The road fromKnoxville here would be difficult to beat in any part of the world, I imagine. The usualline from New York via Salisbury and that from Knoxville here direct are washedaway, and may not be open for quite a long time yet. The streets of Asheville werestill unlighted when we drove through last night. The 125 miles from Murphy took useight and one-half hours. We had never less than two and sometimes three enginesto haul us along. If you have not been along that route, you ought to do it. It wasuseful to me, as it gave me a glimpse of the country and the people which I am toinvestigate. I notice the type of people I saw was very decidedly English anddifferent from anything I have seen in other parts. What I am going to get out ofthem I don't know, but as I begin work tomorrow I shall soon discover. I will keep youposted up in my adventures.

Sunday, August 13, 1916

I am still in the mountains. The journey on the day after I last wrote to you wasindescribably terrible. I should not have believed wheels and horses could get oversuch tracks unless I had seen the thing done. I was frightened out of my life. NowMaud and I walk about everywhere, except occasionally we have to take a jolt-wagon(well named!).

The country is, I think, the most magnificent I have ever seen. The mountains areeverywhere, and we live in the valleys and walk through the passes. The mountainsgo from six thousand feet, and the valleys two or a little over. The weather has beenvery hot indeed, and I go about in a shirt and pair of flannel trousers, and keep ascool as I can. My experiences have been very wonderful so far as the people andtheir music is concerned. The people are just English of the late eighteenth or earlynineteenth century. They speak English, look English, and their manners are old-fashioned English. Heaps of words and expressions they use habitually in ordinaryconversation are obsolete, and have been in England a long time. I find them veryeasy to get on with, and have no difficulty in making them sing and show theirenthusiasm for their songs. I have taken down very nearly one hundred already, andmany of these are quite unknown to me and aesthetically of the very highest value. Indeed, it is the greatest discovery I have made since the original one I made inEngland sixteen years ago. This last week I spent three whole days, from 10 A.M. to 5.30 P.M., with a family in the mountains consisting of parents and daughter, byname Hensley. All three sang and the father played the fiddle. Maud and I dinedwith them each day, and the rest of the time sat on the veranda while the three sangand played and talked, mainly about the songs. I must have taken down thirty tunesfrom them and have not yet exhausted them. one ballad, The Cruel Mother, is by farthe finest variant, both words and tune, which, in my opinion, has yet been found. Ofcourse, I am only at the beginning of things yet. I have been here seventeen days,but it looks as though I shall bring away with me a large amount of extremelyvaluable stuff, which when published will create a very great deal of interest in certaincircles. Although the people are so English, they have their American quality thatthey are freer than the English peasant. They own their own land, and have done sofor three or four generations, so that there is none of the servility which, unhappily, isone of the characteristics of the English peasant. With that praise, I should say thatthey are just exactly what the English peasant was one hundred or more years ago. They have been so isolated and protected from outside influence that their ownmusic and song have not only been uncorrupted, but also uninfluenced by art musicin any way. This is clear enough in the character of the tunes I have collected, nearlyall of which are in gapped scales (i.e., scales lacking two or more notes; e.g., thefourth and seventh), which is a more archaic form than that in which they are nowbeing sung in England. I have no doubt, when I have increased my score and havehad time to assimilate and analyze it, that all sorts of interesting and illuminatingdeductions will easily be made from them. I am very excited about it all, and feel Icannot talk very coherently about it yet. I stay at missionary settlements, usually in alog cabin, where I fend for myself - make my own bed and do all sorts of things I amquite unaccustomed to do - and have my meals in the settlement house. It is thePresbyterians who run these places, and some of the women I have met are verynice and broad-minded. But I don't think any of them realize that the people they arehere to improve are in many respects far more cultivated than their would-be

instructors, even if they cannot read or write. Take music, for example. Their own ispure and lovely. The hymns that these Presbyterian missionaries teach them aremusical and literary garbage. In manners they are far superior to the school-mistresses I have met here, all of whom are of the genteel type, and feel verysuperior. The problem, I know, is a very difficult one. For my part, I would leavethem as they are, and not meddle. They are happy, contented, and live simply andhealthily, and I am not at all sure that any of us can introduce them to anything betterthan this. Something might be done in teaching them better methods of farming, soas to lighten the burden of earning a living from their holdings; and they shouldcertainly be taught to read and write - at any rate, those who want to, ought to beable to. Beyond that I shouldn't go.

I have been very interested in the wild flowers and ferns, comparing them with ourEnglish ones. It is quite exciting to find every now and again exactly the same flowergrowing under precisely the same conditions as in England. The butterflys [sic] andbirds are all very different, but interest me none the less on this account.

I move on tomorrow at 7.30 with a pack mule and a boy to guide me to a place calledBig Laurel, and hope to spend the next week-end at Asheville. I feel I must have abath and a few creature comforts. Luckily, I am a vegetarian, as meat is almostunknown here. This is called the Laurel Country because of the enormous numberof rhododendrons with which the hills are covered. Why they call these laurel andthe real laurel ( which also grows here) ivy, I don't know.

August 27, 1916

Last week I went to Hot Springs, where I got thirty beautiful songs from a singlewoman. The collecting goes on apace, and I have now noted 160 songs andballads. Indeed, this field is a far more fertile one upon which to collect English folksongs than England itself. The cult of singing traditional songs is far more alive thanit is in England or has been for fifty years or more. I do not know how I shall tearmyself away from the mountains and leave so much work undone when, at the endof next month, I have to make tracks for Chicago If I could only have stayed here andcollected until Christmas, I could have done a tremendous lot collected probably overa thousand tunes. I must try and get up here by hook or crook next year again. It iswork that for the sake of posterity must be done, and that without delay. This lastweek I took down three ballads given in Child which I have never before heard sungand to which there are no published tunes Edward, Johnny Scott, and Fair Annie. The first of these is one of the oldest ballads known, and is the prototype of LordRendal, a very rare and valuable find. I am simply amazed at what I have done in amonth compared with what I have ever been able to do in England in that time. I amat present at White Rock again, my old center [sic], whither I came last night after amost adventurous journey. The train ran off the track and smashed the Pullman carbehind the one I was in, while the motor ride from Marshall here in the care of a mostincompetent driver, who took some of the hairpin curves most recklessly, frightenedthe breath out of me. I am now trying to run to earth a famous singer in this section,William Riley Shelton, usually known as Frizzy Bill or Singing Will. So far he hasevaded me, but Mr Campbell is with us to help me track him down. Directly I havecaught him and emptied him, I am going across the border into Tennessee to Devil's

Fork (renamed Sweet Water by the Presbyterian missionaries!). That will, I expect,occupy me for a fortnight. Then I am going to make a dash into Georgia for a week,and afterwards finish up with a fortnight in Kentucky en route for Chicago, where I amdue on October 2. In this way I shall get a bird's-eye view of the whole of the field,and by testing it at various points estimate the relative value of the different sections. Mr Campbell and I have now between us about 220 tunes, and before I leave theseparts we shall probably have pretty nearly four hundred.

September 10, 1916

We are back in Asheville for two or three days' rest, really necessary after the hardliving and rough traveling [sic] in the mountains. But we go off again tomorrowmorning, and shall continue if our strength holds out right up to the time when we goto Chicago on the 30th of this month.

I have now taken down 250 tunes, and am realising that the field here is even richerthan that which I have been investigating for fifteen years or more in England - amost unexpected fact! Next week, for my last fortnight, I may go down toCharlotteville and tap Virginia.

We came here on Tuesday after two very successful days in Black Mountain, NC. Icame here partly to test Virginia as a hunting ground, but mainly to get in touch withProf Alphonso Smith, who has been identified with the ballad-collecting question inUSA. I find him a very charming and courteous scholar, who has done everything tohelp me and has shown me great kindness. I leave here on Thursday forWashington, where I want to see a Dr Spellman about a song, and on Friday I go toChicago for a fortnight, when I return to New York. The collecting goes on apace,and I now have very nearly four hundred tunes, which is an amazing number,remembering their high quality. I am trying to scheme some time between now andChristmas so that I may write my book. I think if I can get a quiet three weeks at theAlgonquin, which is close to the Library, where I believe I can get all the books Iwant, I could pull it off. It is my sober opinion that this book will contain the richestmusical material of folk songs that has yet been published, certainly in England and Ihonestly believe in Europe. Perhaps I am too near the trees to see the wood for themoment, but anyhow it will be a valuable contribution to the subject which will notonly interest but surprise those who know something about the subject. It iswonderful that such old-world stuff should have emanated from America. I am verysad at leaving this work and beginning lecturing and teaching again. I should like tospend twelve or eighteen months at this work.

(Signed) Cecil J. Sharp

Much can be made of this document. Firstly, there is Sharp's excitement and enthusiasm whichpermeates the whole writing. Secondly, there is confirmation that Sharp was seeing themountaineers in terms of an 18th century British peasantry; and, thirdly, there is the emphasisplaced on song material of English origin. There is no mention of native American ballads. Perhaps they seemed too poor when compared with, say, Mrs Rosie Hensley's version of TheCruel Mother. After all, Sharp was originally motivated by the fact that these singers did singsongs and ballads that had originated in the Old World. Writing in December, 1916, Sharp

described John Lomax's book Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads as 'a volume whichcontains nothing but the dregs of literature and the garbage of musical phrase.' 31 To be fair toSharp, though, he had by that time already noted several similar native ballads, includingversions of on Top of Old Smokey, The Murder of Colonel Sharp, I'm Going to Georgia, BrotherGreen, Frankie (and Johnny), Hick's Farewell and Pretty Little Pink which still remainunpublished in his manuscript collection.

Sharp spent about four weeks in Madison County, often being driven in Mitchel Wallin's car. Today Mr Wallin is remembered as a good local fiddle player. Sharp, however, found him, 'a badsinger and a very difficult fiddler to note from.' 32 After noting the tune High March, Sharp wrotethat:

Wallin began by playing several times occasionally making the 4th crotchet E or Dbelow, then broke into the tune when the fancy took him. He rested the fiddle on hisknee, while he sat down. He played well but was perpetually improvising in detail. He said 'All my tunes are changeable'. His mother was a Franklin. He must haveIrish blood in him. 33

Although Sharp was looking for songs, he was not averse to instrumental music. The 10th ofAugust was spent with the Hensleys, where, 'There was singing and fiddling all the time and Igot some very interesting stuff.' 34 Reuben Hensley, father of thirteen year old Emma Hensleywho gave Sharp a good version of the ballad Barbara Allen, played Sharp such tunes asCumberland Gap 35, Johnson Boys and Sourwood Mountain, the latter being a Kentucky tune,according to Mr Hensley, who told Sharp, 'They always tune their fiddles in this faked way whenthey played Kentucky tunes.' 36

Occasionally Sharp would return to Asheville for a day or two. On 23rd August, he took a trainnorth to Hot Springs, a small community which stands on the banks of the French Broad Riverand which is famous for its medicinal springs. There hewas met by Lucy Shafer, principal of the Dortland Institute,who had previously written to Sharp about a Mrs Gentry. Although Hot Springs is only a few miles from Allanstand,Jane Gentry's repertoire was unlike that of the othernearby singers that Sharp had been visiting. Almost all ofthe Laurel area singers were descendants of RoderickShelton. Indeed, of the thirty nine Madison Countysingers that sang to Sharp, no less than twenty eight wererelated to this person. 37 Jane Gentry, however, was thegranddaughter of Council Harmon (c. 1807 to c. 1896)from Watauga County, NC Her maiden name was Hicksand her repertoire was similar to that of the BeechMountain Harmon/Hicks singers who were visited bynumerous collectors from the 1930's onwards. 38 Manyof today's Laurel area singers claim relationship to thesinger Jane Gentry. But this may be another person of the same name who lived in the Laurelarea and was married to a Colonel Sharp ('Colonel' being a given name and not an army rank) . In all, Jane Gentry gave seventy songs to Sharp - the most that he collected from any one singer- including fine versions of ballads such as Lamkin, The Cherry Tree Carol, The False Knight onthe Road and The Grey Cock. Sharp visited her home on at least eight separate occasions and

was clearly welcome there.

