An Alabama Songbook: Ballads, Folksongs, and Spirituals Collected by Byron Arnold

A lavish presentation of 208 folksongs collected throughout Alabama in the 1940s

Alabama is a state rich in folksong tradition, from old English ballads sung along the Tennessee River to children’s game songs played in Mobile, from the rhythmic work songs of the railroad gandy dancers of Gadsden to the spirituals of the Black Belt. The musical heritage of blacks and whites, rich and poor, hill folk and cotton farmers, these songs endure as a living part of the state’s varied past.

In the ...