Returning to the Far Past: Isaac Garfield Greer’s Ballad Collection

Returning to the Far Past: Isaac Garfield Greer’s Ballad Collection Revisited
By Travis A. Rountree

[Travis A. Rountree teaches in the English Department at Appalachian State University and also at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute. He graduated from the Cratis D. Williams Graduate School at Appalachian with a Master’s in English and a certificate in Appalachian Studies.]


In his 1968 article on Isaac Garfield Greer, Arthur Palmer Hudson notes that Greer was “not a folklore scholar, and he published almost nothing. But he was a perambulating anthology of NC folklore” (63). [See Hudson article: http://bluegrassmessengers.com/isaac-garfield-greer-1881-1967--hudson-1968.aspx] While Hudson did not consider Greer a folklorist, Greer did indeed contribute greatly to the continuing knowledge of Western North Carolina balladry. He traveled throughout Western North Carolina collecting ballads from his home county, Watauga. Later in his life, Greer continued the ballad tradition by performing them to audiences both nationally and internationally. Through examining Greer’s biography and two of the ballads that he frequently sang to audiences, we can see how he wanted people to appreciate the literary and historical significance of these ballads.

Growing up in Zionville, North Carolina, Greer was around people who sang local ballads like “Tom Dula” (a spelling that Greer demanded, noting that he knew a soldier who had served with Dula in the Civil War), “Frankie Silver,” and “Claude Allen.” Along with these local ballads, he also heard ones that derived from Scottish, Irish, and English traditions such as “Black Jack Davy,” “Beaulampkins,” and “The Old Arm Chair.” Greer expanded on his local mountain education when he went to college at the Appalachian Training School (now Appalachian State University) where he graduated in 1906. From 1906 to 1910 he continued his education at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (Hudson 63).

[photo: I.G. Greer and Willie Spainhour Greer. Isaac Garfield Greer Papers, W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C.]

Before graduating from UNC in 1910, Greer had the opportunity of meeting folklorist C. Alphonso Smith. After Greer recited ballads for Smith’s class, Smith told him, “The day is coming when the ballad and folk song will be taught as literature and music wherever the English tongue is known. Go back to the hills, Greer, and collect every ballad and folk song you can find, because the day is coming when it will be appreciated” (Greer “North Carolina Folk Songs”). Greer followed the advice of his professor and went back to his mountain home of Watauga County where he taught government and history at Appalachian State Teachers College until 1932. While there, he collected and performed numerous ballads from Watauga County residents.

While Greer collected he also performed these ballads for the entertainment of national and international audiences. Joseph Robinson wrote in the Winston Journal and Sentinel that in November of 1931 Greer entertained author Sherwood Anderson (who also resided in the Appalachians in Southwest Virginia). Robinson remarked that “Professor Greer combines various gifts as a ballad singer. He sings the old folk songs as he heard them sung as a boy, which is the manner in which they should be sung, for his manner of singing is that which came down out of the far past” (Robinson). From his comments Robinson affirms that Greer attempted to reconstruct the ballads of Europe as they were passed down in Western North Carolina. Some of the characters in these ballads would have certainly entertained Anderson, who is noted for the unusual and “grotesque” characters and events in his novel Winesburg, Ohio.

In 1932 Greer decided to leave his beloved Watauga County and move to Thomasville, N.C., where he became the superintendent of the N.C. Baptist Orphanage. Soon after, he returned to Chapel Hill where he was an executive of the Business Foundation of the University of North Carolina. While out of the mountains, Greer continued to give speeches and recite ballads around the state. The voluminous correspondence in the I.G. Greer Collection at Appalachian State illustrates the high demand for Greer’s performances throughout the state of North Carolina and often nationwide. Greer himself explains the ballad form and how he would recite them during these performances:

The ballad singer doesn’t have a trained voice; you’ll soon find that out. The trained voice doesn’t interpret the ballads. And this is truly an interpretation. The ballad is a story that you sing. It isn’t a ballad unless you sing it. It isn’t a ballad unless it tells a story. The ballad singer doesn’t sing for entertainment. He sings for his own satisfaction. He’s telling the story of someone else. He’s completely absorbed in the story that he’s telling and he’s oblivious to the crowd about him. He’s telling the story, the story that took place somewhere. (Greer, “Talk at the G.F. Women’s Club Asheville, NC”)

Through this statement we can see how Greer approached ballads as an objective singer who sings to entertain himself rather than for the appreciation of an audience. This idea dates back to when ballad singing was a pastime for farmers who worked hard in the field and used the music as a means of entertainment in the evenings after all the farm work was done.

