The Ballad of Laurel Springs

 

   The Ballad of Laurel Springs by Janet Beard

Old folk songs are more than just songs of entertainment.  Old folk songs are poetry, stories, documents passed on through voice when sometimes the written word couldn't be read.  Old folk songs, if you were so inclined, can be mined for the story behind the story.  You can enjoy them for the music or you can learn something about yourself.

Grace was assigned a family history project in fifth grade.  She was told by an aunt that her great-great-great-great grandfather stabbed his lover to death and well, if you know a fifth grader, learning something like that in your family's history can only make you very determined to find out what happened.

Through YouTube Grace is introduced to the song Pretty Polly, the ballad tells the story of her ancestor Willy Reid and his killing of Polly.  Now, country bands just add the song to their list and perform it but Grace wants to know the story behind the story and she traces each generation through the women in the family all the way back to Polly and thus giving Polly her life back.

Lucky us.