Cecil Sharp Project CD & DVD

The Cecil Sharp Project CD and DVD twin packs have been away at manufacture for the last few weeks and we expect to have finished copies delivered here by early July.

We've just started taking pre-orders for shipment in July on the project website

The official release date for regular stores and digital downloads will be Sept 5th.

There is more information and song samples available on the project website, but you can download a FREE song right here!

Download Child's Song / Barbara Allen and read the liner notes below

Sharp was struck by the cross-generational interest in singing in the Appalachians. His diaries frequently mention songs given to him by children and teenagers and their desire to perform for him and Maud on their visits. Barbara Allen was one such, this version collected from Ellie Johnson of Hot Springs, North Carolina. Kathryn Roberts


The shadows hung round the fireplace on the night he came to see us.
I stood in the door and I heard some more of the songs Mama won't teach us.
But I know more than she'll ever guess; I've grown with my ears open.
So I'll wait in the dark and I'll take his hand and sing him Barbara Allen.

I've heard these songs since I was a child and I know how to sing them,
You throw your head back and take a breath and let the song come rising.
These tales of old, they touch my soul, though I don't understand them
So I'll wait in the dark and I'll take his hand and sing him Barbara Allen.

Sweet William's down in his dwell today, he's down in his dwell a-drinking,
He passed the wine to the ladies all, he slighted Barbara Allen.
It wasn't very long before William's taken sick, death was all he dreaded.
He sent his love for Barbara to come, she come, she's come a-running.

And all she said when she got there, young man I think you're dying,
Oh I am sick and I'm very sick and never be no better.
It wasn't very long before Barbara started home; she heard the corpse bells ringing.
She looked East and she looked West and saw the pale corpse coming.

Sweet William died on Saturday night, and Barbara on a Sunday
The old woman died for the love of both, she died on Easter Monday.
On William’s grave a turtle dove, on Barbara's grave a sparrow.
The turtle dove is a sign of love, the sparrow was for sorrow