#appalachian folk music

[haveyouheardthisband]

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

THE ORDER OF SPIRITUAL VIRGINS • I WHO BEND THE TALL GRASSES • MANY HANDS • PENNSYLVANIA FURNACE • REPENT NOW CONFESS NOW • THE SACRED LINAMENT OF JUDGMENT • PERPETUAL FLAME OF CENTRALIA • MAN IS LIKE A SPRING FLOWER • THE SOLITARY BRETHREN OF EPHRATA

Spotify ♪ Bandcamp ♪ YouTube

[my-ancient-home]

Ah yes, my favorite songwriter

[intheholler]

the appalachian murder ballad <3 one of the most interesting elements of americana and american folk, imo!

my wife recently gave me A Look when i had one playing in the car and she was like, "why do all of these old folk songs talk about killing people lmao" and i realized i wanted to Talk About It at length.

nerd shit under the cut, and it's long. y'all been warned

so, as y'all probably know, a lot of appalachian folk music grew its roots in scottish folk (and then was heavily influenced by Black folks once it arrived here, but that's a post for another time).

they existed, as most folk music does, to deliver a narrative--to pass on a story orally, especially in communities where literacy was not widespread. their whole purpose was to get the news out there about current events, and everyone loves a good murder mystery!

as an aside, i saw someone liken the murder ballad to a ye olde true crime podcast and tbh, yeah lol.

the "original" murder ballads started back across the pond as news stories printed on broadsheets and penned in such a way that it was easy to put to melody.

they were meant to be passed on and keep the people informed about the goings-on in town. i imagine that because these songs were left up to their original orators to get them going, this would be why we have sooo many variations of old folk songs.

naturally then, almost always, they were based on real events, either sung from an outside perspective, from the killer's perspective and in some cases, from the victim's. of course, like most things from days of yore, they reek of social dogshit. the particular flavor of dogshit of the OG murder ballad was misogyny.

so, the murder ballad came over when the english and scots-irish settlers did. in fact, a lot of the current murder ballads are still telling stories from centuries ago, and, as is the way of folk, getting rewritten and given new names and melodies and evolving into the modern recordings we hear today.

305 such scottish and english ballads were noted and collected into what is famously known as the Child Ballads collected by a professor named francis james child in the 19th century. they have been reshaped and covered and recorded a million and one times, as is the folk way.

while newer ones continued to largely fit the formula of retelling real events and murder trials (such as one of my favorite ones, little sadie, about a murderer getting chased through the carolinas to have justice handed down), they also evolved into sometimes fictional, (often unfortunately misogynistic) cautionary tales.

perhaps the most famous examples of these are omie wise and pretty polly where the woman's death almost feels justified as if it's her fault (big shocker).

but i digress. in this way, the evolution of the murder ballad came to serve a similar purpose as the spooky legends of appalachia did/do now.

(why do we have those urban legends and oral traditions warning yall out of the woods? to keep babies from gettin lost n dying in them. i know it's a fun tiktok trend rn to tell tale of spooky scary woods like there's really more haints out here than there are anywhere else, but that's a rant for another time too ain't it)

so, the aforementioned little sadie (also known as "bad lee brown" in some cases) was first recorded in the 1920s. i'm also plugging my favorite female-vocaist cover of it there because it's superior when a woman does it, sorry.

it is a pretty straightforward murder ballad in its content--in the original version, the guy kills a woman, a stranger or his girlfriend sometimes depending on who is covering it.

but instead of it being a cautionary 'be careful and don't get pregnant or it's your fault' tale like omie wise and pretty polly, the guy doesn't get away with it, and he's not portrayed as sympathetic like the murderer is in so many ballads.

a few decades after, women started saying fuck you and writing their own murder ballads.

in the 40s, the femme fatale trope was in full swing with women flipping the script and killing their male lovers for slights against them instead.

men began to enter the "find out" phase in these songs and paid up for being abusive partners. women regained their agency and humanity by actually giving themselves an active voice instead of just being essentially 'fridged in the ballads of old.

her majesty dolly parton even covered plenty of old ballads herself but then went on to write the bridge, telling the pregnant-woman-in-the-murder-ballad's side of things for once. love her.

