For 40 years, starting in 1938, Anne and Frank Warner collected folk songs along the rural backroads of the Eastern Seaboard. Frank was a folk singer himself and so was able to win the confidence of wary mountain folk like Frank Proffitt, who first sang them “Tom Dooley.” The Warners did angelic work. For the 200 songs they transcribed in this bountiful book, they record the players’ own story of how they learnt the song and where they think it came from. The Warners reprint personal, fascinating correspondence with the artists and often a snapshot of the scene. They clearly portray the songs they received as gifts from the makers to the listeners. What we are given: music as community.
