Cecil Sharp in Appalachia

Visit the Remarkable History of English Ballads in America

The Cecil Sharp Photo Exhibit
is now starting a new life in a
permanent home at the
Birthplace of Country Music Museum
in Bristol, Virginia

birthplaceofcountrymusic.org

Thank you to all of our exhibitors and supporters.

You will be able to see the exhibit over the coming years in various contexts at the Museum

Purchase a cataloge book or copies of Sharp Photographs here

Singing their way into history; remarkable journey captures and preserves centuries old folk songs

One hundred years ago, two intrepid British “song catchers” began a three-year pilgrimage to Appalachia, starting in western North Carolina, to collect variants and versions of English and Scottish folk songs as sung by descendants of immigrants from the British Isles. Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles braved challenging terrain to visit singers and record the notes and words of the songs. Out of their work has come the English Folk Dance and Song Society based in Cecil Sharp House in London, the US-based Country Dance and Song Society, and a remarkable collection of centuries-old songs still sung today.

A three-year celebration of the people and the songs has begun both in the US and England. Join us as we trace, share, and highlight this journey.

From 1916 to 1918, English Ballad Collector Cecil Sharp traveled the Appalachian region to document variants of these songs and photographed some of the singers who shared their songs. These 24 rare photographs offer a stunning window into the life of Appalachian people in the period and will be on display for the first time in the United States. The exhibition will be traveling to additional locations in the coming months.

Mrs. Hannah Mitchell, Mrs. Effie Mitchell, Mrs. Becky Mitchell

“The Mitchells are a wonderful clan, living in a small narrow creek about a mile from the hotel. They are considered a very low-down lot by the richer people here who wonder why we like them and go there so often.”
Sharp diary, Burnsville, NC, September 27, 1918

A statement from Country Music Great Marty Stuart:

What a treasure we have in Cecil Sharp's Appalachian photographs. From one perspective, his subjects are simply neighbors, down to earth kin. From another vantage point, the people in Mr. Sharp's images can be viewed as exotics, other worldly, mythical, untouchable beings from another place and time. Either way, Cecil Sharp has enriched all of our lives with his work and the telling, made an immeasurable contribution to the fine arts.

April 2017

FAMILIES NOTE:
We are still looking for families that might have an oral history
to share from this period
Are you related to any of the singers?
please contact us:
descendants@cecilsharpinappalachia.org

Read about the 2016 Centennial of Jane Gentry's time of singing for Cecil Sharp held in Hot Springs, North Carolina

Letter from Cecil Sharp