On Sunday, 16th June, a terrible storm had rocked Madison County. At least six people died,two in the town of Marshall, county seat of Madison County, and it became known as the 'GreatFlood of 1916'. The French Broad River burst its banks at a number of places, including HotSprings, and many bridges were washed away. On Thursday, 24th August, Sharp crossed theFrench Broad on a punt to see Mrs Gentry. We know that the ferryman told Sharp about hiswife's singing and that whilst at Hot Springs he also, 'took down a good song from the postman... who told me to look up a blind girl Linnie Landers (and) got five good songs from her.' 39

Sharp, who was used to collecting songs from elderly people in England, was sometimes takenaback by the age of his singers. 'Floyd Chandler sang Mathy Groves very beautifully and he isbut 15'. 40 Another singer, David Norton, was seventeen years old. Addie Crane was twenty-one, and Linnie Landers only twenty years old. Even the redoubtable Mrs Gentry was only inher fifties when she sang to Sharp.

On 30th August Sharp moved a few miles into Unicoi County, Tennessee, where he stayed for afew days collecting a total of fifty eight songs in the community of Flag Pond, before returning toNorth Carolina and Madison County. Sharp's chief singer in Flag Pond was fifty-five year oldJeff Stockton whose seventeen songs were all of British origin. No doubt Mr Stockton knewothers, but Sharp failed to note these. 41

After four weeks of hot, humid weather, Sharp began to suffer from frequent asthmatic attacks. On 2nd September he received word of the death of the composer George Butterworth who waskilled at the Battle of the Somme. Five days later there was more bad news from the front.

I read the awful news of poor Tiddy's death. Now that he, Butterworth, Lucas andWilkinson have gone I seem to have lost all my pillars except one - Vaughan Williamsand any day something may befall him. 42

By 10th September Sharp was 'still feeling very ... depressed, being unable to shake off (the)bad news from England.' 43

Sharp had planned to take Mrs Campbell's advice and visit Georgia to follow up some more ofher singers. But, on 11th September, he was 'feeling so feeble and unwell (that I) decided togive up the Georgia idea.' 44 Instead Sharp remained in Madison and neighbouring BuncombeCounties, continuing to collect as best he could. He was not always successful, 'did not getmuch in the way of songs largely because an old 'Holiness roller', Silas Shelton, was there andgroused against 'love songs' as the folk-ballads and songs are called in this country.' 45 Butthere were also compensations. 'Mrs Gentry once more. We got a splendid lot including TheTwo Brothers and The Cruel Brother, two new Child's. Quite a wonderful day.' 46 or, 'Spent allthe morning and afternoon at Mrs Buckner's and Mrs Swan Sawyer's. Got 26 songs altogetherand some very good ones, including The Farmer's Curst Wife and Little Sir Hugh. Two more'Children'.' 47 Mrs Buckner, who lived in Black Mountain, was the daughter of Mrs EllieJohnson, a singer whom Sharp had met in Hot Springs, and it seems clear that many of Sharp'strips to 'new' collecting areas were the result of previous information supplied to him by othersingers.

On 16th September, Sharp set 'off to Mrs (Hester) House, Mrs (Ellie) Johnson and Mrs (Jane)Gentry' and 'took several photographs.' 48 Cecil Sharp, a keen and enthusiastic amateur

photographer, had made a practice of photographing folksingers and dancers ever since hediscovered his first singer in 1903. Many of his Appalachian photographs have survived aslantern slides, which Sharp used during his subsequent lecture tours, much in the way that heused slides of English singers in his American lectures. Itwould also seem that Sharp used photographs as a tokento repay some of the kindness that he had received fromhis singers. One diary entry records the following:

Wrote letters to Mrs Godfrey, Mrs Harris, MrsCannady, Mr Eb Richards, Mr Luke Sowder and MrsGoldie Becket. Then I went through my photographsand sent a lot off to the above addresses. 49

Nor should it be forgotten that Sharp probably treasuredthe photographs to remind himself of the times that he hadspent with his generous singers. It was, after all, Sharpwho would write:

It is no exaggeration to say that some of the hours Ipassed sitting on the porch of a log-cabin, talkingand listening to songs were amongst the pleasantestI have ever spent. 50

For his final week in the mountains Sharp set off fromBlack Mountain to Charlottesville, Virginia, where he met Professor Alphonso Smith, one ofAmerica's leading ballad scholars. Sharp intended his excursion into Virginia to be something ofa probe - a brief trip to establish whether or not it would be worthwhile to return there later. Professor Smith passed Sharp onto a Mr Mannaway, a schools' inspector in Albermarle County,who suggested that Sharp should meet Mr N D Chisholm, 'a first rate folksinger', 51 and a MrsCampbell, both of Brown's Cove, a small settlement in the Shenandoah Valley. Two days later

Sharp found Mr Westley Batten of Mount Fair, 'from whomwe got 2 rare songs, one a fine version of The TwoSisters.' 52 Sharp also discovered Mrs Rosie Smith, oneof Mr Chisholm's relatives, who was then living inCharlottesville, and on 27th September, 'took AlphonsoSmith with us in our motor ... and collected a lot of songsfrom the Chisholm and Smith clan.' 53

In that final week in Virginia, Sharp added a further fortyfive songs to his collection. In a nine week period spent inthe mountains he had collected a total of 400 songs fromsixty-seven singers.

Before returning to England in December, Sharp returnedto the American lecture circuit, visiting such diverselocations as Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati,Boston, St Louis and Toronto (Canada), feeling that hecould best support himself and his family by remaining inAmerica, where, unlike England, there was adequate andsuitable work to be found. Mrs Storrow again suggested

that she might be of assistance and offered to pay for the relocation of Sharp's family toAmerica. Sharp felt this to be impractical. 'My wife and I are too old to engineer such a drasticchange.' 54 Then came the news that Sharp's son Charlie had been seriously wounded in theWar. 'The anxiety is great and I don't know how I got through last week.' 55 Later he was towrite that, 'If my boy had died I don't think I could have gone on', adding that, 'I think themountain ballads keep me sane.' 56

Before he finally returned to England, Sharp told Mrs Storrow that he had used up 650 dollars,'and have now 350 in hand, which I am leaving in the bank here as a nest-egg for my nextcampaign. I used it very freely chiefly in order to save time e.g. by hiring a motor when I couldpossibly have done without one, or by giving a generous gratuity to a singer to stimulate thememory. Maud, of course, as she always does, insisted in paying her-own expenses.' 57

1917

The new year began on a better note. Sharp and his family had moved to a new home, 27Church Row, Hampstead, where Maud Karpeles had been found a small room, 'Con managedto squeeze her in somehow or other, by arranging for one of our servants to sleep out during mystay in England.' 58 Charlie was recuperating well in a Highgate hospital and on most daysSharp would walk across Hampstead Heath to visit him. Sharp and Karpeles also spent up toeight hours a day editing their first collection of Appalachian songs for publication. English FolkSongs from the Southern Appalachians. collected by Olive Dame Campbell and Cecil Sharpwas to contain 122 songs ( in 323 variants) from Sharp's 1916 trip as well as 32 songs (in 42variants) from the collection of Mrs Campbell; the latter having been collected in Kentucky (Clay,Knott and Lee Counties) and Georgia (Habersham and Rabun Counties) during the period 1907to l910.

Sharp worked hard on this project and he was able to deliver the first draft to Putnam's Londonoffice on 24th January. He was, though, in two minds about his written introduction:

I have been so immersed in it for the last ten days that I am quite incapable ofcriticising it, but it seems to me at the moment to be very poor stuff. However, I feelthat it may not be really so bad after all; at any rate, it contains, however badlyexpressed, all the things that I want to say and I dare say if I can leave it alone for aweek or so and go through it carefully again on board ship I may be able to improve it... I have, of course, always realized that it would not be right for me to generaliseabout the mountain life, seeing that my experience of it has so far been very limited. I have accordingly guarded against any misconceptions on this point and yourremarks on this subject have kept me up to the scratch. I am old enough to knowthat it is far better to refrain from irritating people with whom I disagree wherever thatis possible without unnecessarily diluting my views. 59

English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians appeared in late 1917, Sharp and Karpelesurgently working on galley and page corrections throughout their 1917 visit to the mountains. Itwas essential, so Sharp felt, that the book should appear as soon as possible so that he wouldhave something to show prospective financial backers for further collecting trips in theAppalachians. The 1917 trip, though, was already paid for, Mrs Storrow having sent Sharp afurther $500, a sum which was later matched by another American benefactor, a Miss Scovillewho Mrs Storrow had approached on Sharp's behalf. Sharp therefore had some $1,300 in his

American bank account, a sum which would allow him to spend nineteen weeks in themountains. It was not, however, sufficient to allow him to devote all his time to collecting and, inorder to support his family in England, he embarked on another extensive lecture tour ofAmerica during the weeks when he was not collecting in the mountains.

By early April, as soon as Sharp and Maud Karpeles reached New York, Sharp approached a MrGlenn of the Russell Sage Foundation.

I saw Mr Glenn on Thursday about my financial position with regard to the mountaincollecting and he is very anxious that I should succeed in getting a grant, eitherprivately or from some public authority, to enable me to give up the whole of my timeto the work. I calculate that 5000 dollars a year would just enable me to send homeenough to keep my family going and to pay my own expenses out here - at any ratewith the help of an occasional lecture fee or so. It scarcely comes within the provinceof the Russell Sage Foundation or it might have been managed that way. Yesterdayhe took me to tea with Mrs Rice who has been to my lectures, is interested in thesubject and knows rich people. She was very sympathetic and promised to do allshe could and said she would approach Mrs Robert de Forest, Mrs Crane and someothers. I also broached the matter to Aldrich who has promised to see Dr Pritchettagain, the Chairman of the Carnegie Trust. Perhaps between these many feelers wemay turn up trumps and incidentally free you from further responsibility. 60

To Miss Scoville he wrote:

I feel very strongly that I ought to peg away and complete the collection of thesewonderful mountain songs while I have the opportunity and which, when the war isover, will probably cease. How long it is going to take I don't know but I think I mayget to the end of it in about 12 months time, if I can work at all continuously. And thisdepends upon financial considerations as at present I can only give what spare timeis over after I have earned enough in other ways to keep my family in England going.

