Shady Grove performed by Kara Dotten

Shady Grove, pretty little miss
Shady Grove, my darlin’
Shady Grove, pretty little miss
Goin’ back to Harlan

Well the boys all call me “Pretty Little Miss”
It don’t ever phase me
But every time he call my name
It nearly drives me crazy

Shady Grove, pretty little miss
Shady Grove, my darlin’
Shady Grove, pretty little miss
Goin’ back to Harlan

Mama says he’s not my type
He really loves another
But he’s gonna marry me
When I turn twelve this summer

Shady Grove, pretty little miss
Shady Grove, my darlin’
Shady Grove, pretty little miss
Goin’ back to Harlan

Well, paint and powder, curled my hair
The day he came a callin’
He ran off with my older sis
And I commenced to squallin’

Shady Grove, pretty little miss
Shady Grove, my darlin’
Shady Grove, pretty little miss
Goin’ back to Harlan

Oh spring has sprung, summer’s gone
Fall is quickly fadin’
Guess I’ll spend my winter months
A sad and lonely maiden

Shady Grove, pretty little miss
Shady Grove, my darlin’
Shady Grove, pretty little miss
Goin’ back to Harlan

A Wish by James Taylor Adams performed by Kara Dotten

I’d like to be the sort of man my son could think about,
Without a throe of mental shame, or any cause for doubt,
That I had any duty shirked, or quit a task began,
Or failed to fight with all my might, to aid my fellow man.

I’d like to know that when I’m gone across the foaming tide,
My boy could say: “Dad did this thing,” with just a bit of pride.
I’d hate to have him hesitate, his face in anguish hid,
Or hem and haw and faltering say: “I guess my father did.”

I’d like to have my folks say of me “He was an honest man,
He stood the test, he did his best, he knew no creed or clan.”
But most of all I’d like to live a life devoid of shame,
And that my child will never blush when people speak my name.

The Baby and The Witch by William Coxton Jr. performed by Kara Dotten

One time there was a young man and he was married and had one child

Just a little baby

His mother hadn’t wanted him to marry the girl he married

And she was all the time trying to make trouble between them

One night the man had been to the store and was a coming home

And a storm came up and he crawled under the floor of an old empty house

The witches was having a meeting there that night

And he heard his mother a talking

Heard her say “there’s going to be a meeting at the house next Sunday and my son john is a going. His wife will put their baby in the yard and be getting dinner in the kitchen. I’ll turn myself into a hog and go and steal the baby.”

He didn’t wait to hear any more. He crawled out and went on home. He didn’t tell his wife a thing about what he had heard, but Sunday morning he told her he felt bad and was not going to meeting. She wanted him to go and let her stay there and have dinner ready, but he wouldn’t go and she got ready and went on.

He drug the cradle out in the yard and put in the shade of a tree and he got him a chair and his bible and sat down pretty close to it and went to reading. He laid his sword down by his side where nobody could see it.

It wasn’t long until he spotted a big ole white and black spotted sow crossing up the branch rooting along. She come on and rooted around the gate and after while she throwed up her nose and flipped the latch of the gate open and the gate come open and she walked in the yard.

The man just sat there reading his bible and watched her. She rooted and grunted all around over the yard and got up pretty close to the cradle and he got up and shooed her out. But it wasn’t long til she come back in again. He got up and shooed her out again and said “if you come back in again I’ll hurt you”

But right back in she come again in just a little while and just grunted around and rooted getting closer and closer up to the cradle.

All at once she jumped right up at the cradle and he grabbed his sword and let drive and cut one of her forefeet off. She went hopping and squealing off down the road with the blood just a gushing. He picked up the foot and took it in his house.

In just a little bit one of his little sisters come a running and told him to come down there that his mother was bad off. He went and there lay his mother with one of her hands cut off.

 

A Peddler and His Wife performed by Kara Dotten

One day the sun was rising high,
A day in merry June;
The birds set singing on a tree,
All Nature seems in tune.

A peddler and his wife were travelling
Along a lonely way,
A-sharing each other’s toil md care,
They both were old and grey.

They were labouring, toiling hard,
A living for to make;
They did not know, nor did they think,
They there their lives would take.

Just as the waggon came along,
Shots rang out upon the air;
And, while the echo died away,
Terrible was the experience there.

His wife pitched out upon the ground
And tossed her dying head;
The men rushed up to take her gold,
Poor lady she was dead.

The horse rushed on with dying man,
Till kind friends checked his speed.
Alas, alas, it was too late
To stop this horrible deed.

Now they are sleeping in their tomb,
Their souls have gone above,
Where thieves disturb them now no more,
For all is peace and love.

 

We would like to give a huge special thanks to Kara Dotten for performing these pieces found in the James Taylor Adams Collection.