Week 6: APPALACHIA

For the coming two weeks we start with APPALACHIA, then look back to the BRITISH BALLADS and how they became part of the American tradition. The two songs for this week (to learn by heart!) are Banks of the Ohio and Will the Circle be Unbroken.  We may also do The Cuckoo. Key figures are Clarence Ashley (voice, banjo and fiddle) and Doc Watson (guitar, finger and flat picking, and singing as well). They're in the videos.  Compare Ollie Gilbert's "front porch" version and remember the distinction between front porch and performance. (Or what John Cohen calls Home Music and Show Performers.) Using Appalachia as a search term in google, and perhaps the singers' names and birthplaces (look them up) and specific dates, see what images come up. Images of PLACE will give you a context for the songs.

Week 6: APPALACHIA

Banks of the Ohio  Clarence Ashley and Doc Watson version, on your S&P download.
Recorded by Ralph Rinzler in North Carolina in about 1960.  (If you're curious, here's a link to the Original Folkways Recording CD.

Then:
 ▶ Clarence Ashley with Doc Watson: The Banks of the Ohio (1961) - YouTube  (filmed by Alan Lomax, in New York, 1961)
 ▶ Banks of the Ohio - Bill Monroe & Doc Watson - YouTube  (This features Blue Grass mandolin of Bill Monroe, with Doc Watson.)
 ▶ Banks of the Ohio - Max Hunter Folk Song Collection - Missouri State University   Ollie Gilbert

Clarence Ashley and Doc Watson, early 1960s

Another of their songs (in your gray song sheets) is "The Cuckoo Bird. Clarence Ashley is the master. He tells his story--and sings the song--here. It's filmed in North Carolina... from the mid-1960s. Listen carefully--his words get to the heart of the Appalachian songs:
 ▶ Clarence Ashley performs "The Cuckoo" - YouTube

You might compare this 1970s version by Townes Van Zandt:
▶ Townes Van Zandt - The Cuckoo - YouTube
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For Will the Circle Be Unbroken, the recording is by the Carter Family. (Look them up--see Reader, pps. 240-243.) Compare the Carter Family's version to Clarence Ashley and Doc Watson (both on your original S&P download). The difference is essential. How would you characterize it?
I've included other versions, but concentrate on first one--the Carter Family original. The later ones are stagey, for reasons you can think about. Front porch versus performance.  Nevertheless, you'll find them interesting to watch. And don't miss Ollie Gilbert...she keeps us honest!

The Carter Family, Poor Valley, Virginia, 1929

Will the Circle Be Unbroken
▶ Can the circle be unbroken - The Carter Family - YouTube   (The version on your S&P CD)
▶ Ralph Stanley - Will The Circle Be Unbroken - YouTube
▶ Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol.2/Nitty Gritty Dirt Band/Johnny Cash/Ricky Skaggs - YouTube
▶ Johnny Cash & Family - Will The Circle Be Unbroken - YouTube
▶ Arlo Guthrie & Willie Nelson/Will The Circle be Unbroken - YouTube
▶ Mavis Staples Will the circle be unbroken (studio version) - YouTube    (This is a very different tradition!)

▶ Circle Be Unbroken - Max Hunter Folk Song Collection - Missouri State UniversityOllie Gilbert

Ollie Gilbert

Ollie Gilbert, Arkansas, 1960s

Also important in the Appalachian tradition: Jean Ritchie, who grew up in Viper, Kentucky (in the  Cumberland Mountains), where these songs were a part of her life. Jean Ritchie sang with a dulcimer, and later made dozens of recordings of both the Kentucky mountain songs and the older British ballads (Pretty Saro, Barbry Allen, House Carpenter, Gypsy Laddie--more on this next week). Recall that we've made many references to her memoir, A Singing Famiy of the Cumberlands.
Here's her version of the Cuckoo:
 ▶ Jean Ritchie sings the Cuckoo - YouTube

Jean Ritchie, 1950s?

