Historic Bibliographies and Reference Aids

Women and Folk Music: A Select Bibliography

Compiled by: Holly Cormier
Publication Date: July 6, 1978

Abrahams, Roger D.
Jump Rope Rhymes: A Dictionary. Austin: University of Texas Press, Publication of the American Folklore Society, Biographical and Special Series, volume 20, 1969.

"Patterns of Structure and Role Relationships in the Child Ballads in the United Sates." Journal of American Folklore, volume 79, number 313, July-September 1966, pp. 448-462.

A Singer and Her Songs: Almeda Riddle's Book of Ballads. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1970.

Adams, Beverly R.
"Recollections of Folk Songs from Grandfather's Knee." Mississippi Folklore Register, volume 4, number 3, Fall 1970, pp. 76-77.

Albertson, Chris.
Bessie. New York: Stein and Day, 1972.

Alloy, Evelyn.
Working Women's Music: Songs from the Textile and Garment Industries. Somerville, MA: New England Free Press, 1977.

Archabel, Nina Marchetti.
"Frances Densmore: Pioneer in the Study of American Indian Music." In Women of Minnesota: Selected Biographical Essays, edited by Barbara Stuhler and Gretchen Kreuter, St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1977, pp. 94-115.

Arlington Street Women's Caucus.
Arlington Street Women's Caucus Songbook. Boston: Arlington Street Women's Caucus, 1975.

Atkinson, Robert M.
"Songs Little Girls Sing: An Orderly Invitation to Violence." Northwest Folklore, volume 2, number 1, 1967. pp.2-8.

Boulton, Laura.
The Music Hunter: The Autobiography of a Career. Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, 1969.

Bronson, Bertrand H.
"Maud Karpeles (1886-1976)." Journal of American Folklore, volume 90, number 358, October-December 1977, pp.455-464.

Brown, Eileen.
"Women in Folk Song." Come all Ye, volume 4, number 1, July 1975, pp. 13-20.

Burt, Olive Wooley.
American Murder Ballads and Their Stories. New York: Oxford University Press, 1958.

Busch, Judith and Laura X.
Women's Songbook. Albany, CA: Oral History Library, 1971.

Caesar, Wendy.
"Joan Baez: A Bibliography." JEMF Quarterly, volume 12, number 43, Autumn 1976, pp. 147-157.

Cambridge-Goddard Women's Music Project.
"The History of Women in Music: Part Two: Images of Women in Traditional American Music." Paid My Dues, volume 1, number 2, May 1974, pp. 29-33.

Carpenter, Ann.
"The Burglar and the Old Maid: A Note on an Anti-Female Ballad." Folklore Feminists Communication, volume 1, number 6, Spring 1975, pp. 6-7.

Carr, Patrick.
"The Founding Mothers of Country." Country Music, volume 2, number 11, July 1974, pp. 58-61.

Cass-Beggs, Barbara and Michael.
Folk Lullabies. New York: Oak Publications, 1969.

Cheney, Joyce, Marcia Deihl and Deborah Silverstein.
All Our Lives: A Women's Songbook. Baltimore: Diana Press, 1976.

Chilton, John.
Billie's Blues: A Survey of Billie Holiday's Career 1933-1959. London: Quartet Books, 1975.

Cohen, Anne.
Poor Pearl, Poor Girl: The Murdered Girl Stereotype in Ballad and Newspaper. Austin: University of Texas Press, American Folklore Society Memoir Series, number 58, 1973.

Collins, Judy.
"Going Home Again." Ms., volume 1, number 10, April 1973, pp.60-64, 105-106.

Commins, Dorothy Berliner.
Lullabies of the World. New York: Random House, 1967.

Coy, Carol.
"Elizabeth Cotten: A Legend Tells Her Story." Folkscene, volume 2, number 2, April 1974, pp.14-17.

Creighton, Helen.
A Life in Folklore. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1975.

Daiken, Leslie.
The Lullaby Book. London: Edward Ward, 1959.

Deihl, Marcia.
"The History of Women in Music." Paid My Dues: A Quarterly Journal of Women and Music, volume 1, number 1, 1974, pp.30-33

Dew, Joan.
Singers and Sweethearts: The Women of Country Music. New York: Dolphin Books, 1977.

Dickens, Gloria.
"Childhood Songs from North Carolina." North Carolina Folklore Journal, volume 21, number 1, April 1973, pp.4-9

Dickens, Hazel.
"As Country as I Could Sing." Sing Out!, volume 21, number 1, September-October 1971, pp. 2-7.