61

Yet again Sharp's determination came to the fore and his plans were soon formulated. By thebeginning of April, Sharp and Karpeles had crossed the 'Great Divide' and were in Knox andSevier Counties, Tennessee. They were met by John Campbell in Knoxville and after a lengthyconversation they decided to go to Sevierville on a 'Fishing trip'. The next day, however, thethree spent an afternoon attending an old-time fiddler's contest in Knoxville, an event whichMaud Karpeles found 'most entertaining'. 62 To Sharp it was, 'A most interesting and amusingaffair' 63 and in the evening they called on one of the competition winners, a septuagenariancalled Mr Julian. 'He said he was an Irishman and he undoubtedly was', wrote Sharp in his diarythat evening. 'I questioned him about his name, which he said used to be Julan. No doubt itwas originally Doolan.' 64 Sharp noted two tunes, 'Nice tunes' he called them, The Cuckoo'sNest originally from Ireland and a version of Turkey in the Straw, which Sharp titled MatchesUnder the Hill, although other fiddlers have titled it Natchez Under the Hill.

Once in Sevierville, they met the quaintly named Trotter Gan, who gave them versions of TheDerby Ram and Edward, 'the latter a very good version, much better than Mrs Gentry's. Thisheartened us considerably.' 65 A week later, though, things had taken a turn for the worse. Both Sharp and Karpeles went down with some unknown ailment.

Had a bad night indeed. Maud sleeping on the floor by my bedside and doing whatshe could to alleviate me.' 66 The following night was just as bad. 'A bad night againwith much coughing and discomfort. Maud did not sit up with me but came in once ortwice and gave me water etc.' 67 Two days later Sharp could just write, 'Had aterrible night coughing continuously from 10p.m. - 2a.m. Head and neuralgia stillrather bad. The side of my face so sore. I cannot touch it and the scalp of my headso tender that I cannot brush my silver locks. In the afternoon take down severalsongs from Mrs May Ray and one more from Alice Parsons. Altogether this week Ihave noted 24 tunes, some very nice ones, making 60 for (my) first two weeks; whichconsidering conditions is not too bad. 68

Later Sharp was to tell Mrs Storrow:

I was not in good condition to stand the hardships in the mountains; nor the suddenleap into tropical heat, and so I fell victim to the Grippe and other germs which justthen were very prevalent in all the places I stayed at ... I don't know what I shouldhave done without Maud. She has simply devoted herself to me and done everythingthat a human being could do for me, and all in the quietest least obtrusive way. 69

Maud Karpeles also wrote to Mrs Storrow the same day saying that a local doctor who hadexamined Sharp felt that there was, 'a slight tubercle in the lungs (which) in all probability hasbeen there for many years.' 70

Sharp and Karpeles then moved north to Bell and Harlan Counties in Kentucky where Karpeleswas to write that they, 'were greatly disappointed in Harlan. It is a dirty, noisy, vulgar miningtown. Hotel impossible. Very depressed.' 71 After two unsuccessful days, the couple moved toPineville in Bell County. They remained in Kentucky for the rest of May adding one hundred andninety-six songs to their collection. It was to be one of the most productive periods in Sharp'scollecting experience, although his elation was still dampened by ill health. 'Feel very ill onwaking. Temperature still up. Feel very depressed.' 72 or, 'Feeling very ill and hopeless.' 73 On 11th May Karpeles wrote, 'C(ecil) not at all well ... got a mattress (and) slept on floor in hisroom.' 74

Over the next few days Sharp was confined to bed and the collecting took on a new dimension,in that his assistant would venture forth looking for singers, whom she would then take back toSharp's hotel so that Sharp could note the tune to the words which she had already collected. 'Maud gets Mrs Knuckles to come round to sing to me. I take down five rather nice onesincluding a curious version of Lady Maisry which adds to my 'Child' finds.' 75 And again, 'Maudwent out to follow up two clues of singers. She found one woman died last week and the otherhad gone away for a holiday.' 76 Such were, and indeed still are, the disappointments offolksong collecting.

On 20th May, by a rather strange coincidence, Miss Child, the daughter of Professor Child, cameto stay at the same hotel that Sharp was staying at. Even though he was ill, Sharp could notafford to miss the opportunity of seeking support for his work. 'Talking to Miss Child and MrsEmery whose husband is Secretary of Rockefeller Trust in New York. Two rather influentialwomen if I could only get on the right side of them.' 77

By 5th June Sharp's health forced the cancellation of a proposed trip to Barbourville in KnoxCounty, where they had already noted sixty five songs, and the couple returned to Asheville.

Sharp had also begun to suffer from violent toothache and on 7th June all of his teeth wereextracted.

Sharp spent most of July in New York City where he continued to teach and work on the proofsof his forthcoming Appalachian book. He also kept up a stream of correspondence with theRockefeller Foundation, but, as always, with nothing to show at the end of the day.

By 27th July Sharp and Karpeles had returned to Asheville and from there they took the train toHot Springs to revisit Mrs Gentry, who had written to them a few weeks before:

As I have been looking for you several days and you haven't come thought I wouldwrite you. I have a few more songs I can give you if you don't already have them. Ican give you the crow song for one if you haven't gotten it already. Now Mr Sharp ifyou are in the mountains anywhere when you get this letter and it doesn't cost youtoo much to get here I sure want you to come and see me. For you don't know howmuch pleasure it would be for me to get to see you and the lady that is with you onceagain. May God bless and keep you both. 78

From Hot Springs they moved on to Jackson County and the area of Balsam:

Balsam is on the highest point on the Asheville - Murphy line, and is 3550 feet up. The weather however is as hot as it can be and we have found our long tramps overthe mountains rather fatiguing - all the more so because so far we have hit on nosingers to speak of. The fact is we are too close to Waynesville - a large industrialcentre, and the inhabitants have been partially spoiled, that is from my point of view. The log-cabins are primitive enough but their owners are clean, neat and tidy,looking rather like maid-servants in respectable suburban families. It is sad thatcleanliness and good music, or good taste in music rarely go together. Dirt and goodmusic are the usual bed-fellows. 79

Sharp expanded on this theme in his diary:

It is becoming increasingly clear that we have struck a very sophisticated place. They all say (that young people) haven't sung old love songs for 25 years or more. The whole neighbourhood has been dominated by religious and secular teachers. 80

The following day, while visiting a Mrs Crawford, Sharp notes that her two nephews 'play banjoand fiddle rather characteristically.' 81 An additional note, this time made in his musical notebook, tells us that:

These (tunes) were played by two youths, the one playing the air on the fiddle (con-sordini i.e. by hanging his clasp knife with partially opened blade on the bridge)accompanied by the other with arpeggios on the banjo. The thing was very skilfullyplayed, plumb in tune, and its constant repetition had a very hypnotic effect on meand apparently on the players ... the tunes look little enough when committed topaper, but the way they were played produced a very curious and not un-beautifuleffect. 82

It has long been said that Cecil Sharp had a disliking for instrumental music in the Appalachians. Yet this is not the case. He noted fiddle tunes, was amused by a fiddler's convention and hearda number of banjo players. Why, I wonder, did he say that Mrs Crawford's nephews played their

instruments 'characteristically', unless he was aware of the elements which characterisedAppalachian instrumental music? Sharp had also previously noted 'fife tunes' from a Mr N BChisholm of Wardbridge, VA, in 1916. Mr Chisholm had sung the tunes to Sharp usingmnemonic verses such as the following, which he used to remember the tune Napoleon'sRetreat:

It's grog time of day, my loveGrog time of dayWhen Boney crossed the AlpsIt's grog time of day. 83

On 1st August Sharp felt that the time had come for another move, this time back to Kentucky.

It now seems clear that this piece of country had 'advanced' too far on the downgrade towards sophistication and that we are wasting our time and money in stayinghere. 84

There may, however, have been other factors which influenced Sharp in his decision:

We tramped - mainly uphill. When we reached the cove we found it peopled byniggers ... All our troubles and spent energy for nought. 85

Maud Karpeles described the same encounter in slightly greater detail:

We arrived at a cove and got sight of log cabins that seemed just what we wanted. Called at one. A musical 'Good Morning', turned round and behold he was a negro. We had struck a negro settlement. Nothing for it but to toil back again. 86

The next day Karpeles was, 'glad to leave Sylva. Do not like town. Too many negroes.' 87

The couple returned to Asheville for another short break. There they rested, caught up with theirmail and took in a movie or two, much to Sharp's enjoyment. Within a week they were backcollecting in Kentucky.

We are having a very hard time of it. We have been outside the bounds of civilisationnow for upwards of three weeks, and the bad food, smells, dirt and generaldiscomfort is beginning to tell on both of us. So we are going on Saturday toPineville for work and where we can get comparatively decent accommodation andthere we shall recuperate for a couple of days. But I grudge every day spent in aplace where I can't collect. We are getting plenty of songs, but, of course, get manyduplicates now which make the sport rather less exciting. But I just love the peopleand the talks I have with them in their cabins, and it is a relief to get to them and toenjoy their society after the kind of people we meet in bad hotels, such as the one I

am writing in now at Manchester. This issupposed to be a thriving place where theyhave found coal and are looking for oil, andeveryone is on the make, and the speculativepositions attract the second-rate business andfinancial men from all parts of the country, whosettle here like flies on carrion gloat and buzzover it too. There is, of course, no manner ofreason why those who do useful work, developresources, and supply the wants and needs ofpeople, should become vulgar in the doing ofit, but somehow or other it happens so only toooften. The contrast between the mountaineersand these bounders is the difference betweennight and day. I wish you could see me withMrs Polly Patrick, aged 45, who smokes a pipeand, of course, sings. She has been marriedthree times but was born Patrick and still isPatrick. The first husband, Hobbs, was a goodsort in his way, she said, but killed a man andhad to go to the Penitentiary, so she took up with one Baines, who was a rotter, andwhom she sent about his business in three months. The third one, Burns, was betterbut a slacker and wouldn't work so she kicked him out and for the third time paid 2dollars to get her old name, Patrick. As it costs 2 dollars apiece to alter the names ofthe children, they remain with their father's names. You had better not tell this storyto your mother. She is a very nice and capable person with a fund of racyexpressions which delight me. Talking of England, she said she would like to gothere 'if it weren't for that big river I'd done bin' ... The heat has been awful and weget home pretty tired after a long day's tramping. On Sunday we trudged 13 miles,Monday 7, Tuesday 9, Wednesday 16 and Thursday (today) 8, all over the worst andmost uneven of roads. But we are both fairly fit, though sooner or later we shall haveto go back to the Grove Park Hotel and wash and feed up for a while. At the presentmoment I can scarcely look at food, as I suspect anything contains hog's grease orsomething diabolical. 88

One wonders just how Mrs Storrow must have reacted when she read the following letter fromSharp who, incidentally, was a vegetarian.