READING. Takle another look at Norman Cohn's Folk Song America, which will give you background, pps. 33-56 in the Reader. It's an excellent condensed history. For this week pay particular attention to what he says about Hillbilly and Race records. pps. 42-43. Also read section on The Carter Family, Reader pps. 240-243. You can also hunt up the notes published by Folkways Records to accompany the original recordings (Ralph Rinzler's notes  for Original Recordings of Doc Watson/Clarence Ashley, John Cohen for Classic Mountain Songs, with notes complied by Jeff Place) The notes will also show you how this music was written about during the folk revival. Alternatively,  look into Friends of Old Time Music, concerts in New York during that same period (early 1960s.)
Folkways Records regularly published elaborate notes in booklets that accompanied their LP recordings. 

As mentioned in class, the recordings of Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley took place very much because of the Folk Revival Movement in New York--Ralph Rinzler being a key figure. Along with John Cohen (of The New Lost City Ramblers) and his film, That High Lonesome Sound. You can also watch this this video on Cohen's film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5EcebrTqMI
DOWNLOAD FOR WEEKS 5 & 6:
S&P Ballads (Appalachian and British)
https://berkeley.box.com/s/p8v1c365iwe449t3lljd
Be sure to import the xml file for track data on iTunes. These songs will be our starting points over the next two weeks.
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Yes, this material is dense--and takes some concentration--but over time the layers will begin to make sense! It's a beautiful and crucial part of the American folk tradition.

And remember, Weeks 6-7 will work together to give you a sense of Appalachian music in the American tradition--and the British (Anglo-Scots-Irish) ballads that provided its sources...

Week 5: SPIRITUALS, WORKSONGS &GOPEL II

Charles White, Love Letter II, 1971

Oh Mary Don't You Weep

READING. From last week, Leroi Jones' Blues People  still very much applies. Let's see some references to the reading in your Digital Notebook posts. And do take a closer look at W.E.B Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk, see Sorrow Songs (the last chapter). Online text: Souls of Black Folk.
The new reading for this week: Biblical references in folk songs, particularly the Spirituals. See the passages below (bottom of post) for Mary Don't You Weep. Read and consider these biblical passages carefully. Especially the way they draw on both Old and New Testament sources. How did Black people in the South come to know these passages? Read DuBois. Also: the concordance, and question of biblical translations. Also see notes on writer James Baldwin, below.

SONGS: Continue with songs on Week 3 download (Work Songs / Spirituals / Gospel). Focus on Mary Don't You Weep.

PROJECT. For the coming week I want you to concentrate on Oh Mary Don't You Weep, especially the way verses from both the New Testament (the story of Mary and Martha) are merged with verses from the Old Testament (the Hebrew Bible)--and what this merging might have to do with the lives of Black people in the American South in the time of slavery.  

Versions of Mary Don't You Weep. There are different ways of singing this song--indeed, almost two different songs. You'll hear the Black church version in the Swan Silvertones (also on our S&P CD--and Bob Dylan's favorite) and in the beautiful rendition by Inez Andrews (watch her face as she sings.) Leadbelly takes another approach--which I'm assuming became the basis for the Lomax's version in their songbooks. (You can find this in our S&P TAN Songset.) In any  case, the Lomaxes  arranged the lyrics. Mississippi John Hurt (we'll hear more of him later!) basically does this one. It's a beautiful, gentle, lyrical way of singing the song. A classic "folkie" version is the one by Pete Seeger. Then, a couple of wild cards--including Max Romeo's Jamaican version and a local Indy band on an Oakland rooftop...

▶ Swan Silvertones - Mary Don't You Weep - YouTube
  This is the version on S&P CD. Listen carefully to how the lyrics.
▶ Inez Andrews and The Andrewettes -Mary Don't You Weep (LIVE) - YouTube 
▶ Leadbelly - Mary don't you weep - YouTube  (Last Sessions, Folkways Records) with Martha Promise. (Hear the spoons in the background too.)
▶ Mississippi John Hurt - Oh Mary Don't You Weep.wmv - YouTube
John Hurt's versions are unmistakeable!
▶ Pete Seeger - "Oh Mary, Don't You Weep" - YouTube (Bruce Springsteen has covered this version,  more recently.)  This is a Pete Seeger classic, which influenced college kids your age all over the country in the 1960s...  

