Eunice Yeatts MacAlexander

Eunice Yeatts MacAlexander.  Cecil Sharp visited Meadows of Dan (so-called because it is the headwater of the Dan River) in Patrick County, on the 27th August, 1918, and noted a number of songs from Dad Blackard, the local ‘banjer-man’.  Eunice Yeatts MacAlexander’s parents knew Dad Blackard and some of her ballads, inherited from her father, were similar to those sung by Blackard to Sharp.  Eunice had worked in the mountains as a teacher in a one-room, log-cabin school, and told me, with some embarrassment, how she had entertained the school children by singing to them, their favourite song apparently being The Preacher and the Bear, which was originally from the minstrel-stage.  Some of Eunice’s ballads were recorded in 1932 by Arthur Kyle Davis, on behalf of the Virginia Folklore Society.

Part of the booklet notes, written by Mike Yates, to the Musical Traditions Records CDs Far in the Mountains (MTCD321-4)