Category: What’s New

Margaret Walters sends us her rendition of “I’ve Lived in Service,” as well as a version by Vic Gammon. The song was collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and it tells the tale of a young servant who strikes a hard bargain with his employer over the maid he loves.

We’re excited to show off our 2022 shirt design! Created by illustrator Marian Bailey, the design is printed on high-quality, 100% cotton, Bella + Canvas shirts, made in the US. Also printed in the US using environmentally-friendly practices and vibrant water-based inks. Get one while they last!

During our 2015 Centennial Campaign, the CDSS community raised $50,000 to fund digitization efforts for the CDSS collection at the University of New Hampshire. In June of this year, after two and a half years of putting so much on hold for pandemic-related business, CDSS and UNH were able to return attention to the work of making the CDSS archives digitally accessible, and the project is now underway! Read more in the CDSS News.

In episode 7 of From the Mic, Mary talks with caller and choreographer Chris Page, who has called contras and English country dance in San Diego for about 15 years.

Ed Miller introduces “London Town,” written by the world-renowned fiddler Kevin Burke. The song is a tribute to the many Irish laborers who helped rebuild London after World War II.

Bob Bovee introduces “Yuba Dam,” an old-time song with a humorous tale of verbal misunderstandings. 

Kim Wallach introduces “Bibble A La Do.” Also known as “Buttermilk Hill” and “Shule Aroon,” “Shule a Ghra,” “Siúil a Rún,” and by many other names, the song laments a lad gone for a soldier—sometimes one for whom the singer has sold everything to supply with the tools of war, only for them to die anyway.

Joel Mabus introduces “The Golden Willow Tree,” in which a duplicitous sea captain strikes a bargain with a cabin boy to take down a pirate ship.