Music of the Southern Appalachians Lives on in Kentucky’s [42nd Annual] American Folk Song Festival, June 9, 10 & 11. Carter Caves State Park, Olive Hill, Carter County, Kentucky. Singin’ Gatherin’ [at] 4:00 PM Sunday, June 1.

[Olive Hill, KY?]: Jean Thomas, [1972]. Pamphlet. 18, [1] pages, illustrations. Staplebound wrappers. Very Good. Staples a little rusty, but otherwise a fresh copy.

Souvenir brochure for a folk festival celebrating folk music, dress, and customs descended from early English settlers. The caption on page 3 reads “Forty-first annual,” which was held in 1971. But this is a misprint as the dates conform to the 42nd annual festival held in 1972, the last year it was held. The event included “frolic and lonesome tunes, sea chanteys and gay ditties, play game songs, courtin’ songs, footwashin’ and funeralizin’ hymn tunes, flyting or scolding ballads, and answerin’-back ballads” and took place around a replica log cabin. The event was founded in 1930 by Jean Thomas, aka “The Traipsin’ Woman,” so-called because as stenographer, she traveled by wagon acrosss eastern Kentucky on the county court circuit by wagon. She worked as a script supervisor on Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (the two are pictured in this pamphlet). Thomas transcribed songs and her festival was the subject of a Folkways Records (now Smithsonian Folkways) release. Several images of folks with traditional instruments, ballad lyrics, a brief biography and bibliography of Thomas, and closes with a list of sponsors.

Cat.No: 292332

Price: $30.00