The hotel we stayed at in Manchester, Clay Co. Ky, for 10 days was one of the worstI have yet struck. Manchester, though the County Seat, has no made-roads norwater (except very doubtful wells - shallow at that) and no system of sanitation. Thehotel faces a vacant square with a dry creek running across it, covered with largeboulders. Residents just throw the contents of their dust bins out upon the streetwhere the hogs, which are numerous, eat of it what they can. As for the hotel it wasjust indescribable - the smells and the flies and the greasy, ill-cooked, ill-servedfood. The last day or so I practically gave up eating for I suspected anything putbefore me. Even the stewed apples had hog's grease mixed up in them, and thebread was made with lard. People in these parts will eat anything so long as it isgreasy enough. 89

It was not all bad though.

We have made friends with some really nice people ... there was a Mrs Jones whoseclothes never met in the middle by some inches and who apparently wore nounderclothing. She and her two daughters and grandaughters all sang to me andgave me some splendid songs. She always insisted on embracing Maud round theneck and kissing her on the lips every time we paid her a visit. She was a HolyRoller i.e. member of the Holiness Sect - and was 'saved' and by rights oughtn't tohave sung love-songs at all, but she did so out of sheer kindness and good naturebecause she said she saw we wanted the songs and was quite sure we should makeno bad use of them ... On one occasion when we were walking from Oneida toManchester - 14 miles - and had just come out of a cabin with some songs, a groupof children seated under a tree called out, 'We can sing you some.' So we sat downand they sang till the school bell rang whenthey all scampered off. 90

And again.

Despite the indifferent accommodation andintense heat we had a most successful hunt forsongs, getting to the first-rate singers. A MrsCarter of Beattyville, and an old lady in bedwith a bad leg, known as Haint ('Aunt') MaiCorch, two miles from St Helens, about sixmiles tramp from Beattyville. She was a jollyold party who sat up in bed smoking her claypipe and singing like a nightingale. I havetaken thirty songs off her already, and have notemptied her yet. 91

Elsewhere, Sharp described his meeting with MrsCarter in more detail:

We called on a Mrs (Francis) Carter in the morning, she was out but found her in theafternoon. Her husband sat cobbling in the corner while we sang and she sang ...she is a first rate singer ... we get no new Child from her, but a magnificent and livelyversion of Young Hunting. 92

It was at Hyden that Sharp encountered Mrs Eliza Pace.

Call on Mrs Eliza Pace an old lady of 67 who we hear has been a great offender inretailing moonshine and has been sentenced several times. But she has goodsongs. 93

Sharp was also at Hyden when he met Mrs Sinda Walker, from whom he collected a version ofSweet William and Lady Margaret.

Mrs Walker is a coloured 'lady', the first coloured person who has sung to me. Shesang exactly the same way as the typical mountain woman with perhaps more'dwelling' on her notes. She is really more white than black, but is accounted black

and, if proof were needed, she takes in laundrywhich no white woman in these parts would do. 94

It is rather hard at this late stage to establish preciselywhat Cecil Sharp thought of the negroes that heencountered in the Appalachians. Mrs Walker, who wasprobably of mixed race, becomes something of acharacter to Sharp once he has realised that she knew an'English' folksong. The negroes that he and Karpelespreviously met in the log-cabins are dismissed not somuch for their colour, but rather for not being singers. Weshall see later how Sharp was happy to collect from AuntMaria Tomes, a black singer whom he met the followingyear. Sharp's language, especially his use of the nowdegrading term 'nigger', would not have been consideredout-of-place by his contemporaries, especially bySouthern white people who used it, rightly or wrongly, as astandard factual word, with no emotional content. Weshall see later, however, that Sharp could, and indeed did,use the term 'nigger' in a derogatory manner and not

merely as a means to describe black people. Interestingly, Sharp does not mention seeingNative Americans whilst in the mountains, although there are some references in his note booksto certain singers claiming to have a degree of Indian ancestry. 95 This does not appear tohave worried Sharp, nor dented his ideas about the mountaineers being a transplantedElizabethan peasantry.

At times Sharp found that:

The songs are not so plentiful as in N.Carolina or Virginia but there are many to befound, and as they are disappearing very fast owing to the opening up of the coal andoil fields, it is more or less a case of now or never. 96

Or:

The people we have visited are the sternest, most inarticulate, dourest people I haveever struck. They live in direst poverty and grimies [sic] of dirt but are full of dignity -almost majestic in their bearing. But they are sternly religious of the unrelenting,unyielding type, and sing little else than sacred tunes - some of which are fineenough in their way ... as I want love-songs not hymns, we move on tomorrow toHazard, Perry County, Kentucky. 97

Hazard, however, was not to Sharp's liking. It was, 'a noisome little place, new, crude, dirty,unkempt, unsanitary, a mess of people diligently dollar-hunting with no other ideas in theirheads', 98 and so Sharp and Karpeles moved into the mountains to visit two schools, PineMountain and Hindman.

Evelyn Wells, who was herself later to become known as a collector and scholar of note, wasworking at Pine Mountain when Sharp visited there. She sent the following reminiscence toMaud Karpeles following Sharp's death:

I remember what a hot day it was when Mr Sharp and Miss Karpeles came walking inacross Pine Mountain. Most visitors from the outside world were heralded by theguide, who came ahead to open gates for their mule passengers; not so these two,who were quietly at our doorstep before we knew it. We stopped them long enoughto give them directions about the different houses where they were to be put up onthe school grounds, and Mr Sharp said quickly, 'I hope they are not far apart,because Maud has to give me my tea.' Tea as it happened was something we hadready for them, but when we invited them into the office, they hesitated, and then MrSharp with his inimitable courteousness said, 'Is it permissible to bring one's owntea?' (I think at this point I should add that some years later when I went to tea withMr Sharp in London, he felt I should have an ice cube with it, in what he felt to be theAmerican fashion.)

There are many lights on that visit of five days. There was the warm, rainy nightwhen in front of the fireplace at the Far House we listened to his talk of Appalachiandiscoveries, and watched with a bit of amusement how he lost the thread of his talkas he became conscious of a rhythmic patting and stamping on the porch andsuddenly stopped, and with a look at Miss Karpeles stepped outside, followed byher. His own description of that first Running Set is in his book, but I rememberwatching those two closely, for we had tried hard to interest him by our accounts, andhe had shown little response. Out came a notebook, in which he jotted without takinghis eyes from the dancers; there were whispered remarks between him and MissKarpeles, and in the first pause in the dancing, questions asked of the caller, or topman. From then on, of course, he was hot on the trail and we gave him every scentwe could. I think he changed his plans so he could go to Hyden and see some well-known set-runners. Of course he got all he could from Pine Mountain, but the set-running there was not good, although he talked with some good leaders.

There was the hour after supper in our big dining room, where after the day of farmwork and canning and other vacation occupations, we settled back in our chairs whilethose two sang to us - The Knight and the Child in the Road, All Alone in theLudeney, Edward, The Gypsy Laddie, many nursery songs. I can remember thetwilight creeping in on us, the youngest children falling to sleep dropping on theircrossed arms at the table, as if they were being sung to by their own firesides, thevoices of the singers getting more and more impersonal in the dusk as song aftersong was finished.

There were the two noon hours when eight workers from the staff learned Rufty Tufty,The Black Nag, Gathering Peascods, on the porch of Laurel House, to Mr Sharp'steaching and Miss Karpeles' singing of the tune. I always think of that when I watch aPine Mountain May Day now, with its four or five sword teams, its varied countrydances, its early morning morris. In those two lessons he made unforgettable for me,at least, the essential points of the country dance, and filled it with a charm andfascination that I have never found it lacking in since. All the work of the day stoppedduring those lessons - children stopped weeding the vegetable garden, girls stoppedwashing the clothes, even the workmen stopped building the school-house. And thiswas in the days when we worked incessantly to put roofs over our heads and to canfood against the winter, and every minute counted.

I remember the first morning, when Mr Sharp came to our six o'clock breakfast late,having lost his way to the dining room in the thick mountain mist that filled the valley -suffering terribly from an attack of asthma, which to my inexperienced eyes seemedhighly alarming - and then going off down the valley within the next hour, walkingmiles to get songs from Singing Willie Nolan. I remember tea under the apple-trees,where again we let the Pine Mountain world stop while he talked about his mountainexperiences, and of collecting in England, and the dancing there. I remember tryingto interest him in the growth of Harlan town, our county seat, which was passingthrough a terribly crude stage, and his scathing 'Sodom and Gomorrah' which finishedmy efforts. 99

It was to be the Running Set which excited Sharp the most at Pine Mountain.

I came across a most wonderful dance the other day called The Running Set. It is aform of circular country dance of a type about which I know nothing. There iscertainly nothing of the kind in England at the present day and there is nothing that Iknow of in any of the old dance books. It is a very strenuous dance for six couplesand extremely complicated. In many ways the general affect was not unlike that ofthe Sword-Dance ... When I have mastered it and analysed it, it will probably throw aflood of light on the evolution of the English Country Dance.' 100

Sharp then moved to Hindman School.

We had a splendid time at Hindman. I liked the people there and think the school isalmost, if not quite as efficient in every way as Pine Mountain ... We got a lot ofsongs in the neighbourhood of Hindman - one day I took down no less that 38, arecord for me, I think. I saw a Running Set again there but it was not nearly so welldone as at Pine Mountain so I am going back there to note it carefully. How are wegoing to get from here to Hyden and then on to Pine Mountain - 50 or 60 milesacross country and no railroad - I really don't know. Travelling here is an arduousaffair. It took us nearly 11 hours to get from Hindman here in the Mail-Hack - just 20miles. There aren't any real roads at all, merely dirt tracks strewn with boulders andplentifully besprinkled with large cavities. 101

It was to be two weeks before Sharp was happy that he had accurately noted the Running Set.

This is a great relief to me to know that the dance is at last on paper. This dance isas valuable a piece of work as anything I have done in the mountains. 102

Sharp later described the dance thus:

It is a wonderful dance. Formation, a circle. Six couples is the best number. Thereis a formula - circle movements, swinging partner and contrary partner etc. - all doneat a great pace and full of style. This formula begins the dance (it takes 16 bars) andends each figure, while a shortened form of it comes after each progression. Afterthe formula, the leading couple does a figure - sometimes a very complicated one -with the 2d couple, then the 3d & so on with all the couples. Some of these figuresalthough done mainly by the leading and one other couple engage the activities of allthe others. That is different from anything we have. The rapidity of the dance isremarkable and the constant repetition of circular movements in the formula and

many of the figures produces an emotional effect similar to that of the Sword ratherthan the Country dance. The moment a dancer is idle he begins clapping his hands,or his thigh - if he's a man - and stamping his foot making an exciting syncopatedrhythm. 103

On 15th September Sharp had written in his diary that he had, 'taken down my 4,000th tune -and my 200th this trip. I want about 150 more here to complete my 1000 tunes in themountains.' 104 By 13th October, he had reached that figure.

Dear me. It is all very wonderful and I am glad Fate has ordained that I should take ahand in preserving such marvellous things. When I have one of those very fine onessafely written in my hands, I feel really happy. In another week or so I shall havecompleted by 1000 tunes in these mountains, and I calculate that this will be abouthalf what I must eventually get if I am to finish off the work at all properly. 105

By the end of September Sharp was feeling the effects of his ill health, coupled with the strain oftravelling and staying in such remote parts.