Here are some wild cards:
▶ Max Romeo - Don't You Weep - Pama Reggae - YouTube  (Kingston, Jamaica, 1971). Why does Max Romeo change the lyrics here--and how does this affect the meaning of the song?
▶ The Gomorrans - Mary Don't you Weep - on a Rooftop in East Oakland - YouTube
What the feeling--and meaning--in this version?

And this one, Trinite 6:7 for a heartfelt contemporary church version:
(▶ Trinitee 5:7 - Oh Mary, Don't You Weep - YouTube)

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James Baldwin

And finally, from a documentary on the writer James Baldwin, whose early book, Go Tell It On the Mountain (1953) is very much about the themes we're looking at--and listening to--this week:
▶ James Baldwin: the Price of the Ticket - YouTube
Also this, from 1965:
▶ James Baldwin vs. William F. Buckley - YouTube 
Ask yourself: have times changes?

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Charles White, Mary Don't You Weep, 1930's

OH MARY DON'T YOU WEEP--Biblical sources for the lyrics:

Here are two key passages on Mary and Martha from the New Testament. Consider how they entered into the meanings of "Oh Mary Don't You Weep." To find additional biblical references to Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus, make use of a concordance. Following, the verses from Exodus (Hebrew Bible) with the story of the Pharoah's Army at the Red Sea.

MARY & MARTHA.  "Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:38-42).

That's a modern translation. Here's the King James version:

 ³⁸ Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
⁴⁰ But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
⁴¹ And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
⁴² But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

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"Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus [and the disciples] came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil" (John 12:1-3)

...and again, the King James version:

12 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

² There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
³ Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 
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PHAROAH'S ARMY at the RED SEA. Here's the source of "Pharoah's army got drownded...," from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) in the  King James translation, EXODUS 14:20-3:

14:20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. 14:21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 14:22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. 14:23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 14:24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, 14:25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians. 14:26 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. 14:27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 14:28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. 14:29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. 14:30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. 14:31 And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.

Note: This is reprised very beautifully in The Song of the Sea  (Exodus 15: 1-18), attributed to Miriam, sister of Moses: Sus v'rochvo ramah bayam... "The horse and his Chariot he cast into the sea...") It's one of the "oldest" layers in the Biblical text... Consider this, too. 

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And a note on the CONCORDANCE. A concordance is basically an elaborate index of biblical verses--one which allows you to look up key terms (names, places, particular words) and find the Biblical verses in which they occur. Before Google, the concordance was crucial to Biblical scholarship. For our purposes, it will help you understand the Biblical roots of many of the songs from the American Southern tradition--particularly those of the Black church--whether from reading the bible (as Mississippi John Hurt did, assiduously) or from hearing the verses repeated in a minister's sermons. Either way, they became a hidden but central part of people's lives. Also--we'll talk about how they work in "explanatory" terms... making meaning of peoples lives, both in the time of slavery and even today...

And remember the hapax legomenon--which is to say, each one of us! (Tony's interpretation.)

Week 5: Supplement: Notes on Lomax Recordings of Worksongs & Spirituals

Here's a link to Alan Lomax's notes in the Library of Congress--which issued the Afro-American Spirituals, Worksongs and Ballads CD that was my source for the first 10 songs on the DOWNLOAD for Weeks 4-5. These are Lomax's own field notes--take a look and you'll have a better sense of context for the songs:

 http://www.loc.gov/folklife/LP/AfroAmerSpirtualsL3_opt.pdf

In general, I'd like you to be more adventurous--and more specific--in how you look into the material I'm giving you. For instance, take a song title and artist's names (let's try Lead Me To The Rock, listed as sung by Wash Dennis and Charlie Sims on track data) plug it into google and see where it leads. I just tried this and found several interesting starting points--including discussion of these songs by Alan Lomax.

Track data in iTunes after downloading

Google search for song title & artists' names

 Obviously you can't do this with ALL the material--but following your own path to specifics will add a lot to your understanding--and to the work you do for the class! It's always a balance between getting an broad-range overall view (as in Week 4) and finding ways to follow leads that engage you to something specific about the songs and where they come from... I want you to do some of both!

