Vermont Ballads & Broadsides

70 minute CD and 41 page booklet of lyrics and background information Whetstone Records 01 1989

"Come all ye good people, attend for a while to a story I will unfold... " So begins many a tale in the broadside ballad tradition where journalistic narrative songs reported historical events and legendary tales, and reflected local living conditions.

1. The Marlboro Medley, 1787, gives an extensive list of items used for barter between the farm family and the peddler. (Dulcimer)
2. The Ballad of Runaway Pond describes the historic 1810 day in Glover when the men diverted water from one pond to another.
3. Ballad of Pudding Hill tells of the life of early settlers in Lyndonville. (Dulcimer)
4. The Ballad of Devil's Hill celebrates a place name in Peacham. (Dulcimer)
5. Incidents in the History of Vermont describes pioneer life in Calais. (Dulcimer)
6. Margery Grey - by Julia Dorr, tells of a lost pioneer woman of Rockingham.
7. The Legend of Duncan Campbell A Scottish legend of the 1758 Battle of Ticonderoga. © 1989 Margaret MacArthur (Dulcimer)
8. The Song of the Vermonters 1779 celebrates Vermonters' defiance of "York" and "Hampshire". (Dulcimer)
9. The Banks of Champlain tells of the Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814. (Guitar: Dan, Bass: Megan)
10. Hugh Williams lost his eyesight in a Fairhaven slate quarry in 1867. (Lead singer: Megan)
11. The Pucker Street Song by Timothy Hazeltine, is of a blacksmith's bound boy in 1825. (Harp-zither)
12. The West Rutland Marble Bawn tells of Irish emigrant James Carney's employment in a marble quarry.
13. In Sugarin' Time is Helen Winslow's moving tribute to a farm woman of the last century. (Harp-zither)

This recording has been endorsed by the Vermont Statehood Bicentennial Commission as providing an interesting perspective on Vermont and Vermonters.

Yankee Magazine, July& August 2001, selected this CD as one of The Yankee Top 40.

This is a creative anthology that draws expertly from a wide variety of sources and resources to illustrate a vision of Vermont history. The notes indicate exactly how she has constructed her synthesis.

Neal V. Rosenberg,
Journal of American Folklore, Summer 1992

Margaret MacArthur has done her usual excellent research in hunting out approppriate tunes. One of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces is Helen Winslow's 19th century poem In Sugarin' Time.

Dr. Kenneth S. Goldstein,
Come All Ye Review Journal, 1991