Water runs through the bluegrass and old-time repertoire — the Ohio, the deep blue sea, the harbor of love, the river you cross to get home. Some are murder ballads where the body ends up in the water (“Banks of the Ohio,” “Handsome Molly”). Some are gospel about the river of salvation (“Down to the River to Pray,” “Drifting Too Far from the Shore”). Some are sailing and seafaring ballads brought into the southern tradition from the British Isles (“Midnight on the Stormy Deep,” “The Golden Vanity”). Together they form the genre’s tradition of using water as backdrop, threshold, and grave.

Each song’s page on Picker’s Guide has chord charts, lyrics, recordings, and song history.