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Archive: 2025 (2 Posts)

Caught My Ear: Ballads and Children’s Songs by Eunice Yeatts McAlexander

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The latest items to catch my ear in the Archive of Folk Culture are two reels of recordings of Eunice Yeatts McAlexander, a ballad singer who was recorded in 1978 as part of AFC's Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project. McAlexander, who passed away in 1990, had many wonderful versions of traditional ballads brought over to Appalachia from Britain, and she's a great source for unusual ballad texts. In addition to traditional ballads like “The Two Sisters,” “Little Massie Grove,” and “Lord Bateman,” she also sang nursery rhymes and lullabies for the collector, Wally Macnow. This blog post provides a little background on the singer and her songs, and embeds the digitized reels, photos, and detailed tape logs so you can listen and follow along.

Posted in: Folksong

A two-masted brig under heavy sail.

A Shantyman’s Farewell

Posted by: Stephen Winick

In this post, we hear one last farewell shanty from the retired sailor Patrick Tayluer, who sang and told stories for the Archive of Folk Culture in 1942. The song tells the romantic tale of a sailor weighing anchor to leave for the port city of Rio Grande, Brazil. He says goodbye to his sweetheart and asks her to marry him when he returns. This is the final post in a series about the sea shanty singer Patrick Tayluer, and contains links to the entire series where you can find more songs and stories of the sea.

Posted in: Folksong, Patrick Tayluer, Sea Shanties