Folksongs of Vermont

Born in 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, Margaret MacArthur spent her childhood moving around the western United States. Her first contact with folk music came in 1933, when her father began work at an Arizona timber company with displaced cowboys and folk singers who had collected songs throughout their travels. In 1948 MacArthur moved to Vermont, where she gathered the songs presented here from churches, friends, and broadsides found near her farm. When speaking of her death, Margaret MacArthur’s granddaughter Robin wrote, "On her deathbed she was sick with morphine, most of her memory gone, but she could still remember the lyrics to any ballad we asked her to sing. This music had etched itself into her soul; song and landscape and self had twined into a fabric that was lasting, resounding, and full of grace."

Track Listing

101	The Needle's Eye Margaret MacArthur	00:27
102	Carrion Crow Margaret MacArthur	01:36
103	Gypsy Davy Margaret MacArthur	01:57
104	Jennie Jenkins Margaret MacArthur	02:00
105	Linktem Blue Margaret MacArthur	00:20
106	Cherries Are Ripe Margaret MacArthur	01:28
107	Trot Trot to Boston Margaret MacArthur	00:53
108	This Very Unhappy Man Margaret MacArthur	01:40
109	Aunt Jemima Margaret MacArthur	01:15
110	Gorion-Og Margaret MacArthur	03:57
111	The Scolding Wife Margaret MacArthur	00:56
112	Riddles Margaret MacArthur	00:24
201	Old Mr. Grumble Margaret MacArthur	02:11
202	Single Again Margaret MacArthur	01:21
203	New Hampshire Miller Margaret MacArthur	03:03
204	What the Old Hen Said Margaret MacArthur	01:15
205	Mother in the Graveyard Margaret MacArthur	02:17
206	Marlboro Merchants Margaret MacArthur	06:40