tradfolkpoll

[tradfolkpoll]

we now have 263 submissions for a total of 186 songs. my current plan is to leave the form open until the end of the week (sunday, february 16th) to see if we make it to 256 (in which case i will run the tournament with 128 polls in round 1). if we don't make it to 256 i will figure out how to get us to the correct number; i will most likely either eliminate songs at random (using a random number generator) or run some 3- or 4-way polls in round 1

american traditional folk song tournament

welcome to the american traditional folk song tournament! submissions for the first round of polls are currently open. the submission form can be found below. op can be found at @murderballadeer.

rules for submissions

for the purposes of having a clear definition and not getting stuck debating genre categories, the only admissible songs are songs originating from oral traditions (ie, of unknown or uncertain authorship) and attested in at least one folk tradition in the united states. they do not have to originate from those traditions (eg, feel free to submit one or more of the many ballads attested in appalachia that ultimately originate in the british isles, or black american folk songs with roots in africa or the caribbean), but must be attested in them. this is not a value judgment about other folk traditions or other kinds of songs; i (the admin) study american folk music academically and am running this poll out of personal interest and i am better equipped to categorize songs from those traditions.

if the song you are submitting is a child ballad and/or listed in the roud folk song index, please include the number it occupies on either list as it will help me with categorization, particularly in the case of songs which go by multiple titles (if multiple people submit the same song by several titles, i will be able to consolidate them if i know the roud or child number). the list of child ballads can be found here and a list of folk songs by roud number can be found here. neither list is exhaustive and you are more than welcome to submit songs that do not appear on either.

it is very common for traditional folk songs to be known by multiple different titles. if you know this is the case for your song, feel free to include several titles, as it will help me with categorization. if you only know one title, just go with that; i don't care if there end up being more i just ask that as a courtesy to me you include whichever titles you are aware of.

please include at least one example recording of your song. a link to youtube or spotify is preferred as it saves me some work but you can also just tell me the name of the artist.

you are not required to include additional information, but you are strongly encouraged to do so as it makes things more interesting for everyone

[tradfolkpoll]

didn’t realize the askbox was closed and that was why people were sending asks to my main blog instead — it’s open now so feel free to send questions here (but i don’t mind if you prefer to keep sending them to my main instead)

[tradfolkpoll]

btw in case anyone was interested in these stats i'm putting under the cut a list of songs that have been submitted more than once

wayfaring stranger (5)

wagoner's lad (3)

black is the color of my true love's hair (3)

shenandoah (3)

i never will marry (3)

house of the rising sun (3)

hares on the mountain (3)

shady grove (3)

in the pines (3)

bury me not on the lone prairie (3)

the devil's nine questions (3)

bury me beneath the willow (3)

stewball (3)

john hardy (3)

michael row the boat ashore (3)

pretty saro (2)

the cuckoo (2)

the water is wide (2)

diamond joe (2)

wildwood flower (2)

john henry (2)

this train is bound for glory (2)

careless love (2)

haul away joe (2)

frankie and johnnie (2)

rock island line (2)

i ride an old paint (2)

sometimes i feel like a motherless child (2)

streets of laredo (2)

darling corey (2)

wabash cannonball (2)

on top of old smokey (2)

turtle dove (2)

git along little dogies (2)

santiana (2)

greenland whale fisheries (2)

twelve gates to the city (2)

wind and rain (2)

come all ye fair and tender ladies (2)

deep blue sea (2)

scarborough fair (2)

wondrous love (2)

eyes on the prize (2)

[tradfolkpoll]

btw songs not in english are 100% accepted (encouraged even!), we have a few already in spanish from the area near the mexican border and if anyone wants to submit some cajun songs in french that would be great (i may submit a few myself later). of course these won't be in the roud index as that categorizes english language songs only but that shouldn't stop you

[tradfolkpoll]

obviously i love wayfaring stranger i'm not an idiot but point being believe me it won't be ignored

btw you guys can keep submitting songs but pls don't submit wayfaring stranger anymore unless you're confident that the recording you're submitting is obscure enough that the five people who previously submitted that song won't have known about it

[tradfolkpoll]

btw you guys can keep submitting songs but pls don't submit wayfaring stranger anymore unless you're confident that the recording you're submitting is obscure enough that the five people who previously submitted that song won't have known about it

[tradfolkpoll]

Hi, would you consider making a second smaller tournee later with the songs that are in the "surplus"?

yes that's a good idea!! like a small tournament with all the ones that get left out when i randomly eliminate some

[tradfolkpoll]

we now have 151 unique songs, across a total of 206 submissions! i may have to go through and cull some for being inadmissible but we've surpassed the goal of 128 songs. with that said, i figured i would put to a vote how to manage the excess submissions:

american traditional folk song tournament

welcome to the american traditional folk song tournament! submissions for the first round of polls are currently open. the submission form can be found below. op can be found at @murderballadeer.

rules for submissions

for the purposes of having a clear definition and not getting stuck debating genre categories, the only admissible songs are songs originating from oral traditions (ie, of unknown or uncertain authorship) and attested in at least one folk tradition in the united states. they do not have to originate from those traditions (eg, feel free to submit one or more of the many ballads attested in appalachia that ultimately originate in the british isles, or black american folk songs with roots in africa or the caribbean), but must be attested in them. this is not a value judgment about other folk traditions or other kinds of songs; i (the admin) study american folk music academically and am running this poll out of personal interest and i am better equipped to categorize songs from those traditions.

