I've been blessed to have the opportunity to spend time learning from storyteller and ballad singer extraordinaire, Bobby MacMillon. In my grant proposal for our apprenticeship, I wrote that I especially wanted to document our car-rides to and from performances. Anyone who has had the privilege of riding with a great storyteller knows that this is the place where the stories really live! I drove Bobby and Rick Ward to the Library of Congress once, and I think that might have been the most fun I have ever had--And we got stuck dead in traffic for 3 hours! I'm still sorting out how best to use the action camera I bought for the project, I don't think it likes long exposures very much! (I also record the trips with a zoom audio recorder).--Wm

One of the things I just love about Bobby is how willing he is to just call forth a song. I'll ask, do you know ____, and he'll just start right into it. Here he's singing one of my favorite humorous songs: "the Darby Ram." And for those who are wondering, I do have better audio and video for all of these, but with many irons on the fire, unfortunately I don't really have to time to produce higher quality versions. Also, Bobby does describe or sing a few "off color" lines here, so be prepared for that. I'm glad we have them down for posterity, because at least since Cecil Sharpe's time, people have been editing out the more "earthy" lines of old songs like these. Here we are bombarded by sex and violence in media today, but heaven forbid an old man sing about women hauling off giant Goat Testes in ages past. Remember that a lot of the people that sang this old mountain music 50 or more years ago grew up in a one-room cabin. They'd be a lot less shy about certain things! Thanks as always to Bobby for his good humor, love of old songs, and generosity, and also thanks to the NC Arts Council for supporting our work together through the "In These Mountains" Folklife Apprenticeship Grant.--Wm