While Greer collected ballads from Watauga County residents in North Carolina, he often made changes to the ballads that he recorded in order to bring them back to their European roots. These changes illustrate that Greer was trying to make the ballad more European and take away the oftentimes rough American translation of the ballad. Through these changes he was trying to deconstruct the hillbilly stereotype and edit the ballad to render a more medieval theme. Greer recalled the reaction of London professors to his ballad performances:

We gave a performance at the Cecil Sharp House in London. Some of the professors from Oxford were there that evening, and they came up and said, “Greer, we thank you. You’ve preserved the English ballad truer to its original form in the rural areas of America than we have in England…Be careful about this: don’t jazz them, don’t commercialize them, and sing them as you’ve been singing them, without any accompaniment.” (Greer, “North Carolina Folk Songs”)

These comments show that Greer was able to change the ballads that he recorded into renditions that fit within the parameters of the Child ballads. He did bend the rules of ballad collecting by changing a few words of those from whom he collected; however, he did it to create an appreciation for mountain ballads that shows their link to European balladry. He no longer wanted his audiences to associate this music with Appalachian stereotypes, but rather as ballads that were passed down through generations, ballads that evoked images of European lords and ladies. He wanted these ballads to be celebrated for their literary and historical value.

Greer’s concern for these ballads exceeded his performance on stage. As he collected the ballads, he submitted many of them to Duke University where they were published in the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore. He also recorded many ballads and anecdotes for the Library of Congress, which are included in the Anglo-American Ballads (AFS L 7) and the Anglo-American Songs and Ballads Collections (AFS L 12 and AFS L 14). To continue his legacy of ballad collecting and preservation, Greer’s relatives donated most of his hand-written ballad collection to the W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection at Appalachian State University in 1971.


Perhaps two of Greer’s most interesting ballads that kept both him and his audience “completely absorbed” were “Black Jack David” and “Beaulampkins.” These ballads were derived from Child ballads and involve the dark side of humanity, a side that Greer forced many people to see as he recited these ancient ballads. The historical significance of these ballads is evident through the variations found in the collection and how they compare to the earlier Child versions. By briefly citing some of the lines of the ballads we can also speculate about Greer’s reasons for choosing to perform these particular ballads. One of the ballads that Greer performed the most was “Black Jack Davy,” sometimes cited as “Black Jack David.” His particular interest
in this song is evident in his frequent use of it during his performances. While the Child ballad “Johnny Faa” relates to “Black
Jack Davy,” “The Gypsy Laddie” (Child 200) is perhaps the closer rendition of the ballad. However, Bertrand Harris Bronson in The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads cites 128 versions of “The Gypsy Laddie.”

All versions of these ballads include the theme of a woman who leaves her husband and child and goes to live with a lower-class man who is a gambler and an outlaw. Albert Friedman writes that in the Scottish version the “husband recovers his wife and hangs the abductor and his accomplices. No American ballad has this ending. Rather, the Lady scoffs at her husband and refuses to return, though upon reflection she comes to feel none too happy with her new lot” (105). Greer’s versions agree with Friedman’s comments containing the unsatisfied wife at the end of the ballad. While the American version is not as dramatic as the previous Scottish version, it still contains the dramatic topic of infidelity. Despite the discrepancies that occur among “Black Jack Davy,” “The House Carpenter,” and “The Daemon Lover” it is even more interesting to note that there are many different variants of “Black Jack Davy” included in the Greer file. All of them represent a dignified, interesting ballad that contains both
literary and historical elements.

Greer’s first three versions begin with the narrative of Black Jack Davy as he rides through the woods “singing so loud / and merry, that the green hills / all around him rang” as he “charmed the heart of a Lady” (Variant 1, lines 2-3). In the second stanza the first variation differs from the other two. It seems that Greer marked out “honey” and replaced it with “Lady.” This change could have been made for two reasons. One could be a natural human error, as Greer collected numerous ballads from throughout Watauga County. The second could be that Greer wanted the song to become more formalized. The word “honey” is a departure from the European roots of the song that date back as early as 1630 in the Skene Manuscripts (Bronson 198). The first variant again differs from the other two versions as Greer pencils in an exclamation point after the girl answers Black Jack Davy with a “Gee, he, he” (line 13). This exclamation point shows the initial excitement and anxiety of the girl as Black Jack Davy flirts with her. It reveals how she knows that leaving with Black Jack Davy is finally an escape for her to leave her husband and child and flee to a life of freedom.