However, it is the only thing I seem able to do now and even that I shan't be able todo much longer as my health won't stand it. I have found it a great strain this yearand doubt very much whether I can do it next year. 106

On 14th October, his last day in the mountains in 1917, Sharp wrote:

I cannot shake off the feeling of intense fatigue. Here ends my last collecting trip forthe year in the mountains. I have taken down 600 tunes and the Running Set,perhaps the most prolific year collecting in quantity as well as quality that I have everdone. May it not prove to be my swan-song. 107

Sharp and Karpeles returned to the cool of the northern American cities. In New York theydiscovered that the Carnegie Institute had again refused them a grant. During a rest fromlecturing and teaching, Maud Karpeles found time to write to Mrs Storrow:

Both times we have been into the mountains it had been after a spell of hard workwhen Mr Sharp has been feeling tired to start with. Then we never ought to haveattempted to work in August when the heat in the south was intense. Of course, Irealised this all the time and also the fact that Mr Sharp was on the verge of a break-down the whole time and that it was only his 'stubborn vitality' that kept him going ... Really, the whole thing amounts to this - that he cannot do the collecting work andhave the worry of earning a living at the same time. And, of course, there is noquestion but that he must go on with the collecting. That is the most important workfor him to do, even though it meant that in doing it he would shorten his life by a fewyears. 108

1918

Cecil Sharp had spent the winter and early spring travelling between such northern cities asChicago, New York and Boston. In April, still without a grant, but with an income from MrsStorrow who had come to the rescue yet again by organising a collecting-fund on Sharp's behalf,he and Maud Karpeles travelled south to Washington and the gentle hill country of Shenandoah,

Rockingham and Nelson counties in Virginia.

On Tuesday we left for Woodstock, Va., a small place in the Shenandoah Valley. Wethought the valley might yield some songs but a day's prospecting proved that thepopulation is mainly German, many of them very luke warm about the war, and ofcourse quite useless in the way of songs. 109

Shortly afterwards, in the community of Nash, the pair were taken for German spies.

We were taken by the neighbourhood generally for German spies - quite seriously -and the whole question was discussed at a Prayer Meeting on the Wednesday night- would that I could have heard it. In the first place we eat no meat and that in itselfto a hog-eating community was highly suspicious. Then our enthusiasm for oldsongs could be no more that a blind to hide nefarious designs. We had, too, casuallyasked one of the women we visited where her spring was - evidently with theintention of secretly poisoning it. Finally they reported there were 4 of us. I haven'theard what the number has since risen to. The Coffey's were very nice and nevermentioned the subject until we did and they were being pestered night and day bytheir neighbours for harbouring us. Their suspicions did not prevent the people fromreceiving us in the usual friendly way, nor from singing to us, so it really didn't matterand in order that our kind host and hostess should not suffer on our account Ishowed the Postmaster my passport before I left. He told me he had not shared thegeneral suspicions because he had once, many years ago, seen a German and hecould tell we were not Germans whatever else we might be. 110

At first songs were slow in coming. Soon though, they began to appear as before. 'I got a lot ofvery good stuff at Buena Vista including quite a unique version of The Two Crows for which Ihave searched ever since I have been in the mountains - hitherto in vain.' 111

Despite Mrs Storrow's help, Sharp was still uneasy.

I have been troubled with ways and means for as long as I can remember and yetsomehow or other things have always come out fairly well and I have managed tokeep myself at the work which I am best fitted to do ... My anxiety is of course forCon and the children rather than for myself ... I feel very sore over the Carnegiepeople the more so as I see from their report that they are spending thousands upona Concordance of Keats - a mere routine bit of work which students could do quitewell almost unaided. 112

Sharp found himself being attracted to the Virginian singers. Mrs Lizzie Gibson of Crozet was, 'afine woman (and) regular type of mountaineer who sang very well. (I) got several good songsfrom her including fine versions of Pretty Saro and Earl Brand.' 113 The next day Sharp andKarpeles were entertained at a dance in Afton. 'Mr F(itzgerald) fiddling, Maud and I and MrsCorbett dancing while Mr Truslow led and 'called'. I noted the dance which was a rather tameand somewhat sophisticated version of the Kentucky Running Set. Quite interesting with somenice technical points.' 114 Sharp's diary records the following entries, which are typical of theperiod:

I trudged off by myself - Maud was seedy - in the rain to Jim Chisholm. Found him athome as he promised and he and his wife sang me some rather nice songs including

The Lark in the Morn, which I had not hitherto got here before. Two very interestingtunes to Cruel Mother and Sweet William and a fine tune to The Soldier Boy - not abad lot considering the fact that he is an instrumentalist rather than a singer. Heplays the organ, fiddle and guitar, whilst his daughter plays the last. 115

And:

We go out on the hunt and call at the Small's ... where we get a splendid bunchincluding one or two well above average. 116

At White Rock they met the Coffey family.

I walked in steaming hot weather to Mrs Fannie Coffey. Found her, her father oldAlex Coffey and her mother sitting out some distance away from her home. she andher father sang me several nice songs. Then her father went to the mill while Iwaited behind for some time, calling at the mill on the way back and got him to singseveral others. He is a fine singer. I got back hot at 1p.m. Had lunch and then tookphotographs of the family. 117

Another singer, Philander Fitzgerald, was known to AlexCoffey:

Mr Philander is 75 years old and lives alone with hiswife who is blind. The two are heads of a largefamily numbering 120 in all, including 10 great-grandchildren and 65 grand-children. Mr PhilanderFitzgerald is an old confederate soldier ... When Irelated to Mr Alex Coffey ... what Mr Fitzgerald hadtold me about his 120 progeny, he answered, 'I daresay that is quite true - and not one of them is of anyaccount.' 118

Within a month Sharp had collected his 100th tune of theyear.

Everyone knows of the songs about here althoughthey sing a good many of the modern ones - morethan they did in NC but no more than they do inKentucky. 119

After tea on 22nd May, they called to see Aunt Maria Tomes who sang them a verse of theballad Barbara Allen.

Aunt Maria is an old coloured woman, aged 85, who was a slave belonging to MrsColeman who freed her after the war and gave her the log cabin in which she nowlives, which used to be the overseer's home. I found her sitting in front of the cabinsmoking a pipe. We sang (to) her ... which delighted her beyond anything and madeher dub me 'A soldier of Christ'. She sang very beautifully in a wonderfully musicalway and with clear and perfect intonation. 120

When they returned to the Smalls the following day they found an equally warm reception.

After supper went with Dol Small, a most delightful family, Dol and his wife and twelvechildren, all smiling. They sang to us and then adjourned to the next house wherethere was a new and quite good piano upon which I operated greatly to the delight ofthe family who smiled more than ever. They are really a delightful and happy lot andit was a great pleasure to be able to return them something. 121

I visited Nellysford, Dol Small's hometown, in 1980 in company with an elderly local fiddleplayer. When I mentioned Dol's name, my companion was perplexed as to how I should knowof Mr Small, who was,'Just an ordinary sort of guy. '

Other singers, such as Mrs Laurel Wheeler of Buena Vista, also had large families.

While Mrs Wheeler sang The Green Bed her children - of whom there are 13 (6 ofher own. 7 of her husband's) - sang the air in unison softly with serious grave littlefaces. It had a wonderful effect which I shall not readily forget. 122

A few days later, Sharp decided to try his luck song-hunting over the state line in West Virginia.

On Monday we decided to make a shot at West Virginia so journeyed to Roncevertewhere we stayed two nights in the dirtiest and most unwholesome hotel I have evervisited for a long while. It is a horrid little railroad town with just nothing torecommend it except that the country would be beautiful were it not for Ronceverteand the railroad. It was very hot and we found it hard to tramp around, all the moreso because we found no songs and scarcely a trace of them. On Wednesday wewent on to Pence Springs where we were first visitors at a brand new hotel,beautifully situated and quite comfortable. There was one drawback however, themineral water in which we bathed and which alone we had to drink and that smeltand tasted like rotten eggs. It was heavily charged with sulphur and we were told thatif we stayed long enough we should get to like it. But we didn't feel like giving it thistest and as we found no songs whatever in the neighbourhood we left it on Friday. 123

Sharp's diary is even more damning.

In the morning go a long tramp and get absolutely nothing - cannot even makepeople understand what we want ... we decide to move back to Virginia ... MrsPaxton (the hotel landlady) says she is not supprised at our failure because thepeople about here are all new, taking the places vacated by the old originals whohave gone west after the coal. 124

Sharp returned to Virginia on 31st May, and remained to the north of Roanoke throughout mostof June adding over 100 songs to his collection in Bedford County alone.

I like Virginia very much and there is no doubt there are a lot of songs to be got here. I wish I could follow the Blue Ridge right away down to N.Carolina as I am sure itwould well repay me. 125

Sharp's diary suggests that he and Maud Karpeles were well received by their musical hosts:

In the evening walked round to Bob Bradley's,got some more songs from him and sangseveral ourselves. His son played the banjoand a man did a very spirited hoe-down. 126

Or:

Then find old Jacob and Mrs Sowder at homeand stay there a long while. They are verydelightful people and he (who is 70) evidentlyknows a lot of songs if we can only extractthem. At 5p.m. we return ... and the old maneventually sings me quite a lot of interestingmodal tunes which delight me greatly. I likehim and his wife greatly. 127

There was, however, the underlying feeling that timewas running out.

Last week was one of the best weeks I haveever had. I took down 62 tunes includingsome very fine ones indeed. The Virginiantunes are the best I have yet got, though the words are poor and we do not get manyballads. The folk songs are dying out here slowly but surely just as in England. Everyone has known them, it is just a matter of recalling them. And we get most ofthem from oldish people. 128

Sharp returned to New York on 19th June, and remained there teaching until 24th July when heagain moved back to Roanoke.

August was spent to the south of Roanoke, chiefly in Franklin and Patrick Counties, Sharp andKarpeles taking a train to Ferrum before being driven to a fine crop of local singers andmusicians. Prior to this they had spent a few days searching around Roanoke itself, althoughconditions were not ideal.

Last Wednesday we walked down the mountains to Roba where we got a farmer'swife to take us in, in order that we might get on to Taylor's Mountain where we hadheard there were plenty of singers. And we found there were lots of old-time singersthere but alas. A presbyterian mission had got in there about 8 years ago and hastold the people that it is un-christian to sing secular songs. This seems to me acurious brand of Christianity but we could make no head-way against it but receivednothing but stern refusals. So there was nothing for it but to move on which we didthe next day to Montvale, leaving the Missionaries together with their sanctimoniousconverts to stew together in their own particular brand of Christian juice. 129

Two weeks later we find Sharp still suffering from missionaries.

Their whole life seems set upon nosing out what is objectionable in anybody exceptthemselves of course - and ignoring the good. 130

Such feelings were, however, tempered with better memories.

After supper sit on the veranda while Charles Canady, a son about 18 years old,plays some dance tunes on the fiddle. He plays well and I note 3 or 4 of them. 131

Writing to Mrs Storrow, Sharp expressed the ambivalence of feeling which was beginning toovertake him.

