The Songs and Ballads of Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill

"My grandma, Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill, was the last of the Tyler ballad singing family from Kentucky. The Tylers were very private people and kept their music in the family. They had their own way of tuning all the instruments and their own ways of playing them, and they only allowed family members to know those techniques.

-Acie Cargill

The Songs and Ballads of Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill is a recording of songs passed down from the tradition of the Tyler family. This is a singular collection, representing a tradition that had ceased transmission with the death of Hattie Cargill, and had never before been recorded. The decision to share, record and perform the Tyler's music was made by Hattie's grandson Acie, the last to have learned the Tyler's style and repertoire from his grandmother. Among the unique aspects of the Tyler's style is the uncommon accompaniment of ballads with varied instrumentation, vocal harmony, and even the exchanging of parts; another is the Tyler guitar noting style, which involved drop-thumb playing with the index finger thrusting downward.

The Songs and Ballads of Hattie Cargill presents traditional songs, including seven Child ballads, and some ballads possibly written by Cargill herself. One song, "The Death of Young Robert", may have derived from Cargill's community role as a singer for those nearing death. Together, this collection preserves an exceptional, longstanding and obscure tradition - in the words of Sandy Paton, "the Tylers seem to have discovered their own way of presenting these songs of reach other's pleasure, and used it creatively"