Traditional Artists - Homepages
Links to homepages and fansites of artists specializing in the presentation of traditional songs in traditional styles. ABC Homepage
ABC is a method for musical notation in ASCII. Links to software downloads. Mac.
"American Memory" National Digital Library
The mother lode. This Library of Congress: archive of American music soundclips. Bodleian Library of Broadside Ballads
The Bodleian has an incredible 30,000 broadside ballads from the 16th century to the present. The archive includes 400 dpi scans plus midi files for those with sheet music. Hard to use - intended for scholars. Chantey Cabin
A British couple have created this site for fans of Chanteys, where you can get info on artists and festivals as well as buy music. Contemplator, The Best of the Net
Lesley Nelson has created a monument to traditional music, including a large number of Child Ballads, and a special section on songs popular in American History. Lyrics and midi files. Best on the Net! English Folk Dance and Song Society
This traditional group is not only high-tech, they're on the cutting edge of keeping traditional music relevant in the contemporary music scene. See their new multimedia CD/magazine, Root and Branch under publications. Folksong Index
With over 9000 lyrics and 4000 midi melodies, this may be the largest collection of "Airs, Anthems, Ballads, Ditties, Folksongs, Hymns and War Songs" on the net - from the U.S., Germany, England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, France and Austria. Public Domain Music
This site is a resource to help people find public domain songs unhindered by copyright hassles or expenses. Lots of useful info, including a database of 3000 songs. Roots of Folk
Bruce Olson's web site collects Old English, Scots, and Irish Songs and Tunes Sea Shanties
A fine collection of shanty lyrics - traditional and modern - can be found here. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
A great repository of American folk music, including Mo Asch's complete catalogue. Search the 35,000 track database of all the music they distribute by mail order. Smithsonian Folkways: Links
An extensive page of links to Folklife/Folklore Organizations, Archives, and Databases. Songs of and about Elizabethan Times
This page from a Renaissance Fair site gives lyrics to dozens of period songs (16th C.), many of them bawdy or drinking songs. The site, by the way, includes a pronunciation guide for Elizabethan English! The Traditional Ballad Index
An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World. For scholars only. No texts or tunes, just an index of text sources and manuscripts for these songs. Traditional Music Library Best of the Net
1000s of traditional songs split up into 22 songbooks - from geo-historical genres like Scots and cowboy ballads to themes like bawdy songs. Many of the lyrics include sheet music and MIDI files so you can hear the melody. Incredible variety and depth here. Traditional Music Library - Bawdy Song Archive
This collection of 200 lyrics (about 100 with score and MIDI) deserves its own listing. Warning: this site contains material that may be offensive; on the other hand, the bawdy song is absolutely central to the oral tradition - no pun intended.
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