American Murder Ballads

Murder ballads and ditties concerning death have been ingredients in the cauldron of North America's folk tradition since time immemorial. Found chiefly in blues and Country and Western and principally derived from Celtic, Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon and, later, African oral sources, these were forged in cow camps, wagon trains, shotgun shacks, plantations and honky-tonks and sung to often home-made accompaniment. It is simple, unaffected music that will have folk a-tappin' their boot leather - and music that should provide as much diverting entertainment as it does documentary interest.