Mary Celestia Parler Field Recordings: Arkansas: Arkansas

FW-ASCH-5RR-4444 FLP.90324

CDR copy FW-ASCH-7RR-4443 and -4444 are recordings of Mary Jo Davis of Fayetteville, Arkansas, singing traditional folk songs unaccompanied. The recordings were produced by Mary Celestia Parler. In a "memo"in tape box of -4444, she says current tape is a "fresh recording" to replace an older one. Tape box of -4444 has date of 3/14/55, but that may be date of copy, not original. M. Parler was a professor of English and folklore at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Both she and her "field assistants" recorded local singers. In her book, "An Arkansas Ballet Book," first published in 1963, four songs of Ms. Davis are included, two recorded by Ms. Parler and two by one of her field assistants, Merlin Mitchell. The book includes "Black-Jack Davy," of Ms. Davis, as recorded by M. Mitchell on 6/16/1950. Only one of Ms. Davis'es songs is on a Folkways recording: Black-Jack Davy, on Folk Music U.S.A. (FW04530).