Dear Listeners to Catskills Folk,
I want to share with you a wonderful carol from the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Here in the Catskills we can think of ourselves as being in the Northern Appalachians, having a lot in common with mountian dwellers to the south.
This carol, "Brightet and Best", is not necessarily a folk song because it was composed in England. Then it made its way to the United States where it survived for many generations in the oral tradition of the Ritchie family of Viper, Kentucky. Jean Ritchie, a well-known folk singer through much of the 20th century, learned to sing it from her grandmother.
There are a number of renditions of "Brightest and Best" on YouTube, but none by Jean Ritchie herself. So I've included as your holiday present a link to the McLain Family singing the carol, and another link to Jean singing a song of her own composition, "Wintergrace."
McLain Family singing "Brightest and Best"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAk_te3mw7U
Jean Ritchie singing "Wintergrace"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvusiOLOHgA&feature=related
Happy Holidays,
Ginny
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