American Ballads and Folk Songs Index

Complete online book - Text, Lyrics & Sheet Music

Collected And Compiled By John A. Lomax - Honorary Consultant in American
Folk Song and Curator of the Folk Song Archives of the Library of Congress




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About This Book

First let me apologise for the odd errors and weirdnesses you will find in my web version of this book. The quality of the original was not that good, and add to that the normal vagaries of scanning and OCRing, plus trying to retain as much as possible of the original format and have it display in a variety of browsers and you can end up with a mess. I will, when time permits have a go a cleaning this up a bit more, in the meantime I hope you find what is here useful. American Ballads and Folk Songs is probably Lomax's largest work at more than 600 pages and is, in my opinion, a massive contribution to the preservation of traditional & folk music.

Don't forget to check out volume two of this collection (Our Singing Country).

To buy American Folk Music Books or Sheet Music check out the extensive Folk Songs Collection at Sheetmusicplus



FOREWORD

Professor Lomax needs no introduction. His "Cowboy Songs," published years and years ago, won forthwith a classic rank among books of folk-poetry—in whatever sense controversialists may choose to interpret that much-vexed term. But, though introduction is super­fluous, a word of greeting may not be out of place. Lomax has never flagged in his zeal as a collector, and his success has been proportionate with his energy. Of late, too, he has enjoyed the assistance of his son, and their combined activities have greatly increased our knowledge of the subject. In the volume now offered to the friendly reader there is much that is novel; yet the old familiar fields are not neglected. Here, then, is a book of songs that illustrates many phases of our strangely multifarious life and manners. There is something for every mood and for every intelligent taste. And the whole thing is intensely American and has been contrived by a man who knows what he is about and is in vital contact with the materials that he has so skilfully brought together. Caveat emptor is a good book-buying motto nowadays, but in this case the buyer may take his chances without trepidation.
G. L. KlTTREDGE

You may also be interested in other American Folk and Old Popular Songs on this site: