Old Salem in Ballad and Song is a collection of ballads and songs that have roots in Salem Massachusetts' history through the oral and the written tradition. The songs, ballads and broadsides describe events and give a hint of Salem's past and its influence in helping to shape America, both politically and socially. The book traces the history of Salem not only through ballads and songs but vintage photographs, postcards and newspaper clippings. The book can be a learning tool to teach Salem's history through singing. The rich material unearthed laid the foundation for Old Salem in Ballad and Song. In the introduction, the author examines the role ballads and songs played in chronicling current events and saving them for posterity. The pages that follow are crammed with lyrics, verses, musical scores, illustrations and historical tidbits relating to works with Salem connections. Some names will be familiar to many readers. Famed 19th century bandleader Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, who wrote the best-known version of When Johnny Comes Marching Home, led the Salem Brass Band from 1855 until 1858. The equally famous Hutchinson Family Singers performed at a New England Anti-Slavery Society convention held in Salem in 1844, and the group's temperance song King Alcohol, says the author, was inspired by the town's controversial Deacon Giles Distillery. And while Manuel Fenollosa is hardly a household name, the Salem composer's Emancipation Hymn (1863) was one of the most popular tunes of the Civil War era.

The first edition of Old Salem at Sea in Ballad and Song contained 89 songs and ballads recalling Salem and reflecting Salem's rich maritime history and its relationship to the sea. Many songs found were documented in shipping logbooks, broadsides, songbooks, or periodicals. Some of these ballads will be familiar, while some may be new or slightly different to the reader. Most of the material in this book comes from public domain sources. In this second edition of Old Salem at Sea in Ballad and Song, we published a larger format for ease of reading, added the Roud Folk Song Index numbers, and included forty-five additional songs. Over time, folk music enthusiasts became aware of my project, and more ballads and songs surfaced and needed inclusion in the new edition. * Folk singer, researcher, and entrepreneur Lisa Null suggested a song from her youth called Old Salem Town Once More. Lisa's family sang the song to her as a child in the 1950s while living in Worcester, Massachusetts. * Irish ballad singer Michael O'Leary introduced me to Salem-born George Edward Clark, aka Yankee Ned, who had four songs published in the book called Fisherman's Ballads and Songs of The Sea. * Peter Marston sang a version of the Ghostly Crew at the Monday night Shanty Sing in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The song is about how the fishing schooner the Charles Haskell and its deadly collision with the Andrew Johnson out of Salem on the George's Bank and how the crew of the Andrew Johnson haunted the Charles Haskell, working their regular nightly shift before going overboard and heading back to Salem.

Old Salem at Sea in Ballad and Song is a collection of sea songs, sea shanties and ballads that reflects Salem's rich maritime history and its relationship to the sea. Salem, Massachusetts, is synonymous with the maritime history of America. Salem's early ventures in the China Trade and the support industries kept Salem in the forefront from the late 18th century, just after the Revolution, to the middle of the 19th Century. This collection represents extensive research of songs with universal themes, such as a treacherous captain, a faithful lass, the stormy seas, and the rich rewards of patriotism, heroism, and survival. In Old Salem at Sea in Ballad and Song there are 89 songs and ballads that all have a connection to Salem and the sea. Some of the pieces in this book have been written in shipping logbooks, published on broadsides, in songbooks, or in periodicals, and while many will be familiar, several of the songs or variants may be new or different to the reader. Most the material in this book comes from public domain sources.

Stories and photos that reveal the paranormal history of this picturesque Winston-Salem district. Hidden behind the preserved eighteenth-century colonial buildings of the Old Salem Historic District in Winston-Salem is a haunted history of spine-tingling tales . . . Find the harrowing stories of Salem Cemetery and the anonymous headstones of the “Strangers’ Graveyard.” Learn the origins of the inexplicable sounds at Salem College. Meet the tavern traveler who refuses to check out. Follow the story of Andreas Kresmer’s tragic death and the subsequent appearance of the “Little Red Man.” In this book, author G.T. Montgomery takes you on a frightening and fascinating journey to discover the most notorious haunts to wander Salem’s streets.

Today the images of Robert Burns and Abraham Lincoln are recognized worldwide, yet few are aware of the connection between the two. In Abraham Lincoln and Robert Burns: Connected Lives and Legends, author Ferenc Morton Szasz reveals how famed Scots poet Robert Burns—and Scotland in general—influenced the life and thought of one of the most beloved and important U.S. presidents and how the legends of the two men became intertwined after their deaths. This is the first extensive work to link the influence, philosophy, and artistry of these two larger-than-life figures. Lacking a major national poet of their own in the early nineteenth century, Americans in the fledgling frontier country ardently adopted the poignant verses and songs of Scotland’s Robert Burns. Lincoln, too, was fascinated by Scotland’s favorite son and enthusiastically quoted the Scottish bard from his teenage years to the end of his life. Szasz explores the ways in which Burns’s portrayal of the foibles of human nature, his scorn for religious hypocrisy, his plea for nonjudgmental tolerance, and his commitment to social equality helped shape Lincoln’s own philosophy of life. The volume also traces how Burns’s lyrics helped Lincoln develop his own powerful sense of oratorical rhythm, from his casual anecdotal stories to his major state addresses. Abraham Lincoln and Robert Burns connects the poor-farm-boy upbringings, the quasi-deistic religious views, the shared senses of destiny, the extraordinary gifts for words, and the quests for social equality of two respected and beloved world figures. This book is enhanced by twelve illustrations and two appendixes, which include Burns poems Lincoln particularly admired and Lincoln writings especially admired in Scotland.

The Gory Stories Behind The Murder Ballads Cheerfully vulgar, revelling in gore, and always with an eye on the main chance, murder ballads are tabloid newspapers set to music, carrying word of the latest ‘orrible murders to an insatiable public. Victims are bludgeoned, stabbed or shot in every verse and killers often hanged, but the songs themselves never die. Instead, they mutate – morphing to suit local place names as they criss cross the Atlantic and continue to fascinate each generation’s biggest musical stars. Paul Slade traces this fascinating genre’s history through eight of its greatest songs. Stagger Lee’s “biographers” alone include Duke Ellington, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Dr John, The Clash and Nick Cave. No two tell his story in quite the same way. Covering eight classic murder ballads, including “Knoxville Girl”, “Tom Dooley” and “Frankie & Johnny”, Slade investigates the real-life murder which inspired each song and traces its musical development down the decades. Billy Bragg, The Bad Seeds’ Mick Harvey, Laura Cantrell, Rennie Sparks of The Handsome Family and a host of other leading musicians add their own insights.