‘Sharp’s Appalachian Harvest’
BRIAN PETERS & JEFF DAVIS
‘Sharp’s Appalachian Harvest’
Show Description
England’s greatest folksong collector Cecil Sharp and his assistant Maud Karpeles made three trips to the Southern Appalachian Mountains in 1916, 1917 and 1918, in search of old British songs surviving in remote communities. They struck gold there, turning up over 1600 songs, including countless wonderful versions of traditional ballads, and also many songs of American origin. In ‘Sharp’s Appalachian Harvest’, two leading interpreters of traditional song and music from both sides of the Atlantic, Jeff Davis (USA) and Brian Peters (England), present some of the collector’s best finds, accompanied by a description of his arduous mountain journeys, his warm relationships with the singers, and a chance to see many of Sharp’s evocative photographs.
As well as the old British ballads and songs – including ‘The False Knight on the Road’, ‘The Golden Vanity’, and a version of ‘Barbara Allen’ from an African-American singer – the show includes children’s songs, gospel, old-timey hoedowns and some of the fiddle tunes that Sharp noted. Settings range from unaccompanied voice to arrangements for banjo, guitar, fiddle, mandolin and button accordion.
By the end of the performance you’ll have a good idea why Sharp’s Appalachian Harvest is regarded as one of the greatest regional collections of folksongs ever made.
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