Description
A haunting, 19th-century Appalachian ballad attributed to E.A.Vance, a Baptist preacher sentenced to death in southwestern Virginia in 1819. (You can read more about the origin of this song here.) A version of this ballad featured on The Birds’ Flight, with Pete Sutherland on voice and fiddle, and Tim Cummings accompanying on smallpipes. This PDF includes the melody (written in the key of A-modal, for Scottish-style pipes), suggested accompanying chords, and four verses of the lyrics.
You can hear this version of the song (and the rest of The Birds’ Flight album) on Bandcamp:
(NB: The above recording features Scottish smallpipes in C, with bass and tenor drones tuned to C and G.)