Despite these changes in variations, Greer retained the original theme of the ballad. He was celebrating the ballad in various ways. The first was that he was trying to have his audience be impressed by the ballad, which seems to be why he changed the couple of words. He removed the local colloquial expressions in order to make the ballad understandable to a more refined audience and to dispel the stereotypes of the Appalachian dialect. Secondly, when he performed the ballad he pronounced every word and did not use a local dialect. Often backed by his wife on her dulcimer, his deep bass voice trembled through the words clearly. Thirdly, we see the telling of a tale that kept the audience’s attention the entire time. By the end of the song
Greer shows us how the woman’s love to Black Jack Davy has gone cold and that she is no longer satisfied. As is typical in traditional ballads, the last verse does not moralize, but simply makes the realistic lesson that the woman must suffer penance for leaving her husband and child. The only thing that she has now is Black Jack Davy and his poverty-stricken living conditions.

Another ballad that Greer performed numerous times and one which stands out for its particularly gruesome nature is “Beaulampkins.” This ballad’s roots trace back to the Child ballad “Lamkins” (Child II 93). The versions that are in the Greer file are “Beaulampkins” and the more Americanized version “Bold Adkins.” Both versions focus on an unpaid hired worker who is involved in a graphic infanticide. This ballad is important in the collection because of its clear transition from the European version to the American version. Greer more than likely picked it to perform because of its drama and also because of the European history that it entails. It is particularly interesting to look closely at this ballad and decipher the reason why Greer felt that this ballad would be an appropriate one to recite to his numerous audiences.

At the beginning of the ballad we are introduced to Beaulampkins’ troubles with his landlord. The ballad states that Beaulampkins “was as fine a mason /As ever laid stone / He built a fine castle” however for “pay he got none” (“Beaulampkins” lines 1-4). Clearly there is an injustice present in this verse where Beaulampkins has built a whole castle for the landlord, yet he has not been paid for his work. In the second verse in both songs we see the potential for danger from the disgruntled hired help. In “Bold Adkins” as the landlord leaves he tells his wife to “be ware of Bold Adkins / He comes unbenown [sic]” (“Bold Adkins” lines 7-8). This interpretation signifies Bold Adkins as a man who stays in the shadows preying on unsuspecting women. However, in “Beaulampkins” the landlord tells his wife to beware of Beaulampkins “should he catch you alone” (line  8). However, in both variations the wife is indignant to her husband’s warnings: in “Bold Adkins” she even states, “What cares I for Adkins” (lines 9-10). This continual rising action has listeners wanting to hear more. We know that something is going to happen, but we are not sure. The story itself is compelling to us as listeners because of its curious scenario.

The two variations split in the next verse; however, they still have
the hired help finding his way into the home. After he makes his way
into the home, the ballad takes a turn to the gruesome. Beaulampkins,
wanting to see the Lady of the house, states that he will “get her
down” by “stick[ing] her little baby / full of needles and pins”
(“Beaulampkins” line 30, 31). Interestingly, in the “Beaulampkins”
text Beaulampkins “rocked [the baby] hard / And the false nurse
she sung / While the tears and red blood / From the cradle did run”
(lines 33-36). These descriptions graphically show that Beaulampkins
brutally stabs the baby and then rocks it to death. As he commits this
murder the false nurse is in the background singing, proving that she was working with Beaulampkins. This gruesome scene grabs the
audience’s attention and shows the brutality of Beaulampkins and
the false nurse; such a scene could be easily spotted in contemporary
graphic horror films. The scene serves as shock value and helps to
enforce the cruelty of Beaulampkins. As the teller, Greer surely enjoyed
capturing his audience’s attention at this point. Though this is
a particularly gory scene, Greer is helping to perpetuate the history
of the text by continuing to sing it in all its horrific glory to the public.
Next in the ballad, the lady makes her first pleading offer of money
to Beaulampkins, who quickly rejects it. Then she attempts to appeal
to Beaulampkins’ emotions: “Oh spare me Beaulampkins / Oh spare
me awhile / Don’t you hear how mournful / My little baby does cry”
(lines 45-48). This plea is authentic; however the next offering by
the Lady shows that her motherly traits do not last. While she first
appears distraught over the loss of her baby, she then offers up her
daughter’s life to save her own. She states, “Oh spare me
Beaulampkins / Oh spare me one hour / And you shall have my
daughter Betsy / My own blooming flower” (lines 49-52). We can
assume that Greer would know that these types of appeals would cause
an emotional reaction from the audience. He has used the spoken
word to create a response, an action that is indicative of all great
written and spoken texts.

