Kentucky Mountain Ballads (Decca A 574, 1947) is an album set of eight 78 rpm sides from Cousin Emmy — Cynthia May Carver, the Louisville, Kentucky-born multi-instrumentalist and singer known for her exuberant stage presence and command of banjo, fiddle, and guitar. The album was arranged through the intervention of folklorist Alan Lomax, who facilitated Cousin Emmy's Decca contract after encountering her in the field, and the recordings document her Kentucky mountain repertoire — including "Lonesome Road Blues," "I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again," "Lost John," and "Free Little Bird." Recorded in Hollywood in March 1947, the sessions present a performer who straddled the old-time tradition and the emerging commercial country world with equal confidence, making her one of the few artists of the period to move fluidly between both spheres.
Tracklist
- 1 Sugar Hill 3:35
- 2 Bill Morgan and His Gal 2:57
- 3 Country Blues 3:53
- 4 Little Sadie alt version 2:46
- 5 Susannah Gal 2:59
- 6 Wednesday Night Waltz 3:08
- 7 Cyclone of Rye Cove 3:06
- 8 I'm Leaving You This Lonesome Song 2:38
- 9 Carroll County Blues 1:42
- 10 Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down alt version 2:13
- 11 Trouble in Mind alt version 4:17
- 12 Chilly Winds 1:08
- 13 Going Down the Road Feeling Bad 2:26
- 14 Pretty Polly alt version 3:33
- 15 Bonaparte’s Retreat alt version 3:32
- 16 Concord Rag 2:16
- 17 John Henry alt version 3:12
- 18 I Wish I Was in Bowling Green alt version 1:49
- 19 Fine Times in Our House 3:13
- 20 Streets of Glory 2:11
- 21 Policeman 2:53
- 22 Love Somebody (Soldier's Joy) 2:16
- 23 House of David Blues 1:27
- 24 Ship in the Clouds 1:46
- 25 Way Downtown alt version 2:43
- 26 Look Down That Lonesome Road alt version 3:28
- 27 Down Yonder alt version 3:34
- 28 Jaybird March 1:52
- 29 John Brown's Dream 1:36