as a listener, i realized that i personally prefer these modern covers of appalachian murder ballads sung by women-led acts like dolly and gillian welch and even the super-recent crooked still especially, because there is a sense of reclamation, subverting its roots by giving it a woman's voice instead.

meaning that, like a lot else from the problematic past, the appalachian murder ballad is something to be enjoyed with critical ears. violence against women is an evergreen issue, of course, and you're going to encounter a lot of that in this branch of historical music.

but with folk songs, and especially the murder ballad, being such a foundational element of appalachian history and culture and fitting squarely into the appalachian gothic, i still find them important and so, so interesting

i do feel it's worth mentioning that there are "tamer" ones. with traditional and modern murder ballads alike, some of them are just for "fun," like a murder mystery novel is enjoyable to read; not all have a message or retell a historical trial.

(for instance, i'd even argue ultra-modern, popular americana songs like hell's comin' with me is a contemporary americana murder ballad--being sung by a male vocalist and having evolved from being at the expense of a woman to instead being directed at a harmful and corrupt church. that kind of thing)

in short: it continues to evolve, and i continue to eat that shit up.

anyway, to leave off, lemme share with yall my personal favorite murder ballad which fits squarely into murder mystery/horror novel territory imo.

it's the 10th child ballad and was originally known as "the twa sisters." it's been covered to hell n back and named and renamed.

but! if you listen to any flavor of americana, chances are high you already know it; popular names are "the dreadful wind and rain" and sometimes just "wind and rain."

in it, a jealous older sister pushes her other sister into a river (or stream, or sea, depending on who's covering it) over a dumbass man. the little sister's body floats away and a fiddle maker come upon her and took parts of her body to make a fiddle of his own. the only song the new fiddle plays is the tale about how it came to be, and it is the same song you have been listening to until then.

how's that for genuinely spooky-scary appalachia, y'all?

[daily-instruments]

Daily Instrument — Appalachian Dulcimer

The Appalachian dulcimer is an American fretted zither, developed by Celtic immigrants in the Appalachia. It's the first major instrument that was created in America, and dates back to the early 1800s. The dulcimer has a wooden sound box that comes in many shapes such as an hourglass, teardrop, rectangle, or a narrow trapezoid. Along with 2 or 4 sound holes, a fret board centered on the soundbox, 2 melody strings and 2 drone strings. The dulcimer is typically played with pick or hand, but traditionally with a quill.

[delineate-creates]

Y’all. Tyler Childers, an Appalachian bluegrass artist from Kentucky, just released a song with a music video featuring a queer love story between two coal miners called In Your Love. At this point I have no idea if he’ll get backlash for it, but I would really appreciate if you would watch the mv below and maybe give some positive engagement. I have a feeling he’ll need it.

He has a beautiful discography with really thoughtful, poignant lyrics, and imo he does a fantastic job tackling complicated topics. I highly recommend him! With all the Jason Aldean stuff going around, it feels more important than ever that we have empathetic and authentic voices in country music.

(…and unlike Jason, Tyler’s 2020 song Long Violent History actually SUPPORTS the fight against racial inequality. You can listen to it here if you’d like.)

TLDR: Stan Tyler Childers 🖤

[visenyaism]

I’ll have to unfollow you - you are rebloggin/postin about the new Hunger Games movie, and that includes Rachel Z*gler in the cast.

She is a trigger for me as an absolute spoiled cunt and shit human.

what a weird thing to say about a random 22 year old you’ve never met and what a weird thing to say to me. lol

[frogalor]

playlists i’m proud of:

west coast winter for the timeless days between christmas and new years / for the snowless california winters

bobcore darkwave vibes

feral girl fall ominous, off putting, and vaguely threatening is what we aim for

ayo who put this on at the gym??? just some girly (gender neutral) tunes to get me through a horrible workout

i’m a hickory just as well appalachian folk and bluegrass

dream queen mexicana y latine dreamy pop and r&b (Kali Uchis vibes)

yeeha cunty country (pre-2010s)

hot girl shit (self explanatory)

cigarette lounge dreamy, old timey vibes

in the meadow watching butterflies (ethereal romantic)

the main character just got an apartment upbeat indie pop

daisies dancing in a patch of diaries

gentle showers the soft spring rain that signifies the end of winter and everything becomes greener (soft r&b)

punk party my favorite upbeat modern pop punk songs (tssf, neck deep, movements, hot mulligan)

