Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia

by Fiona Ritchie, Fiona Ritchie, Doug Orr

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a steady stream of Scots migrated to Ulster and eventually onward across the Atlantic to resettle in the United States. Many of these Scots-Irish immigrants made their way into the mountains of the southern Appalachian region. They brought with them a wealth of traditional ballads and tunes from the British Isles and Ireland, a carrying stream that merged with sounds and songs of English, German, Welsh, African American, French, and Cherokee origin. Their enduring legacy of music flows today from Appalachia back to Ireland and Scotland and around the globe. In Wayfaring Strangers , Fiona Ritchie and Doug Orr guide readers on a musical voyage across oceans, linking people and songs through centuries of adaptation and change.

From ancient ballads at the heart of the tradition to instruments that express this dynamic music, Ritchie and Orr chronicle the details of an epic journey. Enriched by the insights of key contributors to the living tradition on both sides of the Atlantic, this abundantly illustrated volume includes a CD featuring 20 songs by musicians profiled in the book, including Dolly Parton, Dougie MacLean, Cara Dillon, John Doyle, Pete Seeger, Sheila Kay Adams, Jean Ritchie, Doc Watson, David Holt, Anais Mitchell, Al Petteway, and Amy White.

In 2017, noted Scottish musician Phil Cunningham followed this musical migration for the acclaimed BBC tv series "Wayfaring Stranger" to which the authors contributed. In the pages of this book, tv viewers will enjoy re-visiting the people and places they loved on screen.

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, Historical, American History, Folklore, Southern

361 pages, Hardcover

First published September 29, 2014

Reviews

[J.E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that is going to stay with The Discreet Traveler for a long time. As the title suggests, it is about travel—the migration of music, and the people who sang and played it, from one country to the next (and back). If there is anything I love as much as travel and books, it is music.

I bought Wayfaring Strangers because I was born and raised in the southern Appalachian region, and I’m a lifelong fan of folk music. By “folk” I mean traditional music, but also the many permutations of it, such as the folk revival in popular music in the early 1960s. One of the key things I learned from this book was that the lines are blurred. Who is to say that “I Wonder As I Wander,” a carol with a known composer, is more “authentic” than a lullaby recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary, one of the first songs I ever knew—written by an unnamed slave woman?

But I quickly discovered that there’s a lot more to Wayfaring Strangers than just one line of musical history. Take the song "Wayfaring Stranger." It’s on the enclosed CD (itself a gem that adds a third dimension to the words and illustrations); it’s been recorded by artists such as Joan Baez; it’s a shape note hymn in The Sacred Harp. Reading about the latter tradition of sacred music, I discover that, in addition to a white and black tradition, it’s also sung by a Cherokee community in the mountains that somehow escaped deportation along the hideous Trail of Tears. Shape note singing, until recent decades only carried out in a few such traditional communities in the South, is now being revived by people of many ages, races, and indeed religions on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. As with other varieties of folk music, it is not about rehearsal and performance but about participation and joy.

This journey back and forth, both geographically and in time, takes place over and over again with songs, musical styles, and people. The vaudeville favorite “Danny Boy,” while set to “The Londonderry Air,” does not have traditional lyrics from the mists of time, but from an opera librettist who, furthermore, was English. More egregiously vaudeville, the blackface “minstrel” tradition was such a cruel caricature of black Americans that they gave up playing string band music, even though the banjo originated as an African instrument. Practically the only African American to keep up old time music before the heirs of the present generation was a fiddler named Joe Thompson. Reading about him and his cousin Odell, I suddenly realized that I’d actually seen them play, at what must have been one of Odell’s last performances (in the early 1990s). Chills ran down my spine as I remembered these two very elderly musicians singing the Appalachian composition “Mountain Dew”!

I hadn’t realized the living history I was witnessing at that folk festival, but I did pick up a few recordings of others interviewed in this book, including Sheila Adams (from Madison County, North Carolina) and Irish-born John Doyle. So some ballads and tunes were familiar to me from their singing and playing. Most of the interviews were conducted by coauthor Fiona Ritchie, known from National Public Radio as the host of The Thistle & Shamrock, and it started to seem that every artist from the past 50 years is in here somehow, as influence or influenced: Doc Watson, Jean Ritchie, Dolly Parton, Al Petteway, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, the Seeger family. Judy Collins recorded Billy Edd Wheeler’s songs; Knoxville’s Everly Brothers’ harmonies influenced Simon & Garfunkel, the Beach Boys, and the Beatles.

