In 1919, Edith Sturgis and Robert Hughes published Songs from the Hills of Vermont, a remarkable set of ballads and songs collected from James and Mary Atwood of West Dover. James, the “Dover Poet” also wrote spoken “poetry” about his town and his neighbors. These New England songs were largely neglected in the midst of a revival focusing on the South. In 1964, Margaret MacArthur found and recorded their son, Fred Atwood, a good singer, with most of James’ repertoire. Margaret herself delighted audiences with a few of the Atwood songs. But, for such great material, they remained basically unknown until Tony Barrand and his Brattleboro neighbors, Keith Murphy and Becky Tracey (2/3 of the band “Nightingale”) worked for the past two years on the songs in anticipation of the local celebrations for Dover’s 2010 bicentennial. Tony and Keith will sing these outstanding songs, recite some of James’ poetry and recount tales of the intriguing people who discovered, maintained and gave this repertoire to the world. A CD recording of the songs and a reprint of the Sturgis/Hughes book, including James Atwood’s poetry, will be available at the performance.

View Songs From the Hills of Vermont on Google Books