On WIOX Radio 91.3 FM or wioxradio.org Tonight

On Catskills Folk, tonight December 5 at 7 p.m., hear about passing traditions from generation to generation, including examples from the Seeger family, singing families from the Adirondacks and the Southern Appalachians, and Jane DeWitt of Delhi, who builds stone walls.

Sara Cleveland, born in the early 20th century, is recognized as one of the most prominent singers of traditional ballads and songs, with a pure soprano voice even in her later years.  She learned songs from her parents who sang at home, and went on to collect songs from neighbors and friends, as well as extended family members in the southeastern Adirondacks.  Together she and her mother put together a family album of songs numbering in the hundreds.

  

It was Sara's son, Jim, who realized she could perform in venues that were part of the folk music revival of the mid-20th century.  He encouraged her and soon she was singing at national folk festivals.  She in turn encouraged her granddaughter to perform at an early age.  After Sara died in 1987 Jim began performing with that granddaughter, his daughter, Colleen.

Elizabeth LaPrelle is a singer from rural Virginia.  She too grew up in a family of singers and gathered her repertoire from family members, neighbors and friends.  To this she added field recordings of old time singers, learning from them even though many of the singers had passed on.  Her voice is not the smooth soprano of Sara Cleveland, but resembles the more gravely tones of the old time singers who, by the time they were recorded, had voices that were no longer smooth.

Elizabeth's mother, Sandy, who also grew up in a singing family, now accompanies her daughter in concerts and on recordings with vocal harmony.  

Together these family musical histories show how important it is to keep on singing at home, as a part of every day life.  Traditional music is not necessarily a solo undertaking.  At the very least it takes a singer and a listener to perpetuate the tradition, but hopefully many more.

Catskills Folk on a future date will present field recordings of early Catskills singers from the collection of singer Ira McIntosh, to see if we can be inspired by them as was Elizabeth LaPrelle when she heard field recordings from her region.