Sang Branch Settlers: Folksongs and Tales of a Kentucky Mountain Family

Along the isolated headwaters of the Kentucky River Cutshin and Greasy creeks folklorist Leonard Roberts found the Couches, a remarkable mountain family of gifted memory and imagination. For half a century they had preserved the traditional ways of their forebears the farming methods, the household arts, and the games, ballads, dances, and tales that were their chief entertainment.

This fascinating volume presents a great deal of raw data of three types, plus some limited analysis. The material all stems from one group of Appalachian kinsmen as an illustration of a particular heritage of oral literature.

Part I consists of an outline of the major informants and their lives, told largely in their own words. Part II is a compendium of 100 songs, ballads and hymns, presented with music. Many appear to be previously unknown. Part III is a collection of sixty-one stories, riddles, and jokes, recorded verbatim. Part IV, appendixes, presents some analysis of each separate item, noting previous instances of recording and suggesting some derivations.