Episode 1

The first podcast is an introduction to the Carrie Grover Project, and an overview of the podcast series. On the podcast, Carrie herself sings Prentice Boy, one of the songs from her great grandmother, and she speaks with Alan Lomax during a conversation recorded in April 1941. Carrie’s granddaughter, Callie Mills, reads the words Carrie wrote in the introduction to her songbook, A Heritage of Songs. Music is performed by folksong duo Anna and Elizabeth who sing Farewell to Erin (Grover’s version is Adieu to Erin), and Paul Brady performs his famous rendition of Arthur McBride. I express my gratitude to two scholars who provided invaluable guidance early on in the project: Joe Hickerson, former archivist at the American Folklife Center, and Norm Cohen, author of Long Steel Rail: the railroad in American Folksong.