This month, we delve into the life and legacy of the legendary Appalachian ballad singer Texas Gladden. Read all about her remarkable career and lasting influence in our new entry, and be sure to join us on February 4 for an exclusive EntryPoint event with contributors Daniel Bachman and Aldona Dye, with a special guest appearance by folk singer Elizabeth LaPrelle, who will discuss Gladden's influence on her work.
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Texas Gladden was a folk singer from Smyth County known for her renditions of traditional English ballads and other folk songs. She was first recorded singing the traditional ballads for which she became known by the Virginia Folklore Society in 1932. She performed at the White Top Folk Festival throughout the 1930s and was recorded in 1941 by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress’s Archive of American Folk Song. Lomax considered Gladden “one of the best American ballad singers ever recorded,” able to put what she called “little grace notes” in her renditions of songs. Her performances of folk tunes such as “The Devil’s Nine Questions” and “Mary Hamilton” are considered the standard of Appalachian ballad singing and were influential in the mid-century folk-music revival and continue to influence folk-music performers today.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of University of Virginia Special Collections
Wednesday
February
4
EntryPoint: Little Grace Notes: The Life and Legacy of Texas Gladden
12PM-1PM
Virtual
Join EV Managing Editor Patti Miller and folklorists Daniel Bachman and Aldona Dye to discuss the career and legacy of famed Appalachian ballad singer Texas Gladden. We’ll be joined by Elizabeth LaPrelle, who will reflect on the influence Gladden has had on her music as she brings traditional ballads into the twenty-first century.
The Virginia Folklore Society (VFS) was a pioneering folklore-collecting organization that was active from 1913 until the early 2000s. It was one of the first state folklore societies in the United States, and it created some of the first records of folklore and folk song in Virginia. From an early focus on collecting traditional English ballads in the isolated communities of the Appalachian Mountain region, the organization’s focus later expanded to include other folk songs, fiddle tunes, guitar, spirituals and other religious songs, Civil War and American history songs, and miscellaneous folklore. The earliest material of folk singers Texas Gladden and Horton Barker are documented in the recordings.
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