Drake, Carlos C.
"'Mary Hamilton' in Tradition." Southern Folklore Quarterly, volume 33, number 1, March 1969, pp.39-47

Dunn, John J.
"Jean Ritchie: A Clear Voice." Country Dance and Song, volume 3, 1970, pp.23-28

Dunson, Josh.
"Ola Belle Reed: Her Philosophy and Song." Sing Out!, volume 19, number 6, June-July 1970, pp. 9-14.

Ecumenical Women's Centers.
Sing a Womansong. Chicago: Ecumenical Women's Centers, 1975.

Elder, Jacob D.
"The Male/Female Conflict in Calypso." Caribbean Quarterly, volume 14, number 3, September 1968, pp. 23-41.

Farrell, Frances M.
"The John Edwards Memorial Foundation as a Raw Data Source for the Study of Women in Country Music." JEMF Quarterly, volume 13, number 48, Winter 1977, pp. 161-167.

Farrer, Claire R., ed.
Women and Folklore. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1975. Reprint of special issue of Journal of American Folklore, volume 88, number 357, January-March 1975.

Feldman, Eugene P. Romayn.
"Union Maid Revisited: The Story of Ella Mae Wiggins." ABC TV Hootenanny, volume 1, number 3, July 1964, pp.25-26.

Fife, Austin and Alta.
"Pug-Nosed Lil and the Girl with the Blue Velvet Band: A Brief Medley of Women in Western Songs." American West, volume 7, number 2, March 1970, pp. 32-37.

Flanders, Helen Hartness.
"One Thing Leads to Another in Collecting Ballads." New England Galaxy, volume 10, number 1, Summer 1968, pp. 19-24.

Fox, W. and M. H. Wince.
"Feminist Attitudes and Preferences for A Feminist 'Message' Song: A Research Note." Popular Music and Society, volume 4, number 3, 1975, pp. 156-169.

Friedman, Emily and Ray Tate.
"'I Just Like to Play the Strings...': Elizabeth Cotten." Come for to Sing, volume 1, number 2, April 1975, pp. 12-13.

Garson, Eugenia.
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Songbook. New York, Harper and Row, 1968.

Glavan, Joyce.
"Sorority Tradition and Song." Journal of the Ohio Folklore Society, volume 3, number 3, Fall 1968, pp. 192-198.

Godrich, John.
"Ma Rainey." Storyville, number 35, June-July 1971, pp. 173-175.

Goreau, Laurraine.
Just Mahalia Baby. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1975.

Gray, Michael.
"Sexist Songs." Melody Maker, volume 49, June 1, 1974, pp. 18-19.

Green, Archie.
Only a Miner: Studies in Recorded Coal-Mining Songs. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1972. "Mother Jones," pp. 241-278; "Blues and More Blues," pp. 371-403.

Green, Archie, ed.
"Aunt Molly Jackson Memorial Issue." Kentucky Folklore Record, volume 7, number 4, October-December 1961, pp. 129-175.

Green, Douglas.
"From Broadside Ballad to 'The Nashville Sound': The Evolution of 'A Pretty Fair Maiden in the Garden'." Journal of Country Music, volume 2, number 4, Winter 1971, pp. 10-17.

Greenway, John.
American Folksongs of Protest. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1953. Reprint edition, New York: Octagon Press, 1970.

Grimes, Sally.
"The True Death of Bessie Smith." Esquire, volume 71, number 6, June 1969, pp. 112-113.

Gruver, Rod.
"Sex, Sound, Cows and the Blues." JEMF Quarterly, volume 7, part 1, number 21, Spring 1971, pp. 37-39.

Gunning, Sarah Ogan.
"My Name is Sarah Ogan Gunning." Sing Out!, volume 25, number 2, July-August 1976, pp. 15-16.

Hammond, John.
"Why Bessie Wouldn't Sing the Blues." ABC TV Hootenanny, volume 1, number 1, January 1964, pp. 60-61.

Hatcher, Mildred.
"Folk Songs My Mother Sang." Kentucky Folklore Record, volume 17, number 4, October-December 1971, pp. 78-82.

Hawes, Bess Lomax.
"Folksongs and Function: Some Thoughts on the American Lullaby." Journal of American Folklore, volume 87, number 344, April-June 1974, pp. 140-148. See also Farrer.

Heath, Colin.
"Bessie Smith: Empress of the Blues." Heritage, number 17, March 1970, pp. 2-5; number 18, April 1970, pp. 2-5

Helms, Douglas.
"The Story of Patsy Beasly: The Story behind the Folksong." North Carolina Folklore Journal, volume 15, number 2, November 1967, pp. 51-55.

Herlocker, Jan.
"The Tragic Ballad of Miss Emma Hartsell." North Carolina Folklore Journal, volume 23, number 3, August 1975, pp. 82-88.