For the last month we have struck a rather unproductive patch but in this work it isnecessary to explore all the ground and every now and again we must expect tomeet with failure. It was rather disappointing in this case because we had expectedthe last two counties in Virginia, Franklin and Patrick, to be especially productive asthe railways are very few and the mountain districts more than ordinarily isolated. One place in Franklin we had built many hopes upon Shooting Creek a place with athoroughly bad reputation for illicit stills, shooting etc. but when we got there (it was25 miles from a station) there was a Missionary Revival going on and in the eveningthe residents crowded to the 'preaching' dressed in fashionable garments, low-necked dresses, high heels, well powdered faces, some of them in their motor cars. The fact is the price of whiskey has so gone up that Moonshining has beenexceedingly profitable and they are all rolling in money. Songs of course were out ofthe question and we retired next day somewhat crestfallen. But the creek itself wasone of the very finest pieces of scenery we have hit in the mountains, so we hadcompensation. Then again we had set our expectation on the Meadows of Dan,partly because of its delightful name, but mainly because of its extreme isolation andaltitude. And it was certainly one of the most arduous and dangerous journeys wehave ever undertaken. We motored to the County Seat, Stuart, and then, after manyrefusals, prevailed on a driver to take us up to the Meadows in his motor, a matter of17 miles. The road which is ordinarily a very steep, narrow and dangerous one wasfar worse than usual on account of some recent thunder storms which had washed itclean, right down to the native rock. Some places the inclination of the car was sogreat in turning a corner with a sheer fall of 5 or 6 hundred feet over the side, that thedriver himself suggested we should get out while he negotiated it - which we did withalacrity. How a car could have been driven up at all I can't imagine. I am surenothing but a Ford could have done it. And then when we got to the top of the Ridgewe found a large plateau of rolling meadows and fertile land occupied by a thoroughlyrespectable, church-going, school-attending population, making money at a greatrate owing to the advance in food prices and many of them housed in comfortableframe dwelling and sporting their own motor cars. 132

Sharp and Karpeles stayed at Meadows of Dan with members of the Spangler family, one ofwhom, John Watts 'Babe' Spangler, was a fine and influential local fiddler, although Sharp didnot note any tunes from him. 133 Sharp noted a number of songs from Dad Blackard, the local'banjer-man', whose family later recorded two 78rpm records in 1927. 134 When I met DadBlackard's daughter, Clarice Shelor, in 1980 she told me how Sharp and Maud Karpeles -'hisdaughter'- had arrived at her father's house during a rainstorm. They were both soaked throughto the skin and so the family took the wet clothes off their guests and wrapped them in blanketswhile their clothes dried by the fire. Clarice remembered her amazement at Sharp's ability toharmonise her father's tunes on the family piano almost as soon as he had noted them in histune book. she also remembers the fact that Sharp had a very prominent nose. 'I'll neverforget. I was a little girl then. I had a big nose and I'd always thought that with my big nose I'dnever be famous, or anything, when I grew up. And do you know ... Mr Sharp he had such a big

nose. And him being famous. It just made me feel marvellous.' 135

On 30th August Sharp left Virginia for the last time, travelling south to the Piedmont town ofWinston Salem in Forsyth County, NC, a place which he disliked intensely.

We smelt Winston Salem about 8 miles away - tobacco and molasses ... I had anattack of asthma on getting off the train ... It is clear we shall not have much of a resthere. Winston Salem is a dull, ugly sort of a place with a square in the middle ofwhich stands the Town Hall, quite the ugliest building I have ever seen. The place isstuffed full with negroes - I presume they work in the factories whether they areattracted to the tobacco industry by their similarity in colour or not I do not know! ...this is a noisy place and the air impregnated with tobacco, molasses and nigger! 136

Sharp's outburst is, I think, uncharacteristic, and must have been partly triggered by hisincreasing ill-health. Nevertheless, it is indefensible.

The purpose of the visit to Winston Salem was to note songs from a sister of a Mrs Weaver ofWoolwine, Va., who had previously given them some good songs. Also present in their hotelwas a Mr Hay who gave them some street cries that he had heard sung by a black woman inCharleston, SC, many years before.

Within three days Sharp and Karpeles had fled back to the mountains of McDowell County, buthis strength was beginning to fail again and although it is unclear in this passage, I feel thatSharp is referring to the white population, rather than the black:

Can't imagine what has made me ill except that I have swallowed enough filth andgrease in the last six weeks to have upset 500 stomachs. They are really little betterthan Barbarians in this part of the world. The fact is they are hopeless slackers -possibly a legacy from the old slave days. 137

But, as on previous trips, his dogged determination kepthim going. In Burnsville, a small settlement in YancyCounty, they found a Mrs Bennett who:

Is one of the best singers I have struck this tour andshe gave me several of the best. This is a great findand a good omen for our success in this part of theworld. 138

and Mr Jasper Robertson:

He is about 65 years of age, is a preacher, andmakes his living by riding through the mountains onhorseback and peddling a patent nerve-medicine'compounded of 17 herbs'. He sings no love songsbut incidentally has a large stock of thesemoralising, didactic religious songs, which musthave been prevalent sometime in the 18th and 19thcenturies I imagine. 139

Sharp collected four songs from Jasper Robertson, When

Adam was First Created, The Crucifixion, The Mouldering Vine and a song pertaining to theAmerican civil war, Hick's Farewell. He also collected another version of When Adam was FirstCreated from John Allen who lived in Bolden's Creek, near Burnsville.

Mr Allen is a tall Scotchman with a beautiful tenor voice for his age, and hasconsiderable music talent. He has had 19 children, 9 by his first wife and 10 by hispresent one. He is a brother of Mrs Coates of Flag Pond (Tennessee) who gave metwo years ago The Knight on the Road. He was very interested in the work that Iwas doing, saying many times, 'Good singing is a great power.' 140

Later, they were on the trail of another noteworthy singerwho led them a merry dance.

Determined to try and run Mrs Julie Boone to earth. So we walked to Plum Branch only to find she hadgone to Micaville. We went there to find she hadgone a mile or two up another creek. We found her. Followed her, brought her back to Micaville and gother to sing. she repaid us for the trouble we hadspent by singing some really good songs. 141

Mrs Boone was 49 years old. In all, she gave Sharpversions of twenty-nine songs, including eight Childballads, as well as two negro spirituals, Pharoah's Armyand Jacob's Ladder.

She is rarely at home, wandering around the countrybare-footed and staying wherever she happens to bewhen it is dark. Her neighbours and kinfolk like herand she is always welcome in their homes ... [She]evidently had a great deal to do with negroessometime in her life. she sings many of theirspirituals. 142

One of Julie Boone's 'kinfolk' was Mrs Sina Boone ofShoal Creek, Burnsville, another singer with a large repertoire.

Directly after breakfast we tramped off to try and find Mrs Sina Boone of Shoal Creek... The creek branches offhand Mrs Sina lives at the head about 2 miles up thecreek. We found her at home and ready to sing, much to her delight and that of herhusband. 143

Conditions in this part of the mountains were clearly hard and at times Sharp was troubled bythe state of some singers:

We had only time to stay half an hour but found (Mrs Dellie Hughes) a good singerand great character. She and her husband live in a tiny cabin and were clothed inrags, presenting a sorry sight. 144

There was, nevertheless, something wonderful about Sharp's ability to be accepted by all typesof people. One Burnsville family, the Mitchell's, provided Sharp with a further twenty-five songs

and ballads.

The Mitchells are a wonderful clan, living in a small narrow creek about a mile fromthe hotel. They are considered a very low-down lot by the richer people here whowonder why we like them and go there so often. 145

By 24th September, Sharp was able to write:

I am getting some splendid songs here, many of them well above the average but ofcourse I do not now hear anything absolutely new. The number of duplicates isincreasing very much so that I feel that with this year's work I shall have completedthe major part of the work and if, as seems probable, I shall be unable to attack itagain next year I shall not break my heart over the disappointment. I shall havetaken down by the time this trip is done about 1600 tunes and they I believe willrepresent pretty accurately the songs that are sung in the Appalachians. There areno doubt still some good variants to be discovered but the labour in getting themwould scarcely be worthwhile. 146

As well as finding that it was hard to collect new songs, Sharp was also finding that some of thesingers were of a newer, more 'modern' breed. Take Mrs W L Godfrey of Marion, NC forexample.

After lunch we went out again in search of Mrs Godfrey. Had a bad attack of asthmaand had great difficulty in keeping going while we kept doubling on our tracks vainlysearching for her ... She is a youngish woman ... plays the violin, guitar, auto-harp,piano etc. and is therefore a bit modem for us ... She has had her taste spoiled bymodern music and admits that she couldn't 'carry a minor tune'. I played her pianomuch to her delight and to that of her children. 147

Even so, Sharp was able to note six songs from Mrs Godfrey, Barbara Allen, The Carrion Crow,Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor, The Lonesome Grove, The Wife of Usher's Well and The Lover'sLament.

Two weeks later the weather turned cold and rain became persistent.

I suppose I am more or less at the end of mytether just now. 148

On 9th October, Sharp noted his last mountainsongs from Mrs Dellie Hughes.

She sang me several jigs, all very interestingas types, but not of great value aesthetically. Itwas amusing to see her patting, dancing andsinging all at once ... This is probably my lastcollecting expedition this year and I suspectmy last in the mountains and probably, inAmerica. In the three seasons 400, 600 and625 i.e. 1625 tunes in all. A wonderfulexperience taking it all together. 149

Sharp and Karpeles retired to Ashville where theyagain met up with Mr and Mrs Campbell.

What I want more than anything else is quiet,no children, no Victrolas, nor strumming of rag-time and the singing of sentimental songs - allof which we have suffered from incessantlyduring the last 12 weeks. I am sorry to have said goodbye to the mountain peoplebut I suspect that I might have seen the last of them. There is enough work left,which might be well worth doing, that would take perhaps another year's work but Iam satisfied with what I have done and the rest can be left to others. 150

Afterword:

Cecil Sharp returned to England in December, 1918. Four months later he was able to tell MrsStorrow:

I am often dreaming about America and the wonderful time I had there and theinvaluable experience I gained there. 151

Sadly, John Campbell, who had been ill throughout most of 1918, died in 1919. Olive DameCampbell, however, continued to be active as an educator in the Appalachian Mountains untilher death in 1954. 152

For Sharp, though, memories of the difficult journeys, the oppressive heat, the appalling foodand of his ill-health seem to have been put aside. There were now new possibilities.

I often yearn to be back in America for a while but I am afraid my wishes will not (be)gratified just yet. Still there is Newfoundland calling out and some day I shall gothere I hope and collect once more. 153

But this was never to be.

In 1920 Percy Grainger, the Australian born composer who had collected songs in Englandduring the years 1905 -1908 and who was then living in America, wrote to Sharp offering to pay

for the publication of Sharp's Appalachian collection.

