Women in Traditional Song: What the Songs Say about Women and the Women Who Sang Them

From “Lady Isabel” who took care of her own salvation and the “Farmer’s Cursed Wife” who ruined Hell, to “Little Margaret” who took her own life and “Little Omie Wise” whose life was taken from her, Betty Smith explores with her audience the roles women play in traditional ballads and songs. The women who sang them were carriers of the culture, not performers. They sang songs as they went about their daily chores and rocked their babies. Smith also looks at why certain songs stayed alive and why women chose to sing them—indeed, why some women are still singing them.