Overview

A legend in the folk music community, John Jacob Niles enjoyed a lengthy career as a balladeer, folk collector, and songwriter. Ever close to his Kentucky roots, he spent much of his adulthood searching for the most well-loved songs of the southern Appalachia. The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles brings together a wealth of songs with the stories that inspired them, arranged by a gifted performer. This new edition includes all of the melodies, text, commentary, and illustrations of the 1961 original and features a new introduction by Ron Pen, director of the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music at the University of Kentucky.

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9780813109879

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Reviews

"""[...] Pen provides us with, hands down, the ablest guide to understanding an artist who might otherwise be an enigma. It is in that capacity that his book most excels."" -- Journal of Folklore Research ""A treasure trove for musicians, living history enthusiasts, and many other readers."" -- Reviewers Consortium ""His comments are as valuable as the songs are beautiful.... A marvelous book."" -- Washington Post ""His most ambitious effort in a long and rich career."" -- New York Times ""Niles has really given us two books in one: a superior 'Child-ballad' songster, [and] a series of descriptions, anecdotes, and folksay from informants.... For more than fifty years he has made a traditional culture seem as beautiful as his own devoted and dignified spirit."" -- New York Herald-Tribune ""Niles's stories and the songs themselves flesh out the line drawings of preservationist recordings."" -- Green Man Review ""The histories accompanying each ballad in this work are delightful histories, anecdotes and vignettes, interesting in and of themselves."" -- Kentucky Libraries"

?? ballads, selected, for their classic qualities, from the author's long years of collecting, are accompanied by an interesting introduction reviewing his career in the field, and each is prefaced by information about the song and the person who sang it for him. Here a fast-growing music audience will find nursery rhymes and riddles, lords and ladies and lasses, death and murder, mermaids, gypsies and devils, and their lives and times from the 19th and 20th centuries. There are piano settings for one verse and there is a key to the guitar chords used in the book; there is a bibliography and an index by title, by first line and of explanatory material. An authority, Mr. Niles has made available much worthwhile material. (Kirkus Reviews)

A treasure trove for musicians, living history enthusiasts, and many other readers. -- Reviewers Consortium His most ambitious effort in a long and rich career. -- New York Times Niles's stories and the songs themselves flesh out the line drawings of preservationist recordings. -- Green Man Review [...] Pen provides us with, hands down, the ablest guide to understanding an artist who might otherwise be an enigma. It is in that capacity that his book most excels. -- Journal of Folklore Research His comments are as valuable as the songs are beautiful.... A marvelous book. -- Washington Post Niles has really given us two books in one: a superior 'Child-ballad' songster, [and] a series of descriptions, anecdotes, and folksay from informants.... For more than fifty years he has made a traditional culture seem as beautiful as his own devoted and dignified spirit. -- New York Herald-Tribune The histories accompanying each ballad in this work are delightful histories, anecdotes and vignettes, interesting in and of themselves. -- Kentucky Libraries

<p> His comments are as valuable as the songs are beautiful.... A marvelous book. -- Washington Post

[...] Pen provides us with, hands down, the ablest guide to understanding an artist who might otherwise be an enigma. It is in that capacity that his book most excels. -- Journal of Folklore Research A treasure trove for musicians, living history enthusiasts, and many other readers. -- Reviewers Consortium The histories accompanying each ballad in this work are delightful histories, anecdotes and vignettes, interesting in and of themselves. -- Kentucky Libraries His comments are as valuable as the songs are beautiful.... A marvelous book. -- Washington Post His most ambitious effort in a long and rich career. -- New York Times Niles has really given us two books in one: a superior 'Child-ballad' songster, [and] a series of descriptions, anecdotes, and folksay from informants.... For more than fifty years he has made a traditional culture seem as beautiful as his own devoted and dignified spirit. -- New York Herald-Tribune Niles's stories and the songs themselves flesh out the line drawings of preservationist recordings. -- Green Man Review

[...] Pen provides us with, hands down, the ablest guide to understanding an artist who might otherwise be an enigma. It is in that capacity that his book most excels. -- Journal of Folklore Research

His comments are as valuable as the songs are beautiful.... A marvelous book. -- Washington Post

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