John Jacob Niles (1892–1980)

John Jacob Niles was a noteworthy folk musician. That's the good news. The bad news is, he never realized that being a folk musician did not make him a genuine scholar. There is overwhelming evidence that some of the things in this book, rather than being songs Niles collected in tradition, are fakes that he made up. Even the material that may be genuinely traditional is poorly researched. The results simply cannot be trusted. It is truly sad that Niles didn't release a John Jacob Niles songbook; had he owned to what he had done, the songs might have done quite well.… (more)

A lovely work, following Child's ballads to the United states. It includes the music and for many of the ballads, along with piano accompaniment and guitar chord suggestions.

All the verses which Niles collected are included, and he compares the version collected with the Child ballads, and sometimes includes the story of how the ballad was collected, which adds an interesting dimension.

This is a great book for anyone interested in oral history and music collecting, or American folk music.… (more)