In reply, the mason in both versions does not accept the offer given by the Lady but reject her with a harsh reply stating, “You can keep your daughter Betsey/ To wade through the flood./ And to scour the silver basin/ that catch your hearts blood” (“Bold Adkins” lines 41-44). This verse establishes yet another level of gruesomeness from Bold Adkins. He will not take Betsey; instead, he will force her to watch her own mother’s death, and then clean up after the murder. The final verse in both ballads is just as gruesome and violent as the earlier acts. The landlord returns to find his family murdered and has the worker hung from the “gallows so high” while the false nurse was “burned / at a stake standing close by” for her possible links to the murders (“Beaulampkins” lines 65-68). The landlord revokes the worker’s power and ends up killing both him and the false
nurse. The final statement in the ballad seems to be that the landlord still retains control of the situation; however, we never see any sort of reconciliation on the side of the worker or the landlord. Neither seeks penance for the wrong that they have done, whereas in “Black Jack Davy” we at least hear of the wife’s regret for leaving her wealthy husband. This ballad style appeals to the human desire for sensationalism because of its use of brutal violence; however, by couching the violence in the medieval setting of Scotland, it seems more remote and therefore less horrific to the audience.

In closing we may ask: Why did Greer pick these two ballads, out of the numerous that he collected, to perform? Why are they so compelling to study? It seems that I.G. Greer particularly enjoyed performing these ballads because of their historical and literary elements. As with any good piece of history or literature, there always seems to be some sort of drama or conflict. “Black Jack Davy” shows the difficulties of a marital relationship that resulted in both the husband and the wife’s broken hearts. “Beaulampkins” illustrates (and exaggerates) the consequences for a man who has not paid his help. These two ballads portray basic human qualities that are found in any piece of good fiction. The two actions that occur in the ballads are two that continue in our society today. In a memory book in the Greer File, D.C. Redmond writes a note that Greer once said, “Get this, a man ignorant of the past is not trustworthy of the future” (Greer, “Memory Book”). By acknowledging the common experiences from the ancient ballads Greer collected, we are able to connect them to our experiences in modern life. It would seem that Greer would be happy to see these connections and recognize that the ballads that he collected are still as valuable to us today in the digital age as when he gathered them by hand, sitting on the porches of his fellow mountaineers.

Footnotes:

Musical notation to a variant of “Black Jack Davy” (“Gypsy Laddie”Child 200, Brown 37). Isaac Garfield Greer Papers, W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C.

WORKS CITED
Bronson, Bertrand Harris. “Gypsy Laddie.” The Traditional Tunes of
the Child Ballads; According to the Extant Records of Great
Britain and America. Vol. III. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1966. 198.
——. “Lampkins.” The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads;
According to the Extant Records of Great Britain and America.
Vol. II Princeton: Princeton UP, 1962. 428.
Friedman, Albert. The Penguin Book of Folk Ballads of the English-
Speaking World. New York: The Viking Press, 1956.
Hudson, Arthur Palmer. “Isaac Garfield Greer (1881-1967)” North
GREER’S BALLAD COLLECTION REVISITED
NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE JOURNAL 56.1
20
Carolina Folklore Journal 16 (May 1968): 63-64.
Greer, Isaac Garfield. “Beaulampkins.” Sept 1915. Unpublished
manuscript. Isaac Garfield Greer Papers, W.L. Eury Appalachian
Collection, Appalachian State U, Boone, NC.
——. “‘Black Jack David,’ Variant 1.” n.d. Unpublished manuscript.
Isaac Garfield Greer Papers, W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection,
Appalachian State U, Boone, NC.
——. “‘Black Jack Davy,’ Variant 2.” n.d. Unpublished manuscript.
Isaac Garfield Greer Papers, W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection,
Appalachian State U, Boone, NC.
——. “‘Black Jack Davy,’ Variant 3.” n.d. Unpublished manuscript.
Isaac Garfield Greer Papers, W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection,
Appalachian State U, Boone, NC.
——. “‘Black Jack Davy,’ Variant 4.” 6 June 1957, Isaac Garfield Greer
Papers, Audio Files Series, W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection,
Appalachian State U, Boone, NC.
——. “Bold Adkins.” n.d. Unpublished manuscript. Isaac Garfield
Greer Papers, W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian
State U, Boone, NC.
——. Memory Book 1932, Envelope 1. Unpublished manuscript. Isaac
Garfield Greer Papers, W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection,
Appalachian State U, Boone, NC.
——. “North Carolina Folk Songs and Ballads.” The Bookmark.
Chapel Hill: Friends of the U of North Carolina Library, July 1966.
——.“Talk at the G.F. Women’s Club Asheville, NC,” 6 June 1957,
Isaac Garfield Greer Papers, Audio Files Series, W.L. Eury
Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State U, Boone, NC.
Robinson,