FTX-929 - THE HOUSE CARPENTER

Rebecca King Jones & Lee Monroe Presnell

Rebecca King Jones rec by Frank & Anne Warner, Crab Tree Creek, Durham, North Carolina1940:-

1. Talk with Frank warner abiout her family, singing and courting days - 3'35"

2. THE HOUSE CARPENTER 2v - 0'52"

3a & 3b. BARBARA ALLEN [TAFS#187] 2 variants - 1'56"

4. AWAKE, AWAKE, YOU DROWST SLEEPER [TAFS#188] - 3'19"

5. THE CHIMBLEY SWEEPER [TAFS#189] - 0'49"

6. Lullaby: ROCK-A-BY-BABY [TAFS#190] 3v - 0'32"

7. GOING DOWN TO WELDON 3v - 0'34"

8. THE WICKED OLD DONKEY THAT LIVED BY THE MILL 2v & ch - 1'00"

9. THE DRUNKARD'S DREAM - 1'15"

10. CAPTAIN, CAPTAIN (SWEET WILLIAM) 2v - 0'50"

11. O JOHNNY, DEAR JOHNNY (CRUEL WARS ARE RAGING) 2v - 0'47"

12. THE BRAVE OLD SOLDIER - 1'22"

13. IN A COTTAGE BY THE SEA - 0'52"

14. LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ELLEN 2v - 0'44"

15. I DREAMED THAT MY TRUELOVE WAS DYING (GOLDEN LOCKS) - 1'19"

16. THE ROSEWOOD CASKET - 1'20"

Lee Monroe Presnell rec Beech Mountain, NC 1953:-

17. GEORGE COLLINS [TAFS#96] - 2'35"

18. THE RED ROSY BUSH [TAFS#97](REJECTED LOVER) - 3'04"

19. TWO SISTERS THAT LOVED ONE MAN [TAFS#98] - 4'14"

20. FAREWELL TO OLD BEDFORD [TAFS#99] - 1'58"

21. MY GRANDMOTHER'S OLD ARMCHAIR [TAFS#100] - 4'02"

22. IN DUBLIN CITY [TAFS#101] (talk before) - 2'29"

23. SOMETIMES I'M IN THIS COUNTRY (talk after) - 2'14"

24. AWAKE, AWAKE , MY OWN TRUELOVER (DROWSY SLEEP$ER) t/b - 4'43"

25. THE DRUNKARD'S DREAM (see TAFS#83) t/b - 4'43"

26. JOHN ADKINS (THE DRUNKARD'S WARNING) - 2'34"

27. MY SWEET SOLDIER BOY (SWEET WILLIAM) - 3'15"

28. OLD VIRGINNY t/b - 2'58"

29. JOHNNY, O JOHNNY, YOU ARE MY DARLING - 2'02"

30. I WENT TO SEE MY MOLLY - 1'42"

Recorded by Frank & Anne Warner in 1940 & 1953. Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax Cassettes 1987.

REBECCA KING JONES was over 70 when first visited by the Warners in 1940. She lived alone in a little cabin in the woods bewtween Raleigh and Durham and usually wore calico dress, apron, boots and a sunbonnet.

LEE MONROE PRESNELL, Buna Hicks's uncle, learnt most of his songs from his mother, others came from his father and from a character called "Lie-hew", so-called because he tended to mix truth with fiction. He travelled the Southern Appalachians as an itinerant story purveyor. Anne Warner said of him: "Monroe was tall and handsome, gentle, courteous and admired by all who knew him"