The movement of music was two-way, also, with Jean Ritchie, Peggy Seeger, and other Americans traveling to Britain and Ireland to trace the roots of songs, and in turn influencing British musicians like Ewan MacColl. His most famous composition, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” written for Peggy Seeger, was a hit for Roberta Flack—who, it turns out, is from Black Mountain, NC. And before that, the Scottish-American ballad "Black Is The Color" was made famous all over the world by yet another singer born in the North Carolina mountains—Nina Simone! Celebrating my fortieth birthday in a Paris bar, I’d recognized the endlessly sexy voice coming from the speakers, but had no idea it belonged to a woman from Appalachia. (When I first emigrated to Canada, I got the impression that all sorts of musicians and other entertainers were turning out to be Canadian and I’d never known it; this book gives me the sense that everybody is Appalachian.)

The story is about much more than the geographical migration of one type of music. It’s about many types of music and song traveling back and forth with people to whom they were important, then further cross-pollinating with the songs and instrumentals of other people. The movement of the “Scots-Irish” to Pennsylvania and, ultimately, to a town like Johnson City, Tennessee is my family’s story and mine. Reading, listening, or singing along, one feels part of a musical community that spans many places and across generations. If it sounds like I'm describing a spiritual experience, I am.

Read this book, glory in the pictures, and listen to the CD (repeatedly). Then get out there and explore the places and the kinds of music that interest you. And try it yourself. I know I’m going to.

[Roger Burk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This delightful book was a present from my daughter. With pictures and text, it describes (in a non-scholarly way) the migration of Scots and Irish music to Appalachia and its evolution there. It also comes with a CD of examples of the music discussed. I've been a fan of the author as a radio host for a show of Celtic music since the 1980s.

[Dayna Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful coffee table book that traces the history of musical migration from Europe to America. The pictures are wonderful! It is a slow read, but if you read a little at a time it is well worth the time. There is also a CD of fantastic music to listen to as you read.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece. Thoroughly researched and beautifully presented, with a perfect companion CD that captures the essence of the history and tradition of Scots-Irish and Appalacian music. As someone with ancestors from Scotland and Ireland, and an enthusiast of Celtic and Appalacian music, I was enthralled with Wayfaring Strangers.

[Kate Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wayfaring Strangers serves as a one-volume illustrated encyclopedia of everything you could possibly want to know about the migrations and music of the Scots-Irish people who ultimately settled in Appalachia. (Its timeline, included in supplementary materials, begins in Ireland at 8000 BCE!) Plus detailed biographies and interviews with late 19th and early 20th century collectors of this music, and prominent musicians who continue to perform it down to the present day. Even though I was familiar with a lot of this, having been an old-time (clawhammer) banjo-picker for some years and a folk music fan for decades, the book showed me much more.
For example, I hadn't known how many tens of thousands had made the crossing even before 1800, and what the conditions of their journeys across the Atlantic and later resettlement had been. Like many other banjo playing wannabes, my first instruction had come from Pete Seeger's influential book "How to Play the 5-String Banjo" but I hadn't known who had taught him (it was Bascom Lamar Lunsford) or how influential Scottish music had been on Bob Dylan. And on and on. The book comes with a wonderful music CD featuring top-notch musicians giving examples of many of the styles and songs discussed.
Author Fiona Ritchie has hosted a weekly Celtic music program on NPR called "The Thistle & Shamrock" since 1981 (!) so she knows her stuff.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't get into the history--though it's well written and evidently well researched--but the CD has excellent music! I've been a fan of traditional Celtic music and traditional music in general, and this is top notch.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fantastic book chronicles the story of Scots-Irish music through the British Isles and across the pond to America and the Appalachians. It shows the beauty and complexity of Scots-Irish music, and includes several wonderful resources for those wishing to learn more. The CD is a plus too. :)

[Colleen Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suppose I could have read the book faster if I didn’t go searching for videos on YouTube of the different songs, singers, instruments and techniques!

The structure of the book was irritating. The interviews and histories were interesting but I’d find myself skipping the boxed sections and reading to a paragraph break, then reading the box, then going back to the narrative to find parts of it repeated.

I haven’t listened to the accompanying CD yet but I’m looking forward to it.

I’ll be listening to The Thistle & Shamrock with a far more informed ear in 2019!

