This remarkable album features
field recordings of Appalachian
ballad singers collected by
John Cohen in the Big Laurel region of Madison County, NC, in the early and mid-'60s. The songs (which the Big Laurel singers simply referred to as "old love songs") feel ancient and timeless, embedded with dark themes and topics that include violent murder, unmarried pregnancies, infidelity, abandoned children, adultery, and seduction, mostly sung
a cappella with a certain deceptive detachment and full of vocal bends, melismas, sliding notes, and extended phrasing. Taken together, these songs pack more ill-fated romance, tragedy, revenge, and karmic reckoning, not to mention violence, into their lyrics than most
rap records, all with the narrative ego removed, which only serves to make them seem even starker in tone. Over half of the selections are sung by
Dillard Chandler, who was somewhat of a mysterious character even in his own community, a shy Appalachian singer who couldn't read or write, but carried in his head the words and melodies of hundreds of these "old love songs," and he sang them with deft precision, often with the song's strong sexual undercurrents intact. In the end it's hard not to feel that these powerful romantic tragedies are actually thinly veiled commentaries on the rapidly unfolding complexities of the modern world, but then again, these songs stand outside of time in an insular place all their own, as much riddles as they are morality lessons. Among the many striking selections here are
Cas Wallin's emotionally balanced version of
"Pretty Saro," Lisha Shelton's
"In Zepo Town" (a variant of
"Bruton Town"), and three absolute gems from
Chandler, including
"Cold Rain and Snow," the almost
blues-like
"Short Time Here, Long Time Gone," and the haunting
"I Wish My Baby Was Born," a version of which was featured in the
Cold Mountain movie. Hope would appear to be in short supply in these songs, but there is a tenacity of spirit in these old
ballads that implies hope in the future by refusing to forget the past. They certainly don't write songs like this anymore, and they don't sing 'em like this anymore, either. A wonderful, dark, mysterious, and fascinating set. [A bonus DVD of
John Cohen's film documentary on
Dillard Chandler,
The End of an Old Song, is included in the package of
Dark Holler.] -- Steve Leggett
![Back Home in Sulphur Springs [Norman & Nancy Blake]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0803020121126_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Back Home in Sulphur Springs [Norman & Nancy Blake]")
![The Greatest Hits [Curb]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0715187738522_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "The Greatest Hits [Curb]")
