rarity: TEXAS GLADDEN, Hobart Smith "Blue Ridge Ballads" 4-78s album: DISC 737

$

67

Scarce 4-disc set of Texas Gladden & her brother Hobart Smith

"TEXAS GLADDEN SINGS BLUE RIDGE BALLADS"

Disc singles 6079-6082, released 1948.  This album is also numbered Disc 737 on the spine.  This was later release as an LP, which is scarce in its own right, but nowhere near as scarce as the 78 set.  Recorded in New York in 1946 by Moe Asch.

6079 The House Carpenter (mx 1808) / Arkansas Traveler (mx 1809)
6080 I'm Never to Marry (mx 1810) / Poor Ellen Smith (mx 1811)
6081 Down in the Willow Garden (mx 1812) / Railroad Bill (mx 1813)
6082 The Devil and the Farmer (mx 1814) // Lonesome Road Blues / Sourwood Mountain (mx 1815)

Album cover design info:
Ben Shahn
American (Kovno (now Kaunas), Lithuania 1898 - 1969 New York, NY)
Album Cover Design for "Texas Gladden Sings Blue Ridge Ballads", 1946.
Black ink and graphite on cream wove paper (two pieces joined)
31.1 x 28.8 cm (12 1/4 x 11 5/16 in.)
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Stephen Lee Taller Ben Shahn Archive, Gift of Dolores S. Taller, 2002.

from wikipedia article:
Born Texas Anna Smith, in Rich Valley, Smyth County, Virginia, the daughter of Alexander King Smith and his wife Sarah Louvenia (née Hammonds); the name Texas was taken from that of an aunt. She married Jim Gladden in 1912 at the age of seventeen. In 1930, the couple lived in Salem, Virginia with their seven children (she had nine in all); Jim worked as a laborer.
She started to gain a public audience through singing at the White Top Festival in Smyth County in the mid 1930s, and made some early recordings for the Virginia Folklore Society. In September 1941, along with her brother, musician Hobart Smith, she began to record with pioneer folk archivist and musicologist Alan Lomax. The largest collection of her work, which includes 37 tracks of songs and interviews, is compiled on the album Texas Gladden: Ballad Legacy, which Lomax produced as part of his Southern Journey series. This album contains traditional ballads of Anglo-Saxon/Celtic origin, such as "Barbara Allen", "Mary Hamilton", and "Lord Thomas", as well as regional songs and even a Civil War-era ghost story. The album was reissued on CD by Rounder Records in 2001.
Texas Gladden died in Salem, Virginia, in 1967. She did not enjoy much fame during her life and has remained a relatively obscure artist. Her work experienced a resurgence in popularity during the 1960s as she was referenced by Joan Baez. More recently her singing has been rediscovered through harpist Joanna Newsom's recording of the traditional Appalachian style song "Three Little Babes", recorded by Gladden as "The Three Babies."
Hobart Smith (May 10, 1897—January 11, 1965) was an American old-time musician. He was most notable for his appearance with his sister, Texas Gladden, on a series of Library of Congress recordings in the 1940s and his later appearances at various festivals during the folk music revival of the 1960s. Smith is often remembered for his virtuosic performances on the banjo, and had also mastered various other instruments, including the fiddle, guitar, piano, harmonica, accordion, and organ.

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Discs are E with a few faint scuffs, a couple with a little warp. Album book is VG+ with light wear, light soiling, probably as nice a copy as you will ever find.
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I pack carefully and safely, with long experience in shipping 78 rpm discs.  I estimate a package of 3 lbs weight or less, and shipping is based on this estimate.  Please wait for an invoice before paying for a more accurate shipipng estimate (it may well be lower).  I will combine shipping of course, if you win multiple items.