American Mountain Songs

Ethel Park Richardson (1883-1968) compiled a book of American Mountain Songs, published in 1927, which led her to a lengthy career on network radio. Almost 90 years after these ballads and lyrical folk songs were gathered in Appalachia, Ethel Park (Smith) Richardson's grandson, Jonathan Guyot Smith, sings them just as they were taught to him as a child. They are very simple and straightforward renditions, with the focus entirely on the archaic lyrics and melodies. Jonathan Guyot Smith has been an actor, educator, composer, producer, and writer. This album marks his attempt to preserve the old mountain songs the way his grandmother found and sang them long ago.