let’s pretend it’s a snow day just a west coast girly trying to romanticize her winter (semi indie pop vibes)

mistlehoe cunty christmas

stockings by the fire catch all playlist of christmas music (lots of repeat songs)

cigarettes & crisp air melancholic indie / alt

jumping in leaf piles perfect for movie-esque fall days

oh no it’s the season of the witch

let’s get spooky halloween songs

flannels & beanies mom, i wish it was a phase

tricks ‘n’ treats spooky adjacent indie & alt

abscission instrumental that feels like leaves gently falling

you’re stuck with me skyguy a goofy playlist of music i think Ahsoka would use to torture Anakin (with the help of the 501st) is she had the aux

pink something lgbt just happened to me

lonesome diner Bonnie Guitar vibes

softly old timey falling in love

fading flower in your feelings r&b

are you bored yet? indie pop (lots of Wallows)

we become the flowers soft indie vibes

bailazo regaaeton

beach bum beachy summer indie

cruisin’ motown and r&b vibes my parents raised me on

~groove~ some funky vibes my mom loves

Doo Wop Don’t Stop doo wop 50s-60s

lover boys lany x lauv (may spice it up in the future)

Shade a playlist for my favorite dnd character, it’s all over the place, but i miss her so much

[tbosasgunsandroses]

snowjanus week, day 6: peacekeeper

(lyrics are from joanna newsom’s ‘soft as chalk’. unfortunately, some parts of the song don’t really work for snowjanus, but i love the first half of it for their time in peacekeeper training. and yes, i swapped out ‘mourning doves’ with ‘mockingjays’ bc it’s fun and works syllabically :3 )

[haveyouheardthisband]

[deadpxnk]

4.28.24

[folk-enjoyer]

Hi! Wated to ask you what are your favourite narrative songs/murder ballads? I really enjoy that type of music and thought that you may have some recommendations:)

I'm not very knowledgeable in murder ballads but I do have some recommendations! Some of these are not traditional ballads but I feel like they are still related to the conversation 1. The Ludlow Massacre and The 1913 Massacre by Woody Guthrie, 1944, 1945

Both of these songs are pretty similar. They both detail the tragic murder and death of striking workers and specifically, their children. However, neither of these are traditional ballads as they were written and composed in the 1940s, I just love them and think they are very important to both music and labor history.

2. Psycho by Jack Kittel, 1968. covered by Harley Poe, 2019

Again, not a traditional murder ballad but its still one of my favorite songs, especially the Harley Poe cover. 3. Polly Vaughn by the Dillards, 1963

4. Matty Groves by Doc Watson 1966

5. Little Omie Wise by Doc Watson, 1964

[whoblewboobear]

Porter’s British ass calling Jace ‘Love’ and Jace’s American Suburban ass calling Porter ‘Hon’

[intheholler]

yet another queer from the appalachians (the foothills down in 'bama, but still!) just chiming in to thank you for this blog. I ran away from that area over a decade ago now and have been missing it sorely. by chance, do you have any recs for good youtube channels, books, or other things about/by folks from the appalachians?

appalachian alabama what's up!!

i so have some recs!

okay first up is adeem the artist who is uncomfortably underrated so i'm gonna say a little more on them. they're a nonbinary pansexual musician from eastern tn and they make amazing folk country that is commentary on appalachian culture, and their experiences growing up here. some fav songs of mine are asheville blues, i never came out, and my personal favorite 'fuck you' to modern country for exploiting our culture, i wish you would have been a cowboy

josiah and the bonnevilles are another favorite a friend put me onto. "i am appalachia" makes me cry and i'll admit that openly. will always always rec crooked still for their appalachian folk covers/murder ballad covers. literally every song. just all of them

as for books: imo the big three. what you are getting wrong about appalachia by elizabeth catte is a must read. appalachian reckoning: a region responds to hillbilly elegy is another, and hill women by cassie chambers

in a sea of SpOoKy ApPaLaChIa bullshit on tiktok, there is one appalachian account that i delight in the most. andiemarire is a gem

there's just from the top of my head though (which is very shallow these days, as yall may tell by my absence). pls reblog if y'all have more!

[kingwaino]

i have done...an absolute deep dive into blues and folk music tonight. it was 100% one of those blink and three hours have passed type of deals. worth it though.