Week 4: SPIRITUALS, WORKSONGS & GOSPEL

Horace Pippin, Domino Players, oil on board, 1943

Worksongs, Spirituals and Gospel

Download: 
S&P Work Songs / Spirituals / Gospel:
https://berkeley.box.com/s/1t39p985qfw9qju1bjxo
These songs will be important for the rest of the semester and beyond.

Reading: Leroi Jones (Amiri Bakara): Blues People reader pps. 117-146. It's one of the best chapters in the Reader. So give it some time! You should also take a look at W.E.B Dubois, Souls of Black Folk, particularly what he writes about Sorrow Songs--and the Black American experience in general. Published in 1903.  This is an important book. Here's the online text: Souls of Black Folk.
Read Leroy Jones for Week 4, Dubois for Week 5.
Remember, this is a two-week theme, with projects both weeks.

Songs. For our S&P class, the songs themselves are the best introduction. Some are on your original S&P CD, which you've already downloaded, and some on the new download above. Make a playlist--and listen up! Note that the lyrics are all in your tan S&P songset.

Here are the songs I want to be able to sing together (they're all on the downloads just mentioned). I haven't had a chance to make them into links--so you'll need to make playlist from the downloads.

Mary Don't You Weep    (Swan Silvertone's version, on your S&P CD)
Lay My Burden Down    (Mississippi John Hurt's version, on your S&P CD)
Do Lord    (also on S&P CD)

and these four from your new download, above (S&P Work Songs / Spirituals / Gospel):

Balm in Gilead   (Paul Robeson's version)
Swing Low Sweet Chariot    (Paul Robeson's version)
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child    (Paul Robeson's version)
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen   (Marian Anderson's version)

I want you to listen to all the songs on new download, but concentrate on the ones above for singing.

Project.  For Week 4 (this coming week), I want you to dive into the breadth of this material, as reflected music-wise on the download. Then chose one song in particular for your project. (During Week 5, the following week, we'll concentrate on Mary Don't You Weep--where it comes from, in its many versions, and what it represents. But this first week, listen to the new download, go for range, and then focus on song of your choice.) Note: there are many wonderful songs on the download that you can choose to work from for your project, in addition to the ones above. For example:

Look Down That Lonesome Road  (this is an amazing song, listen carefully to the call and response form, and the poignancy of the verses. Lomax recording, 1930s.)
John the Revelator (Blind Willie Davis version)
If You See My Saviour (the song is by the Reverend Thomas Dorsey, whose version is available on youtube, see below). Here sung by Alex Bradford. This is pure Gospel music.
Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer,  by John Spence, from Andros Island in the Bahamas... A World War II song recast by a powerful Caribbean guitar-playing musician...

YES, this is a lot of material.  I want you to begin to absorb it, and to keep on returning to it over the course of the term. These African American songs will be one of our key sources!
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Here are some related YouTube videos:

Spirituals:
 ▶ Negro spirituals - YouTube

Work songs:
 ▶ Work Songs in a Texas Prison - YouTube
 ▶ Gandy Dancers - YouTube

Gospel:
There are also MANY gospel songs on youtube--it's a whole world unto itself. Look up the difference between "spirituals" and "gospel songs" and consider.

Let's start with a example by the Rev. Thomas Dorsey, one of the Gospel song originators, in an audio recording made when he was young (he published the song in 1929):

 ▶ Thomas Dorsey- If You See My Savior - YouTube

Here's the same song, some fifty years later, in a version from the documentary, Say Amen Somebody. (The film is an excellent  treatment of the Rev. Dorsey's life--and of gospel music as a whole--and this segment in particular remains a treasure.) Rev. Thomas Dorsey singing with Miss Sally Martin--you'll hear their real-time conversation, and see their personalities shining through: 

https://berkeley.box.com/s/yp0m9rei0s850nqv5xhtoqzlesr9w1ue

(The YouTube version was deleted--as happens--so I've given you a Box link to the footage.)
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And finally, another compelling gospel song in a verison by a young girl in the Adventist Church:  
 ▶ Four Days Late - YouTube   (Alisa) The Story of Jesus and Lazarus. Four Days Late has a backstory which I'll present in class. Also, it will figure again  in Week 5 when we look more specifically at Mary Don't You Weep.

