LL-L "Folklorel" 2002.10.16 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: George M Gibault gmg at direct.ca
Subject: LL-L "Folklore" 2002.10.16 (01) [E]

Hi!

It was great to hear from Richard on the Bell witch. Sorry I mixed up the
free state of Franklin with the free states of Jones and Winston which were
civil war phenomena. I found that the counties of Ashe, Watauga, and
Allegheny (possibly also Yadkin?) in western North Carolina were so
isolated they were sometimes called the Lost Provinces.

Major James Grayson organized union volunteers from this region  - and I
guess that is where I got confused. There is an excellent article on "Music
 From The Lost Provinces" (Old Time String Bands 1927-1931) on the web  as
liner notes from a 1997 CD by this title (which I don't have yet), but
which is available from County sales, Elderly Instruments and Roots&Rhythm.
Grayson's nephew, G.B. became a famous fiddler.

I also stumbled on an ad for a new book - Enemies of the Country New
Perspectives on Unionists in the Civil War South edited by John C. Inscoe
and Robert Kenzer for the University of Georgia press. It contains articles
both on the Appalachian unionists and on the Texas German unionists.

The haunting old Scots ghost ballad The Wife of Usher's Well survives in
North America as "The Lady Gay".It has often been collected in the
Appalachians and Ozarks. To show you how easy it is to argue about the
presence of supernatural elements, the meaning of the lines:

"There was a lady and a lady gay
And children she had three
She sent them away to a northern school
To learn their gramaree"

are disputed. Does gramaree mean the innocent "grammar" or the sinister
"gramercy" (sorcery?)

It is a bit like conspiracy theories - depending on the eye of the beholder.

Best wishes to all                      George

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