House Carpenter- Hite (VA) 1936 Wilkinson MS Bronson 26
[My title. From Bronson TTCB, III, 1966; No. 26 as taken from Wilkinson's MS.
Winston Wilkinson worked with Arthur Kyle Davis, Jr. collecting and transcribing ballads, fiddle tunes and songs in the 1930s. "In March of 1934 Davis was able to obtain some funding from the Civil Works Administration, one of the Depression-generated New Deal programs. With that assistance he hired John Stone to collect folksongs and Winston Wilkinson to transcribe music." Wilkinson also contributed his article “Virginia Dance Tunes” to Southern Folklore Quarterly in March 1942. Davis also published More Traditional Ballads of Virginia in 1960 with Winston Wilkinson's transcriptions. Wilkinson also illustrated "Virginia Fiddle Tunes."
R. Matteson 2013]
From: The Virginia Folklore Society: A Retrospective
The Arthur Kyle Davis, Jr. Years: Meetings of the Society were held intermittently between 1924 and 1967, with both the purpose and organization of the Society becoming less clearly defined and apparent. There were periods of intensive collecting, recording and publishing, alternating with intervals of relative inactivity with regard to folklore.
In 1929, Arthur Kyle Davis, Jr. completed his initial work as editor and published 51 ballads collected under the auspices of the Society in Traditional Ballads in Virginia.
In March of 1934 Davis was able to obtain some funding from the Civil Works Administration, one of the Depression-generated New Deal programs. With that assistance he hired John Stone to collect folksongs and Winston Wilkinson to transcribe music. The project only lasted three weeks, but in that short time Stone managed to add another 89 songs to the Society's archive.
House Carpenter [The Daemon Lover]- Sung by Mrs. Fred Hite (Thaxton, VA) 1936 (C) Wilkinson MS
Bronson's Query- if the original key signature was nor intended for three flats? A Mixolydian variant here would be surprising, and I have assumed the Dorian on the strength of the powerful tradition. But observe Sharp's note to variant 30 following, variant 31.
1. If you will forsaken your house carpenter,
And go along with me,
I will take you where the grass grows green,
On the banks of sweet Willie.
2. She picked up her sweet little babe,
And kisses gave it three;
Saying, stay at home, my sweet litte babe,
And keep your father's company.
3. They had not been on sea two weeks,
I am sure it was not three,
Until she began to weep,
And wept most bitterly.
4. Are you weeping for your house carpenter?
Or are you weeping for your store?
Or are you weeping for your sweet little babe,
Whose face you shill see no more?
5. I am not weeping for my house carpenter,
Nor neither for your store;
But I am weeping for my sweet little babe,
Whose face I shall see no more.