Week 3: YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE

Louisiana Gov. Jimmie Davis

The song for this week--You Are My Sunshine. Listen to the version on S&P download--by Jimmy Davis, former governor of Louisiana, with a prior music career  (you can look into this).

https://berkeley.box.com/s/8yvg04lwanoqngvxkh1n4hn1aepn3ikb
This recording is the Norman Blake's version. I think we selected it for the original S&P CD because it was closer to country roots than Jimmy Davis Dixieland-flavored original. See below for two Jimmy Davis versions, one with film footage.

Jimmy Davis sang the song on the campaign trail all over Louisiana in the year 1940. It soon became popular all over the country--and during the war. Bob Dylan at one point said that it was our best song... Why do you think this might be so?

Jimmy Davis
where from
when recorded
the history
precedents (listen to Heavenly Sunshine, see below)

black southern traditions
white southern traditions
their interweaving
learn by finding recordings as specific examples (by date)  

Look into precedents: Laura Henton's Heavenly Sunshine, a gospel song.
Heavenly Sunshine - YouTube - Laura Henton  
You can hear  something of Will the Circle be Unbroken in the melody--but also the dynamics of You Are My Sunshine. (It's on youtube--and you can find this on the American Song Archive, under the Resources post on class blog.) Look for other earlier songs that may have influenced Jimmy Davis--that songs that formed his world. And check Smithsonian Global Sound to see what Folkways Records recorded.

Also listen to Ollie Gilbert's "down home" version, on Max Hunter Archive (also on Resources post). What's the difference between Ollie's version and Jimmy Davis? Why? How will this influence your new project?  You Are My Sunshine - Max Hunter Folk Song Collection - Missouri State University

You Are My Sunshine is not precisely about place. Or is it? Where does it take you, place-wise?

NOTE: Your thoughts about the ideas above--how you explore them, what you find, what sense you make of them--should be reflected on your blog sites!

Ollie Gilbert

Reading: Folk Song America: A 20th Century Revival, Norm Cohen, pps. 33-56 in the Reader. Will give you a good intro and overview through early 1960s.

Project. Many of you really took off with Down in the Valley. Let's see where the new songs leads!

You Are My Sunshine--Other versions: (from YouTube). This is just a smattering of what's out there. I've followed the 50-year rule, of course--which I want you to do as well:

This is Jimmy Davis in the 1940 release:
Jimmie Davis - You Are My Sunshine (1940). - YouTube 

▶ You Are My Sunshine by Gov Jimmie Davis, Scott Innes & Nelson Blanchard - LMHOF 2012 - YouTube 

▶ Gene Autry: You Are My Sunshine - YouTube 
(early 1940s)

You Are My Sunshine by Mississippi John Hurt - YouTube
John Hurt's versions are a delight. We'll spend more time with all of his music later in the semester! (An early 1960s recording, although he would have known the song from long before)

For a very different take, see Jerry Lee Lewis' original version for Sun Records--its own kind of raunchy classic... Jerry Lee Lewis - You Are My Sunshine - YouTube
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And for the historical particularists in the group, here are some sources on how Jimmy Davis himself came by the song:    http://www.rosemontrecords.com/historical.html   This is an article on the song's history. See the name Oliver Hood. And some pre-Jimmy Davis sides:

Pine Ridge Boys (the original recording--August 1939):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvPolI-pBCw 

Rice Brothers Gang (September 1939):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oqjF-txkZ8

Followed by Jimmy Davis version, which became well known...

Note: In the past decade, since this cls began, an incredible amount of new material (and new historical material) has become available online. So that facts, dates, and versions that were at one time very hard to come by now appear generally available. Like the Pine Ridge Boys, just above. In any case, the availability of all these layers is a kind of bounty...

