What’s New

• Songs That Speak: The Ballad of Little Mary Phagan

  CDSS is pleased to support “Songs that Speak,” a monthly YouTube series by Saro Lynch-Thomason. Learn about the history, folklore, and modern-day relevance of traditional songs, and sing along as Saro teaches each song through sing-and-repeat. Saro’s latest offering is “Can Songs Kill? The Leo Frank Trial and the Ballad of Little Mary Phagan.”

• February 2022 Song of the Month

  Ken Willson and Kim McKee present “Scarborough Settler’s Lament,” in which an exile to Canada during the Highland Clearances sings about longing for the beauty of Scotland.

• Contra Pulse with Becky Tracy

  On this episode of Contra Pulse, Julie sits down with fiddler Becky Tracy. Becky has been a defining presence in some of the most popular and innovative contra dance bands from New England—Wild Asparagus and Nightingale. 

• January 2022 Song of the Month

  Tim Edwards introduces “Tom o’Bedlam’s Song,” an early 17th-century tune that has been described as the finest anonymous poem in the English language. Tom is a licensed beggar discharged from the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem in London (“Bedlam”).

• Winter 2021 CDSS News

  The Winter 2021 CDSS News is now available! Learn about Ignatius Sancho, a country dance composer who started life on a slave ship; dance the Pandemic Waltz; get some tips for weathering the winter together; and remember that “Songs Stay Sung.” Plus much more!

• 2022 Lifetime Contribution Award Recipient: Ed Stern

  The Country Dance & Song Society is proud to announce that Ed Stern of Minneapolis, MN, is the 2022 recipient of the CDSS Lifetime Contribution Award.