If you would humor [sic] me in my hope to be able to help in furthering the earlypublication of these English - American folksongs collected by you I assure you Iwould consider it a great privelege [sic], so deeply do I admire what you have donefor all lovers of folksong, and so deeply are my affections engaged to both thiscountry of North America and to the folkmusic of British origins wherever found. Youcan readily see that this combination of British folksongs alive in America andrescued by you appeals warmly to my heart, and I hope, therefore, that you will notconsider my request impertinent and that you will not refuse to consider it. 154

But it was not until 1932 that Maud Karpeles produced an enlarged edition of English Folk Songsfrom the Southern Appalachians, containing two-hundred and seventy-four songs in nine-hundred and sixty-eight variants.

In September, 1950, Maud Karpeles, at the invitation of the Library of Congress in Washington,returned to the Appalachians for a period of three and a half weeks, in company with theAmerican musicologist Mrs Sidney Robertson Cowell. They managed to find thirty-one formersingers or near relatives and they recorded a total of sixty-nine songs from fifteen of thesepeople. They also recorded twenty-two items from five other singers and instrumentalists. In ashort article Karpeles commented that there were far fewer singers left and that mountain lifehad been completely revolutionised since Sharp had visited America. Electricity, good roadsand education had entered the mountains and most homes contained a radio, 'the arch-enemy,except in certain favoured circumstances, of folk song'. 155

A number of items that Maud Karpeles recorded have been preserved on record by the BBCand copies of the following are available for study in the archives of the English Folk Dance andSong Society, 2, Regents Park Road, London NW1 7AY.

BBC 17141 Sir Hugh Dol Small. Nellysford, Va. (a)

The Shooting of His Dear Mrs Puckett. Afton, Va. (b)

The Two Brothers .. .. .. ..

The Cuckoo .. .. .. ..

BBC 17142 Jack He Went a-Sailing Mrs Victoria Morris. Mt Fair, Va.

Earl Brand .. .. .. ..

The Three Ravens Mrs Oscar Allen. Lynchburg, Va. (c)

Lord Rendal .. .. .. ..

Rock-a-bye Baby .. .. .. ..

Down in the Meadows .. .. .. ..

BBC 17143 The House Carpenter .. .. .. ..

Banjo Tuning C B Wohlford. Marion, Va.

Mississippi Lawyers [sic] .. .. .. ..

Cumberland Gap .. .. .. ..

BBC 17144 Hares on the Mountains Horton Barker. Chilhowie, Va. (d)

The Brown Girl .. .. .. ..

Spoken message by singer .. .. .. ..

BBC17145 Locks and Bolts Mrs Donald Shelton. Flagpond, Tn. (e)

The Bird Song Mrs Maud Long. Hot Springs, NC. (f)

The Cruel Ship's Carpenter Mrs Charles Noel. Hot Springs, NC.

In Old Virginny .. .. .. ..

The Farmer's Curst Wife Horton Barker. Chilhowie, Va.

Sally Goodin (lilt) Mrs Donald Shelton. Flagpond, Tn.

Shortening Bread (lilt) .. .. .. ..

BBC 17146 The Gipsy Laddie .. .. .. ..

Pretty Little Girl .. .. .. ..

Cripple Creek .. .. .. ..

Young Hunting Miss Linnie Landers. Jonesboro, Tn.

Fair Margaret .. .. .. ..

A Frog he Went a-Courting Mrs Maud Long. Hot Springs, NC.

I Fed My Horse .. .. .. ..

BBC 17147 The Wife of Usher's Well Miss Linnie Landers. Jonesboro, Tn.

The Tree in the Wood Mrs Maud Long. Hot Springs, NC.

Fiddle Tune - Candy Girls Andy J Edwards. Coffee Ridge, Tn.

Fiddle Tune - Brighton Camp .. .. .. ..

BBC 23793 The Cuckoo Mrs J (Florence) Puckett. Afton, Va.

The Shooting of His Dear .. .. .. ..

Pat Do This .. .. .. ..

The Farmer's Curst Wife Mrs J L Leila Yowell, Charlottesville, Va.

The Dear Companion Mrs Ella Shelton. Alleghany, NC.

BBC 23794 Sweet William Mrs Donald Shelton. Alleghany, NC.

Talk by Mrs Donald Shelton on Sharp' s visit to the Southern Appalachians.

.. .. .. ..

Family Reminscences of the American Civil War

.. .. .. ..

BBC 23799 Turly-Urly Mrs Mathy S Dameron. Stuarts Draft, Va

Paper of Pins .. .. .. ..

I Had a Little Sweetheart .. .. .. ..

Talk about learning songs .. .. .. ..

Fair Margaret and Sweet William (pt 1) Mrs Donald Shelton. Alleghany, NC.

BBC 23800Fair Margaret and Sweet William (pt.2)

.. .. .. ..

True Lover's Farewell .. .. .. ..

Locks and Bolts .. .. .. ..

BBC 23801 Cumberland Gap - banjo 'The Sugerloaf Sheltons'. Alleghany, NC.

Little Maggie - banjo .. .. .. ..

Pike County Breakdown - band

.. .. .. ..

Fire in the Mountains - band .. .. .. ..

Lost Indian - band .. .. .. ..

Boneyparte's Retreat - band .. .. .. ..

BBC 23802 The Two Crows Mrs Oscar Allen. Lynchburg, Va.

Pretty Fair Field (The Tree in the Wood)

Mrs Martha Wiseman. Aldridge, Three Mile, Avery County, NC.

(a) Another recording made by Mr Small on the same occasion may be heard on the Library ofCongress album Child Ballads Traditional in the United States, AFS-L58, (singing: There Was anOld and Wealthy Man).

(b) Mrs Puckett was the daughter of Florence Fitzgerald.

(c) Mrs Oscar Allen was the former Ada Maddox of Buena Vista, Va.

(d) Horton Barker was recorded by the Library of Congress prior to the Karpeles/RobertsonCowell recordings were made. He was also the subject of a later solo Folkways album, FA2362.

(e) Mrs Donald Shelton was the former Emma Hensley.

(f) Maud Long, the daughter of Jane Gentry, may also be heard on four Library of Congressalbums:

AFS-L14 Anglo-American Songs and Ballads (singing: The Cherry Tree Carol, Fiddle-I-Fee)AFS L-21 Anglo-American Songs and Ballads (singing: The Broken Token, The FalseKnight Upon the Road, Jackie's Gone A-Sailing, Sweet William, My Grandmother Green)AFS-L47 Jack Tales (telling: Jack and the Drill, Jack and the Sop Doll, Jack and the Bull)

AFS-L48 Jack Tales (telling: Jack and the Giant's New Ground, Jack and the Varmints).

There are, sadly, no known recordings of Cecil Sharp himself, although I have previouslysuggested that the faintly heard piano on a cylinder recording of the song The Trees They Growso High, now in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library at Cecil Sharp House, may be by Sharp.

156 There is, however, a persistent rumour that an American lecture by Cecil Sharp wasrecorded, and that a copy now exits somewhere in the depths of the Smithsonian Institution inWashington DC. Enquiries have, so far, failed to confirm this.

Mike Yates - 15.1.99

Article MT047

Notes:

1. Quoted in Cecil Sharp, A H Fox Strangways. London, OUP. 1933. p. 142.2. Sharp correspondence, letter to George Parmly Day, President of the Yale University

Press, 15.8.17. All correspondence mentioned in this paper, as well as newspapercuttings, diaries and field note books, are to be found in the Vaughan Williams MemorialLibrary of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, 2, Regent's Park Road, London, NW17AY, England. I am indebted to Malcolm Taylor, the Society's librarian, and his staff for alltheir help in preparing this paper.

3. Boston Herald, 23.2.154. Pittsburgh Gazette Times, 5.3.15. It will be seen that Sharp was dependent upon lecture

fees to help support his family back in England. We do not know precisely how his lecturetours were arranged. However, it may be surmised that American friends and admirersplayed a prominent part in this. An invitation card, preserved in the Vaughan WilliamsMemorial Library, reads as follows: ' Your company is requested on the evening ofSaturday, October the Twenty-Eighth Nineteen Hundred and Sixteen, at Eìght ThirtyO'Clock when, through the courtesy of Mr and Mrs Arthur Whiting, Mr Cecil J. Sharp willgive at their studio, 141, East Fortieth Street, an account of the Folk Ballads and Songswhich Mrs John C Campbell and he have recently collected in the AppalachianMountains.' Replies were to be sent to New York' s Algonquin Hotel, where Sharp andKarpeles were then staying.

5. Chicago Tribune, 18.4.156. Campbell, Olive Dame. The Life and Work of John Charles Campbell, September 15,

1868 - May 2, 1919, Madison, Wisconsin College Printing, 1968. p. 140. William BernardMcCarthy has recently queried the date Dec 16th, 1907. McCarthy believes that MrsCampbell probably heard Ada Smith sing on Dec 16th, 1908. See 'Olive Dame Campbelland Appalachian Traditions' in Cheesman & Rieuwerts (Eds) Ballads into Books - TheLegacy of Francis James Child. Peter Lang, Bern. 1997. pp 69 - 80.

7. Smith, Betty N. Jane Gentry - A Singer Among Singers. Lexington, University Press ofKentucky. 1998. p.66.

8. Sharp correspondence, letter to Richard Aldrich, 22.6.15.9. Sharp correspondence letter to Richard Aldrich, 26.6.15.

10. Fox Strangways, ibid p. 130.11. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Campbell, 24.6.15.

12. Ibid13. Sharp correspondence, letter to Richard Aldrich, 26.6.15.14. Ibid15. Sharp correspondence, Richard Aldrich, 28.7.15.16. Sharp correspondence, Miss Campbell, 4.9.15.17. Ibid18. Sharp correspondence, letter to Richard Aldrich, 1 5.8.1 5.19. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Campbell, 15.8.15 .20. Sharp correspondence, Mrs Campbell, 4.9.15.21. Ibid22. Sharp called Our Southern Highlanders by Horace Kephart, (New York, 1916) 'a very

fascinating book'. For a discussion on 'local colour' writers see Appalachia on Our Mind:The Southern Mountaineers in the American Consciousness by Henry D Shapiro, ChapelHill, University of North Carolina Press, 1978. Shapiro, incidentally, makes a number ofclaims against Sharp. These have subsequently been refuted by writers such as David EWhisnant and Archie Green. According to Shapiro, Sharp was both 'culturally andpolitically naive' and 'a self- aggrandizing promoter of myths of Merrie Olde England'. Shapiro also seems to believe that Sharp was in the Appalachians to make money. I hopethat this article will show this to be quite untrue. See David E Whisnant All That is Nativeand Fine, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1983. pp. 126 & 293-94, andArchie Green 'A Folklorist's Creed and a Folksinger's Gift' in Appalachia Journal, 7 (autumn- winter, 1979 - 80) pp. 37 - 50.

23. Sharp correspondence, letter from Mrs Campbell, 4.9.15.24. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Campbell, 27.9.1 5.25. Ibid26. St Louis Republic, 28.3.16.27. St Louis Star, 1.4.16.28. St Louis Times, 30.5.16.29. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mr Glenn, 6.8.16.30. Sharp diary, 29.7.16.31. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 6.12.16.32. Sharp diary, 4.8.16.33. Note in Sharp's MSS tune book, 4.8.16. The fiddle player Byard Ray learnt tunes from

Mitchel Wallin. Some of these may be heard on the album Traditional Music of SouthernAppalachia (S.G.S. 104010, issued 1981).

