Appalachian ballads Archives - Appalachian History

She’s been called one of the best ballad singers in America. And yet the songs Aunt Molly Jackson is most remembered for are the ones she constructed herself.

Katherine Jackson French in cap and gown

May 15, 2020 Appalachian music / Ballad singers / Songcatchers

Book Excerpt: ‘Katherine Jackson French: Kentucky’s Forgotten Ballad Collector’

Katherine Jackson French’s collection of traditional KY ballads, which should have been her crowning scholarly achievement, never saw print.

October 31, 2019 Appalachian music / Bluegrass / North Carolina

“Plenty of people can read music, but can’t really make music”

“There’d be a group of men working together, and they’d ask if my dad could sing and if they could sing he’d learn it from them.”

Jean Thomas at Traipsin' Woman Cabin, 1934

August 14, 2019 Appalachian celebrities / Appalachian music / Ballad singers / Festivals & parades / Kentucky

Jean Thomas: Kentucky’s Traipsin’ Woman

In August 1931, Jean Thomas & KY’s governor discussed the creation of an American Folk Song Society & an annual festival open to the public.

Nicholas County WV train wreck from 1912

November 27, 2017 Railroad industry / Timber Industry / West Virginia

Their bodies were covered with the wreckage of logs

The 1912 Barranshe Run mishap was one of the more dramatic log train wrecks in WV history. The victims’ bodies were buried in logs.

Tag: Appalachian ballads

Aunt Molly Jackson: A Complicated Character

Book Excerpt: ‘Katherine Jackson French: Kentucky’s Forgotten Ballad Collector’

“Plenty of people can read music, but can’t really make music”

Jean Thomas: Kentucky’s Traipsin’ Woman

Their bodies were covered with the wreckage of logs