Jeannie Robertson

Combining biography, folklore, oral history, and ethnomusicology, this book explores the life and repertoire of the Scottish traditional singer Jeannie Robertson (1908-1975) - an artist whom Alan Lomax hailed as "a monumental figure in twentieth-century folksong.". Utilizing numerous quotations from Robertson's own oral accounts of her life, James Porter and Herschel Gower trace her career as a member of the marginal nomadic group in Northeast Scotland known as "travellers," whose origin is obscure. They explain the importance of traditional song in Robertson's family and community and include eighty of her songs, complete with musical notation.