Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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On the final day of the 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, activities shifted indoors due to inclement weather. Although the storm never came, the cavernous halls of the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building afforded ideal acoustics for a one-time-only round robin of a cappella ballads from the Ozarks region of the United States. Ozarks scholar Brooks Blevins introduces the session by defining ballad, simply, as a “story song.”

Musicians:
- Chris Brashear, “The Greatest Midwestern Fear” (0:52)
- @Willi-Carlisle, “I Gave My Love a Cherry” (2:30)
- @cindywoolf8440, “Silver Dagger” (4:30)
- Mark Bilyeu, “Wild Rover” (6:24)
- Marideth Sisco, “Big Yellow Peaches” (8:38)
- Chris Brasher & all, “The Rivers of Texas” (10:34)

Editing: Hayden Draycott
Photo: Phillip R. Lee

Catalog No. CFV11716; © Smithsonian Institution, 2024