A C1543
Artist: Phyllis Marks
Album/Event: Folksongs and Ballads
Tracks: Lord Lovel, Dandoo, Go Down to Old Ireland, One Morning in May, Three Men Went A-Hunting, Mary of the Wild Moor, Nathan Killed the Bell Cow, Ven’mous Viper, When the Palefaces Came, Nobody, Bow and Balance to Me, Paper of Pins, Devil and the Old Woman;
The Friendly Beasts, The Cherry Tree Carol, Froggie Went A-Courtin’, Orphan Girl, Old King Cole, St. Peter at the Gate, Bluebell, Get Up and Bar the Door, Willie My Son, Make Folks Smile, Thompson’s Mule, Molly Bender
Collected/Recorded by: Gerry Milnes
Date: 11/29/1990, 1/11/1991, 1/18/1991
Location: Glenville, WV
Notes: Folksongs and ballads from field recordings volume 2 of 3. Notes from field log: Marks was born in 1927 at Sand Fork in Gilmer County, WV. She began singing at a young age and still recalls her first song, a numerous ditty about a fiddle, memorized to perform in school. Phyllis, like her mother and true to their Irish heritage, has a vast store of old songs, ditties, poems, recitations, and sayings that come out naturally in response to everyday situations. Her repertoire includes a large number of “Child Ballads” as well as American and Irish songs. She often sang as she rocked her four children to sleep and jokes that she needs a rocking chair to sing. Her husband, Jesse, is also a singer and has taught shape note singing in Gilmer County for many years. At age 14, Phyllis’ sight began to fail. Today, she is totally blind nd has a constant companion in Sarah, her seeing-eye dog.
The Milnes Collection contains audio-visual recordings made and collected by the Augusta Heritage Center’s former Folk Arts Coordinator, Gerald Milnes. Throughout his career with Augusta, Milnes conducted field work to amass a large collection of oral histories, music, and event recordings. He recorded the bulk of the collection from the early 1970s to 2013, but the collection also includes tapes with earlier dates that others sent to him.