if the song you are submitting is a child ballad and/or listed in the roud folk song index, please include the number it occupies on either list as it will help me with categorization, particularly in the case of songs which go by multiple titles (if multiple people submit the same song by several titles, i will be able to consolidate them if i know the roud or child number). the list of child ballads can be found here and a list of folk songs by roud number can be found here. neither list is exhaustive and you are more than welcome to submit songs that do not appear on either.

it is very common for traditional folk songs to be known by multiple different titles. if you know this is the case for your song, feel free to include several titles, as it will help me with categorization. if you only know one title, just go with that; i don't care if there end up being more i just ask that as a courtesy to me you include whichever titles you are aware of.

please include at least one example recording of your song. a link to youtube or spotify is preferred as it saves me some work but you can also just tell me the name of the artist.

you are not required to include additional information, but you are strongly encouraged to do so as it makes things more interesting for everyone

[tradfolkpoll]

we now have 137 submissions. i have gone through and loosely compiled them, and we appear to have 102 unique songs; i will leave submissions open for several more days as i hope to get that number up to 128 before i start the polls. many songs were submitted twice, and some even three times. i would also like to say once again that i'm very very happy with all the submissions, i'm seeing a lot of different artists and traditions represented, with a good balance of types of songs (ballads, work songs, prison songs, sea shanties, spirituals, cowboy songs, and more) and a nice range from classics to deep cuts. great work everyone and please keep submitting your favourites!

american traditional folk song tournament

welcome to the american traditional folk song tournament! submissions for the first round of polls are currently open. the submission form can be found below. op can be found at @murderballadeer.

rules for submissions

for the purposes of having a clear definition and not getting stuck debating genre categories, the only admissible songs are songs originating from oral traditions (ie, of unknown or uncertain authorship) and attested in at least one folk tradition in the united states. they do not have to originate from those traditions (eg, feel free to submit one or more of the many ballads attested in appalachia that ultimately originate in the british isles, or black american folk songs with roots in africa or the caribbean), but must be attested in them. this is not a value judgment about other folk traditions or other kinds of songs; i (the admin) study american folk music academically and am running this poll out of personal interest and i am better equipped to categorize songs from those traditions.

if the song you are submitting is a child ballad and/or listed in the roud folk song index, please include the number it occupies on either list as it will help me with categorization, particularly in the case of songs which go by multiple titles (if multiple people submit the same song by several titles, i will be able to consolidate them if i know the roud or child number). the list of child ballads can be found here and a list of folk songs by roud number can be found here. neither list is exhaustive and you are more than welcome to submit songs that do not appear on either.

it is very common for traditional folk songs to be known by multiple different titles. if you know this is the case for your song, feel free to include several titles, as it will help me with categorization. if you only know one title, just go with that; i don't care if there end up being more i just ask that as a courtesy to me you include whichever titles you are aware of.

please include at least one example recording of your song. a link to youtube or spotify is preferred as it saves me some work but you can also just tell me the name of the artist.

you are not required to include additional information, but you are strongly encouraged to do so as it makes things more interesting for everyone

[tradfolkpoll]

@ whoever submitted old blue and then stewball in quick succession and said this in the last question: i love you

[tradfolkpoll]

as an update on submissions, we currently have 101 submissions. there are several repeats and i haven't had time to compile everything and find the total number of unique songs submitted, but my estimate would be somewhere in the 80s. if possible i'd like to get us to 128 unique songs so we can start round 1 with 64 polls and have the tournament last a total of 8 rounds. happy submitting!

[tradfolkpoll]

awesome submissions so far btw everyone, seeing a lot of my own favourites and some i've never heard before

[tradfolkpoll]

american traditional folk song tournament

welcome to the american traditional folk song tournament! submissions for the first round of polls are currently open. the submission form can be found below. op can be found at @murderballadeer.

rules for submissions

for the purposes of having a clear definition and not getting stuck debating genre categories, the only admissible songs are songs originating from oral traditions (ie, of unknown or uncertain authorship) and attested in at least one folk tradition in the united states. they do not have to originate from those traditions (eg, feel free to submit one or more of the many ballads attested in appalachia that ultimately originate in the british isles, or black american folk songs with roots in africa or the caribbean), but must be attested in them. this is not a value judgment about other folk traditions or other kinds of songs; i (the admin) study american folk music academically and am running this poll out of personal interest and i am better equipped to categorize songs from those traditions.

if the song you are submitting is a child ballad and/or listed in the roud folk song index, please include the number it occupies on either list as it will help me with categorization, particularly in the case of songs which go by multiple titles (if multiple people submit the same song by several titles, i will be able to consolidate them if i know the roud or child number). the list of child ballads can be found here and a list of folk songs by roud number can be found here. neither list is exhaustive and you are more than welcome to submit songs that do not appear on either.

it is very common for traditional folk songs to be known by multiple different titles. if you know this is the case for your song, feel free to include several titles, as it will help me with categorization. if you only know one title, just go with that; i don't care if there end up being more i just ask that as a courtesy to me you include whichever titles you are aware of.

please include at least one example recording of your song. a link to youtube or spotify is preferred as it saves me some work but you can also just tell me the name of the artist.

you are not required to include additional information, but you are strongly encouraged to do so as it makes things more interesting for everyone