[Memarie Christoforo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! It contains a huge amount of information about the journey of songs from the British Isles to America and sometimes back again. There is so much history in familiar songs that I just never really listened to the words. Learning about the history is fascinating. The CD that comes with it is wonderful too.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating history of the music that originated in Scotland and was influenced by people traveling through Ulster, Philadelphia and Appalachia down to NC. The music was influenced by Scots, Irish, English, Germans, native Americans and African slaves.

[Darrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning more about Scots-Irish history. I don't have a musical background so I skimmed over some of that content; but still appreciated how the culture and music moved from the old countries to America.

[Cary Boswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Traces the roots of mountain songs and dances to Scotch-Irish origins and how the songs and types of instruments evolved through years of emigration. Includes a CD with wonderful, beautiful tunes and singing. Much about my cousin Jean Ritchie.

[Awjtf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about music from Scotland & Ulster to America. Interesting how music is similar but yet changes.

[Jud Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review here.

[Peter Shirts · Rating 3 out of 5]

For St. Patrick’s day this year, I’d like to review the new New York Times bestselling book from Fiona Richie and Doug Orr, Wayfaring Strangers: The Music Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia. Fiona Richie is most famous for her NPR Celtic music show The Thistle and the Shamrock, which I love but is usually in a horrible time slot like 7pm on Saturday. Besides my love of Celtic and old-time music, I had a personal reason for reading this book—I myself have Scots-Irish ancestry tracing back to the Appalachians.

This book traces migration and music from Scotland to Ireland (in the 1600s) to Philadelphia (in the 1700s) to the Appalachian mountains (late-1700s and later), not to mention other migrations from Scotland and Ireland to America. It full of interesting stories and facts: the 18th-century migration of Ulster Scots across the Atlantic, the Scots-Irish American Indian chiefs, the Gaelic-speaking community in North Carolina that was lost when the government build Fort Bragg, the invention of the mountain dulcimer, how African-American fiddle/banjo duos died out because the recording industry would only record white folks playing that instrumentation, and how American "old-time" music became disseminated to the world, just to mention a few.

While the book was enjoyable and informative, I think there are a few editing choices that made the book at times somewhat difficult and detracted from the wonderful musical journey that is the book's focus. I think the front matter, which starts in Roman times and has a large section on Medieval France, could have been pared down quite a bit. Also, the book has too many extra sidebars and excerpts from interviews with famous musicians. While the interviews are usually interesting, many times they do not really illustrate the points made in the main text. I think the authors could have been more selective on these interview excerpts. As for the the sidebars, they also often took away from the narrative, sometimes repeating information already in the text or stating information that easily could have been worked into the narrative. There were a few times where spans of 6 pages had only just sidenotes and interviews, which made it difficult to pick the narrative back up. I also thought the artwork and photos usually had very little to do with the narrative, and I would have liked more useful and illustrative pictures instead of “here’s some nice mountains!” I understand that this book is kind of a hybrid between a coffee table book and an an academic book, but I still think that the pictures should have matched the text better.

A few other small complaints: while the book is full of stories and personal accounts about the migration from Scotland to Ireland and across the ocean, soon after they immigrants arrive in a America, the personal stories dry up and we are left with more general movements mixed with conjectures from more modern figures, some more authoritative than others. Also, at times there was a lack of technical depth, such as repeatedly bringing up the “high, lonesome sound,” but never defining it. Finally, while the included CD is a welcome addition with good recordings, as presenting a book about music with actual music is important, it was strange that many of the artists on the CD were not really discussed in the book, while other important featured artists (like the Carter family) did not have any recordings.

In the end, if you love Irish or Scottish music, but have never heard of the Scots-Irish or thought that all the Irish came over to America after the 1840s' Great Hunger, you should check out this book. Or, if you love old-time music but don't know about roots in the British Isles, you should check out this book. Enjoy!

(Originally posted at http://www.signifyingsoundandfury.com...)

[Yaaresse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Update: 19-Nov-2016
Was finally able to finish this. I'll stick to my original impression. It's a really good book, but probably best appreciated by musicians or music historians. As I am neither, no doubt some of the material was lost on me.
__________________________
DNF - will come back to at a better time.

This is a lovely, information-dense book about the who, when, how, and where of ties between music of the Appalachians and its ancestral ties to music of Scotland and Ireland. There are loads of photos, interviews, lots of history, and even a cd of music.