Hixon, Don and Don Hennessee.
Women in Music. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1975.

Holiday, Billie and W. Dufty.
Lady Sings the Blues. London: Barrie and Jenkins, 1973.

Homan, Wayne E.
"The Sorrow Song of Susanna Cox." Pennsylvania Folklife, volume 20, number 4, Summer 1971, pp. 14-16.

Horne, Camilla.
"Little Mary Phagan." Cotton Patch Rag, volume 10, number 11, November 1975, pp. 2-4.
"Murder Ballads in America." Cotton Patch Rag, volume 8, number 6, June 1973, pp. 2-4.

Jackson, Irene.
"Black Women and the Afro-American Song Tradition." Sing Out!, volume 25, number 2, July-August 1976, pp. 10-12.

Jackson, Mahalia and Evan McLeod Wylie.
Movin' On Up. New York: Hawthorn, 1966.

Jones, Bessie and Bess Lomax Hawes.
Step It Down. New York: Harper and Row, 1972.

Jones, Hettie.
Big Star Fallin' Mama: Five Women in Black Music. New York: Viking Press, 1974.

Jones, P.
"The History of Women's Liberation in Choral Music." Choral Journal, volume 16, number 6, February 1976, pp. 12-13.

Joyner, Charles W.
"The Repertory of Nancy Jones as a Mirror of Culture in Scotland County." North Carolina Folklore Journal, volume 21, number 3, September 1973, pp. 89-97.

Kahn, Kathy.
Hillbilly Women. New York: Doubleday, 1973.

Kealy, Kieran.
"The Ballad Heroine." Come All Ye, volume 4, number 1, July 1975, pp. 5-12.

Keyes, Saundra.
"'Little Mary Phagan': A Native American Ballad in Context." Journal of Country Music, volume 3, number 1, Spring 1972, pp. 1-16.

Krauss, Joanne.
"Love and Death and the American Ballad: A Morphology of 'Ballads of Family Opposition to Lovers'." Folklore Annual, volume 4-5, 1972-1973, pp. 91-100.

Long, Eleanor.
"The Maid" and "The Hangman": Myth and Tradition in a Popular Ballad. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971. (University of California Publications in Folklore Studies: volume 21.)

"Thematic Classification and Lady Isabel." Journal of American Folklore, volume 85, number 335, January-March 1972, pp. 32-41.

Lurie, Nancy O.
"The Lady from Boston and the Omaha Indians." American West, volume 3, number 4. Fall 1966, pp. 8-85.

Lynn, Loretta with George Veesey.
Coal Miner's Daughter. Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1976.

MacNeil, Rita.
Born a Woman. Toronto: Canadian Women's Educational Press, 1974.

Monahan, Carmen.
"Union Maid." Paid My Dues, volume 1, number 4, March 1975, pp. 24-26, 36.

Moore, Carmen.
Somebody's Angel Child: The Story of Bessie Smith. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1969.

Mountaingrove, Ruth.
Turned on Woman Songbook. Wolf Creek, OR: New Woman Press, 1975.

Near, Holly.
"Putting Politics to Music." Ms., volume 5, number 4, October 1976, pp. 31-36.

"What Are My Songs?" Sing Out!, volume 22, number 6, January-February 1974, pp. 14, 18.

Norman, Bob.
"Interview with Bonnie Raitt: I Don't Even Want to Be in the Ball Game." Sing Out!; volume 21, number 6, November-December 1972, pp. 12-14.

Offen, Carol.
"The Big Speakout: L'il Darlin' Know the Score." Country Music, volume 2, number 11, July 1974, pp. 36-38, 42-44. Comments by women country artists.

Oliver, Paul.
Kings of Jazz: Bessie Smith. London: Cassell, 1959; New York: A.S. Barnes, 1961.

O'Neill, Barry.
"Feminist Phonograph Records and Tapes." Sing Out!, volume 25, number 2, July-August 1976, pp. 47-49, 51.

Perdue, Frances D.
"Folksong Repertoire of Beulah C. Moody." Kentucky Folklore Record, volume 22, number 1, January-March 1976, pp. 15-24.

Perkins, Polly.
Songs for the Liberated Woman. London: Kahn and Averill, 1973.

Raim, Ethel.
"An Interview with Frankie Armstrong." Sing out!, volume 23, number 2, May-June 1974, p. 6-12; number 3, July-August 1974, pp. 6-9.

Reagon, Bernice.
"Women's Voices: Thoughts on Women's Music in America." Sing Out!, Volume 25, number 2, July-August 1976, pp. 3-6.

Rhodes, Willard.
"Maud Karpeles 1885-1976." Ethnomusicology, volume 21, number 2, May 1977, pp. 283-288.