Week 2: DOWN IN THE VALLEY

Walker Evans, Hitchhikers, Vicksburg (vicinity), March 1936

DOWNLOADS. Continue listening to the first three downloads (all the songs in tan songbook and gray songbook). Pick out songs that you'd to do together in class. And sing them so that hyou learn the lyrics... Be sure to include xml files for each download--into your iTunes. If you have any problem, I've posted the xml file info on the Supplements blog http://anthonydubovsky45.blogspot.com/

READING. Start with both the Lomax selections in Reader, pps 1-32. I want you to consider "voice"--who's speaking and why--and (most importantly) how. Don 't be put off by the language from the time when these pieces were written. And don't dismiss it! It tells us a LOT about where the sings come from--that is, how we have them now... The first, Alan Lomax's 1960 book introduction will give you good overview of the "folksong" world as he saw it at the outset of the 1960s folk revival--to which the Alan Lomax's work made an important contribution. (Remember, Alan Lomax and his father, John Lomax made those early field recordings--that's how we have Leadbelly and many others...). The second is the short introduction to an earlier (1947) edition. How are theyt different? How do they reflect the difference between 1947 and 1960?

ONLINE NOTEBOOKS. A couple of you have not yet sent me your blog url--active link to your homepage. Get it to me this week! Everyone should post their first project (FIRST SONG) with your own discussion of how you got there. The work in class in many cases was a good start --likewise our group discussion, which should give you some ideas on how to write about your work...

PROJECT.  Down in the Valley, one of our most mysterious of our songs--even though it seems quite straightforward. The verses you have were "assembled" by John and Alan Lomax. Another version of the song goes by the title Birmingham Jail. The Lomax version is a combination of the two.

Make a visual response to the song. Personal component and cultural stream component, as discussed in class. Some of both? Medium is open, but see if you can get at the expressive qualities of the song--the space, the time, the feelings involved...

Let your hand show...

The Cumberland Gap

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Here's the anonymous version on our S&P CD:  https://berkeley.app.box.com/s/znpnbyxgb80hd08i1q3k/1/1158164561/10427014277/1

The following is a quick sampler to get you started. I expect you to follow your own path using the RESOURCES archives which we got a start with in class.

Darby & Tarlton-Birmingham Jail - YouTube  1927
Burl Ives - 08 - Down in the Valley - YouTube   
The classic folkways master... also an actor--something we should discuss. 1958?
Andy Griffith - Down In The Valley - YouTube  
1950s American tv. Consider... You Angelinos, see also Gene Autry recorded on Okeh...

And here are two Max Hunter Archive recordings (Ollie Gilbert apparently did not record this song):
http://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=264  
Rev. Harold Hunter and Max Hunter, Max Hunter Folk Song Collection
http://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=489  
Jimmy Morris, Max Hunter Folk Song Collection

And it turns out that we can also trace the Anglo-Irish origins of the song--as in this recording by Irish musician Tommy Makem:   
The Connemara Cradle Song - YouTube
Close enough that you'll hear the connection! By the way, I recall that this question of precedents comes up on a Down in the Valley thread on Mudcat (Digital Tradition). You can hunt it up. Back to mid-19th century England/Ireland. The roots of the song...

And then, from a different perspective entirely...

Down in the Valley, the Ikettes version:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JK1BaPUT44
That's Tina Turner when she was still with Ike. Ask me for stories on this.

Solomon Burke - Down In The Valley - YouTube 1965
The song returned to it's source--by the EMPEROR... Solomon Burke passed away two years ago--and a lot of his material is no longer up on YouTube. Nevertheless, his version of the song is really worth paying attention--how he re-incorporated Down In the Valley into his own soul-singer world. He also tells a powerful story about  performing the song in Louisiana at what  turned out to be a Ku Klux Klan event. (Last thing Solomon Burke expected--he told his band--"No matter what happens, just keep on playin'...") Look into this to see another aspect of American social history--a difficult one--and its connection to the music...  Otis Redding does a similar version... And you have the Ikettes, above (Tina Turner). And Leadbelly, of couse, late 1940s.

American Song and Smithsonian Archives. I made a separate post for the Archive material. Following.