It is not a quick read, and the physical book is quite large and heavy. Normally, I don't rate books I DNF, but my experience with this one so far is that it is a solid four-star read. Unfortunately, it's new at our library--which means no renewals--and due back very soon. (I couldn't renew it anyway since there is a waiting list a mile long for it.) I'm going out of town, and even if I wanted to tote this behemoth around, I'm a little paranoid about it getting lost or soiled during travel. I will come back to it when it's available for checkout again.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage From Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia by Fiona Ritchie and Doug Orr (University of North Carolina Press 2014) (781.62). This is a true retrospective of folk songs in the southern mountains. It evinces great coverage of some of my bluegrass / flatpicking heroes: Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson, the Carter Family (A.P. , Sara, and their sister-in-law Maybelle who later became a legend as Mother Maybelle Carter, and the Carter sisters (Anita, Helen, and June Carter Cash, wife of Johnny Cash), Dolly Parton, and Bill Monroe. Rich in detail, this book is simple enough to serve as a beginner's intro into the subject but is in-depth enough to please even the hardcore fan of the music. My rating: 7/10, finished 8/6/15.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a compilation of songs, folklore and interviews of significant people in the American folk music tradition. There are some very nice pictures and maps and a CD and lots of sidebars that make it nice to read in short sections. Really, though: it doesn't have much to say. What is says is that the old-time music came from Scotland, via Ulster, and the songs have changed over the years, both here and there and song writers borrow heavily from each others works. Also, immigrants have a rough time of it. Kind of like, Duh. This was a very expensive book and sold like hotcakes for the holidays because Fiona Richie has a following, as does Dolly Parton, who wrote the forward.

[Russ · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best music books I've ever read. It's as much a general history lesson as a musical one. The authors are incredibly comprehensive in the number of topics they cover. If you are interested in traditional American or Celtic music, this book is definitely for you.

The only criticisms I have are that a) the writing can get a little repetitive at times, b) the layout of the book makes it hard to know when to break from the main narrative to read the sidebar sections and c) the lyrics to the songs on the CD portion aren't included in the back. I'm sure there could have been a way to include them somehow.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an incredible look at Appalachian music and its history. It took me a long time to read it, but it was time well spent.
Well written and well researched. The authors discuss the history and the culture that helped shape what is often thought of as American folk music. I learned about a lot of musicians that are new to me and got some of the story of some musicians that I already knew of.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book proves that the love of a fiddle is in my blood! I've been a fan of Irish punk for years, as well as red dirt country, and anything that has a good fiddle. Turns out that my Scots-Irish ancestors felt the same love for a fiddle--who knew? My ancestors settled in the Appalachians, too, after leaving Scotland by way of some years in Ireland. So it was interesting to see how the love a good ballad and fiddle traveled over the seas to develop into good old-fashioned country tunes.

[Ashley Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a must-read for all those who have an interest in Appalachian music, its Scottish and Irish roots, and how it has developed into different genres of music. It tells of the Scottish settlers who moved to Ireland and then to America, where their music adopted new influences but still remained mostly the same in the Appalachians.

The book could sometimes be disorganized or repetitive, but all in all, it was an enjoyable and interesting read.

[Joe Vess · Rating 4 out of 5]

So there's so much that I really liked about this book and I learned a tremendous amount, and yet I finished and felt like there was something missing, but I'm not sure what. It was also a little more ballad-heavy than I would have preferred, and a little insular. But overall a very nice contribution.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book you'll never "finish". I've returned to this book again and again, enjoying the history of migrations of traditional Scottish and Irish music to the United States and into the Appalachian mountains. A CD accompanies the volume.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I borrowed the book from the library. This is one to add to my purchase list. The style is conversational with boxes of interviews, quotes, and the variety on the cd (with wonderful thorough notes made this a very difficult book to return.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

The information was great. The CD wonderful. The only negative things I have to say is that the book's writing style seemed to ramble on and there were so many text boxes full of interviews that it broke up the flow of the book quite a bit. Without the CD it would be a 3 star book.

[Stephen Outten]

Loving the music, still skeptical of Dolly Parton's "Scots Irish" roots.

[Roxanne B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have connection through my ancestry to the Scot/Irish migration to TN so I was very interested in reading this book. It didn't disappoint and the bonus CD is awesome.

[Sara Snarr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had trouble getting into it. Couldn't finish it.

[Margaret Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fiona Ritchie's seminal work about folk music. If you play Celtic harp, a must-read. Or, if you just like listening to her radio show, the Thistle and Shamrock.