This section presents an overview of the continuity and changes in singing traditional music in the Adirondack region over the last two centuries and more.  There are occupational songs, murder ballads, love songs and novelty tunes, some that have migrated from other places, others that have been locally created. 

In this section, you can read a background essay featuring the common venues for singing in the past—lumbercamps, barrooms, the kitchen or parlor, and community halls. 

You can find profiles of men and women who gained a reputation in their families and communities as “good singers” and have been documented by collectors who realized their special qualities and their amazing repertoires.  For each of them, there is a selection of songs in audio files and sheet music, transcribed exactly as the singer performed it. 

And there is a section of local songs that appear to have been created in our own region, with references to local places, people, and events.