Ritchie, Jean.
Singing Family of the Cumberlands. New York: Oxford University Press, 1955. Reprint edition, New York: Oak Publications, 1963.

Rodnitzky, Jerome L.
"Songs of Sisterhood: The Music of Women's Liberation." Popular Music and Society, volume 4, number 2, 1975, pp. 77-85.

Rose, Madeline B.
"Sis Cunningham: Songs of Hard Times." Ms., volume 2, number 9, March 1974, pp. 29-32.

Ross-Robertson, Lola.
"Ida L. Reed: 1864-1951, Barbour County Hymn Writer, Poet." Goldenseal, volume 2, number 4, October-December 1976, pp. 25-32.

Shumsky, Ellen.
"Womansong: Bringing It All Back Home." Sing Out!, volume 22, number 6, January-February 1974, pp. 9-13.

Silber, Irwin.
"Singing Suffragettes Sang for Woman's Votes, Equal Rights." Sing Out!, volume 6, number 4, Winter 1957, pp. 4-12.

Songs America Voted By. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1971. "I'm a Suffragette: Songs of the Woman Suffrage Movement," pp. 228-234.

Silverman, Jerry.
The Liberated Woman's Songbook. New York: Macmillan, 1971.

Sims, Barbara B.
"She's Got to Be a Saint Lord Knows I Ain't: Feminine Masochism in Country Music." Journal of Country Music, volume 5, number 1, Spring 1974, pp. 24-30.

Smith, C. P.
"A Bicentennial Look at women in American Music." Triangle, volume 69, number 4, 1975, pp. 2-6.

Solomon, Linda.
"Elizabeth Cotten: Song Writer and Guitarist." ABC TV Hootenanny, volume 1, number 3, July 1964, pp. 43-45.

Sorrels, Rosalie.
What, Woman and Who, Myself, I Am. Sonoma, CA: Wooden Shoe, 1974.

Stanford, Ron.
"Which Side Are you On?: An Interview with Florence Reese." Sing Out!, volume 20, number 6, July-August 1971, pp. 13-15.

Stewart-Baxter, Derrick.
Ma Rainey and the Classic Blues Singers. New York: Stein and Day, 1970.

Swan, Peter.
Joan Baez: A Bio-Disco-Bibliography. Brighton, England: John L. Noyce, 1977.

Thomas, Jean.
Ballad-Makin' in the Mountains of Kentucky. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1939. Reprint edition, New York: Oak Publications, 1964.

Devil's Ditties: Stories and Songs of the Kentucky Mountain People. Chicago: W. Wilbur Hatfield, 1931. Reprint edition, Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1976.

Thomas, Jean and Joseph A. Leeder.
The Singin' Gatherin': Tunes from the Southern Appalachians. New York: Silver Burdett, 1939.

Thomsen, Ann.
"The Undaunted Female." English Dance and Song, volume 37, number 2, Summer 1975, pp. 50-51.

Turner, Judith W.
"Morphology of the 'True Love' Ballad." Journal of American Folklore, volume 85, number 335, January-March 1972, pp. 21-31.

Turner, Martha Anne.
The Yellow Rose of Texas: Her Saga and Her Song. Austin: Shoal Creek Publications, 1976.

Urcia, Ingeborg.
"The Gallows and the Golden Ball." Journal of American Folklore, volume 79, number 313, July-September 1966, pp. 463-468.

Vlach, John M.
"Pearl Bryan: Two Ballads in One Tradition," Journal of Country Music, volume 3, number 2, Summer 1972, pp. 45-61.

Waters, Ethel and Charles Samuels.
His Eye is on the Sparrow. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1950.

Wheeler, Billy Edd.
"Mother Maybelle Carter: Her Career Spans Half a Century." Country Music, volume 1, number 12, August 1973, pp. 40-44.

Wilgus, D.K. and Nathan Hurvitz.
"Little Mary Phagan: Further Notes on a Native American Ballad in Context." Journal of Country Music, volume 4, number 1, Spring 1973. pp. 17-30.

Williams, Bill.
"Interview with Mother Maybelle Carter." Country Music Foundation Newsletter, volume 2, number 1, March 1971, pp. 4-12.

Williams, Cratis D.
"Hedy West: Songbird of the Appalachians." Appalachian South, volume 1, number 1, Summer 1965, pp. 8-11.

Wolfe, Charles K. et al.
"Roba Stanley: The First Country Sweetheart." Old Time Music, number 26, Autumn 1977, pp. 13-18.

"The Women of Music." Music Journal, volume 30, number 1, January 1972, pp. 9-24.

Written Word Collective.
Women in American Music. Aptos, CA: Written Word Collective, 1975.