Words, music, and origins of over 300 folk songs, including such old time favorites as John Henry, Shenandoah, Barbara Allen, Sweet Betsy, and the Old Chisholm Trail, as well as scores of lesser-known, authentic shanties, ballads, work songs, and spirituals.

Songs are organized first by geography, then by category:

Part I: The North

  • Old Colony Times
  • Yankee Soldiers and Sailors
  • Shouters and Shakers
  • Pioneers
  • Timber Tigers
  • Workers and Farmers
  • The Maritime Provinces

Part II: The Southern Mountains and Backwoods

  • Across the Blue Ridge
  • The Old Ballads
  • Lonesome Love Songs
  • Frolic Tunes
  • White Spirituals
  • Rowdy Ways
  • Murder Ballads
  • Hard Times and Hillbilly

Part III: The West

  • The Mississippi
  • Plainsmen and 49ers
  • Soldiers and Renegades
  • Cowboys
  • Prairie Farmers
  • Railroaders and Hoboes
  • The Last West