34. Sharp diary, 10.8.16.35. According to the North Carolina singer/collector Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Cumberland

Gap is a speeded up version of the tune usually associated with the ballad Bonny GeorgeCampbell (Child 210). (See Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Smithsonian/Folkways SF CD40082 - track 7.) It is surprising that Lunsford, who was born at Mars Hill, Madison County,NC, in 1882, never met Cecil Sharp. According to his biographer, Loyal Jones, he wasliving in Asheville in 1916 and met Maud Karpeles in Washington - presumably in 1918. (See Minstrel of the Appalachians, by Loyal Jones. Appalachian Consortium Press, Boone,NC. 1984. pp. 21-23).

36. Note in Sharp's MSS tune book 10.8.16. According to the fiddle player Bruce Greene,such tunings, or 'wildcat keys' as they were known in Kentucky, 'were particularly well-suited to unaccompanied fiddling because they allowed open strings to soundsympathetically or to be played as drones along with the melody.' (Booklet notes to John

Morgan Salyer. Home Recordings 1941-1942 - Appalachian Center cassette AC003). Onthis cassette Salyer plays a number of tunes in the following 'cross-tunings', AEDM, AEAC,DDAD & GDAD. Other examples of scordatura as used by Kentucky fiddle players will befound on the following albums: Kitty Puss - Old Time Fiddle Music from Kentucky (RounderCD 0032), Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky, Volumes 1 & 2 (Rounder CDs 0376 &0377) and The Music of Kentucky, Volumes 1 & 2 (Yazoo CDs 2013 & 2014).

37. Dunham, Frances. Genealogy of Madison County Sheltons, unpublished manuscript,quoted in Smith, footnote 7 above, p. 74.

38. See, for example, The Traditional Music of Beech Mountain, Folk-Legacy Records FSA-22and FSA-23, or Beech Mountain Folk-Songs and Ballads, by Maurice Matteson & MellingerEdward Henry, New York, 1938, or Chapters 4 & 5 of Anne Warner's Traditional AmericanFolk Songs, New York 1984. Other dependants of Council Harmon settled in the areaaround Cade's Cove, Tennessee. Songs collected from this branch of the Harmon/Hicksfamily are printed in Mellinger Henry's Folk Songs from the Southern Highlands, J JAugustin, New York, 1938. 1939 recordings of Samuel Harmon of Cade's Cove, Tn., maybe heard on Library of Congress albums Versions and Variants of Barbara Allen AFS-L54(Barbara Allen) and Child Ballads Traditional in the United States AFS-LS7 (Wild Boar). Other Libraly of Congress recordings of Samuel Harmon's son, Austin Harmon, also madein 1939, can be heard on Railroad Songs and Ballads, AFS-L61 (George Allen) and TheLibrary of Congess Banjo Album, Rounder Records 0237 (issued l988), (Old Dan Tucker,Bonny Blue Eyes, John Hardy).

39. Sharp diary, 5.9.16.40. Sharp diary, 29.8.16. It may be that Sharp misheard the singer's name, and that he

collected Mathy Groves from Lloyd Chandler, a singer who can be heard on the albumHigh Atmosphere - Rounder CD 0028, issued 1995.

41. It may be of interest to note that out of the 70 songs collected from Mrs Gentry,approximately 70% were of British origin; including 21 'Child' ballads.

42. Sharp diary, 7.9.16. Reginald Tiddy, George Butterworth, George Lucas and GeorgeJerrard Wilkinson were members of Sharp's demonstration morris-dance team. Inaddition, Tiddy was the author of The Mummers Play - published posthumously in 1923. Ralph Vaughan Williams survived the Great War to become one of England's finestcomposers.

43. Sharp diary, 10.9.16.44. Sharp diary, 11.9.16.45. Sharp diary, 6.9.16.46. Sharp diary, 15.9.16.47. Sharp diary, 19.9.16.48. Sharp diary, 16.9.16.49. Sharp diary 4.10.1850. Cecil Sharp, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachia, London, OUP. 1932

(reprinted 1960), p. xxvi.51. Sharp diary, 20.9.16.52. Sharp diary, 22.9.16.53. Sharp diary, 27.9.16.54. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 30.10.16.55. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 9.10.16.56. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 3.12.16.57. Ibid

58. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 27.12.16.59. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Campbell, 24.1 .17.60. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 7.4.17.61. Sharp correspondence, letter to Miss Scoville, 8.4.17.62. Karpeles diary, 14.4.17.63. Sharp diary, 14.4.17.64. Ibid65. Sharp diary, 15.4.17.66. Sharp diary, 26.4.17.67. Sharp diary, 27.4.17.68. Sharp diary, 29.4.17.69. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 24.5.17.70. Karpeles correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 24.5.17.71. Karpeles diary, 4.5.17.72. Sharp diary, 11.5.17.73. Sharp diary, 13.5.17.74. Karpeles diary, 11.5.17.75. Sharp diary 16.5.17.76. Sharp diary, 3.6.17.77. Sharp diary, 20.5.17.78. Sharp correspondence, letter from Jane Gentry to Sharp, 16.6.17.79. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 30.7.17.80. Sharp diary 29.7.17.81. Sharp diary, 30.7.17.82. Note in Sharp's MSS tune book, 30.7.17. For an excellent essay concerning the

introduction of the banjo into the mountains, see Andy Cahan's 'Manley Reece and theDawn of North Carolina Banjo' in the booklet accompanying The North Carolina BanjoCollection (Rounder CD 0439/40).

83. Note in Sharp's MSS tune book, 23.9.16.84. Sharp diary, 1.8.17.85. Sharp diary, 31.7.17.86. Karpeles diary, 31.7.17.87. Karpeles diary, 1.8.17.88. Sharp correspondence, letter to Miss Scovill, 23.8.17.89. Sharp correspondence letter to Mrs Storrow, 26.8.17.90. Ibid91. Sharp correspondence, letter to Miss Scovill, 12.9.17.92. Sharp diary, 7.10.17.93. Sharp diary, 1.10.17.94. Note in Sharp's MSS tune book, 3.10.17.95. This was especially true of the singers that Sharp met in 1918 in Mitchell and Yancey

Counties, NC. In 1838 Cherokee Indians from the area were banished by the USGovernment to Oklahoma. Their migration - the so-called 'Trail of Tears' - resulted in thedeaths of one in four of the participants. Some Cherokee escaped into the surroundingmountains and presumably married incoming settlers.

96. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 11.9.17.97. Sharp correspondence, letter to Miss Scovill, 12.9.17.98. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 27.9.17.

99. Karpeles correspondence, undated letter from Evelyn Wells.100. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 11.9.17.101. Sharp correspondence, letter to Miss Scovill, 26.9.17. For a discussion on the Hindman

Settlement School see Chapter 1 of David E Whisnant's book All That is Native and Finementioned in footnote 22 above.

102. Sharp diary, 8.10.17.103. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 27.9.17.104. Sharp diary, 10.10.17.105. Sharp correspondence, letter to Miss Scovin,26.9.17.106. Sharp correspondence, letter to Lady Gomme, 30.9.17.107. Sharp diary, 14.10.17.108. Karpeles correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 4.11.17.109. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 21.4.18110. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 16.5.18.111. Ibid112. Ibid113. Sharp diary, 26.4.18.114. Sharp diary, 27.4.18.115. Sharp diary, 21.5.18.116. Sharp diary, 22.5.18.117. Sharp diary, 10.5.18. Alex 'Miller' Coffey was not related to the singer Alex Coffey of

Nash, Va. who is mentioned in the incident when Sharp and Karpeles were taken forGerman spies. Sharp, inexplicably, spells both their surnames as either Coffey or Coffeein different places in his MSS tune books.

118. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 12.5.18.119. Sharp diary 28.4.18.120. Note in Sharp's MSS tune book, 22.5.18.121. Sharp diary, 23.5.18.122. Note in Sharp's MSS tune book, 1.5.18.123. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 3 .6.18.124. Sharp diary, 31. 5.1 8. There were, of course, songs to be found in other parts of West

Virginia. Sharp would certainly have been delighted to have heard Maggie HammonsParker's version of Hind Horn (Child 17) which is included on the double CD set TheHammons Family, Rounder CD 1504/05. Issued 1998.

125. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 3.6.18. Subsequent collectors have, ofcourse, shown Sharp to be right.

126. Sharp diary, 10.6.18.127. Sharp diary, 14.8.18.128. Sharp diary, 9.6.18.129. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 5.8.18.130. Sharp diary, 16.8.18.131. Sharp diary, 9.6.18.132. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 1.9.18. Shooting Creek was later

immortalised in Charlie Poole's 1928 recording of the same name - reissued on CharliePoole and the North Carolina Ramblers (County CD-3501, issued 1993). In 1979 I waswarned by a number of people to take care whilst driving in the area, as moonshiners werestill active there.

133. Babe Spangler's fiddle playing can be heard on the album The Old Virginian Fiddlers

(County 201, issued 1977.)134. For an account of the Blackard Family see Tom Carter's article 'The Blackard/Shelor

Family', in Old Time Music, number 24, (Spring, 1977) pp 4-7.135. Clarice Shelor interviewed by Michael Yates, August,1980. Recordings of Mrs Shelor and

her family are included on the album Eight Miles Apart, (Heritage XNI, issued 1979).136. Sharp diary 30/31.8.18.137. Sharp diary, 6.9. l 8.138. Sharp diary, 13.9.18.139. Note in Sharp's MSS tune book, 29.9.18.140. Note in Sharp's MSS tune book, 7.10.18.141. Sharp diary, 25.9.18.142. Notes in Sharp's MSS tune book, 25.9.18 & 3.10.18.143. Sharp diary, 28.10.18.144. Sharp diary, 5.10.18.145. Sharp diary, 27.10.18.146. Sharp diary, 24.9.18.147. Sharp diary, 3.9.18.148. Sharp diary, 2.10.18.149. Sharp diary, 9.10.18.150. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 13.10.18.151. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 10.3.19.152. For details of Olive Dame Campbell's later life see the McCarthy article mentioned in

footnote 6 above, together with Chapter 2 of David E Whisnant's book, All that is Nativeand Fine, mentioned in footnote 22 above.

153. Sharp correspondence, letter to Mrs Storrow, 7.6.19. In a previous letter to Mrs Storrow,dated 15.6.17, Sharp mentioned that he wished 'to interview Mrs Coolidge's maid who is aNewfoundland native and sings several folk songs and from whom I may be able to extractinformation concerning the Newfoundland folk-singers.' Mrs Coolidge was a Bostonianfriend of Mrs Storrow. I wonder if she was, in fact, the wife of Calvin Coolidge, who, in1919, was elected Governor of Massachusetts and, in 1923, became the thirtieth Presidentof America.

154. Sharp correspondence, letter from Percy Grainger, 2. 11.20.155. Maud Karpeles, Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Vol. VI, pp. 77-82,

(1951).156. Michael Yates, 'Percy Grainger and the Impact of the Phonograph' in Folk Music Journal,

Vol. 4, pp. 265 - 275.

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