Mountain Ballad Swap with hosts William Ritter & Jim Veteto
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the late Bobby McMillon, the patron saint of our Ballad Swap. You can learn all about him and listen to a lot of his music on this website.
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After the success of the recurring ballad swap in Marshall at Zadie's (2nd Wednesday each month), my seed saver friend Jim Veteto offered that we should try to start a ballad swap in Spruce Pine. I told him I would give it a shot, and to my surprise, we've had a great run and a good turn out so far. My hope in starting this particular swap was to encourage folks in our community to take up the practice of singing old ballads (hopefully local ones from local singers) and have a place where they could share what they were working on.
Our swap is much like an open mic, we just ask that our singers perform traditional ballads--particularly old mountain ballads. So far I have been very pleased that many of our singers are learning Bobby McMillon's material! We've had guest singers pop in from as far away as merry old England. Occasionally some of the Marshall singers will come share their talents and repertoire at our swap. Public, recurring, and open opportunities like this, specifically tailored to sharing ballads, are few and far between--and to be honestly I only know of one! We aim to create a friendly and low stakes atmosphere where folks can "cut their teeth" as ballad singers, (though fair warning: the Mad Hatter is a working restaurant and at times the crowd can get a little "talkie-talkie" which can be distracting, but it will toughen you up as a singer!)
Our swap is much like an open mic, we just ask that our singers perform traditional ballads--particularly old mountain ballads. So far I have been very pleased that many of our singers are learning Bobby McMillon's material! We've had guest singers pop in from as far away as merry old England. Occasionally some of the Marshall singers will come share their talents and repertoire at our swap. Public, recurring, and open opportunities like this, specifically tailored to sharing ballads, are few and far between--and to be honestly I only know of one! We aim to create a friendly and low stakes atmosphere where folks can "cut their teeth" as ballad singers, (though fair warning: the Mad Hatter is a working restaurant and at times the crowd can get a little "talkie-talkie" which can be distracting, but it will toughen you up as a singer!)
Looking for Ballads to learn?
You have come to the right place! Here on the songtoseed website you can find a number often rare versions of old songs that are looking for their "forever singers"! My album Mentor, features a lot of great pieces that I learned first hand from folks like Bobby McMillon. (You can listen to the album free on Bandcamp). Many of those, only a handful of people sing, and my whole goal is to change that! I am 100% fine with folks recording me at the swaps, though you should always ask other singers before recording their music at shows. If you record me with the intent of learning one of the songs I share, let me know so that I can make sure I sing it correctly and don't drift off into over versions or skip over a verse here or there! In the future I hope to expand this page to help folks learn these wonderful old gems that have been passed down to us with "warm hands" (meaning person to person).
Co-host Dr. Jim Veteto, seed saver, ballad singer, tea grower, and all around cool feller