Scary Song: A Song History

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"Scary Song" is one of the pieces in Aubrey Atwater's Song By Song, Vol. II, which the DulcimerDownloads listing presents as a book of dulcimer tablature in whatever tuning suits each song, many with lyrics for singing along; this one is set in DAC tuning.[1] Atwater publishes the book herself, and the download is a 157-page PDF together with a folder of 64 separate song files.[1] In her own table of contents for the volume it falls on page 122, between "Saddle and Ride" and "Single Girl, Married Girl."[2] The Atwater-Donnelly online store dates this second volume to 2022.[3] The listing gives no composer or source for the song, and the sources consulted here, including the track lists of the recordings sold in that store, do not show whether it is traditional or Atwater's own, or where she found it.[1][2][3]

Hanging scroll of a pale ghostly figure with long dark hair beside a tall black oil lamp

Tani Bun'ichi, Ghost and Oil Lamp, hanging scroll, ink, color, and gold on silk, 1810. Shown for the title; it has no connection to the song.

Atwater's solo program draws on both traditional and original folk music, played on guitar, Appalachian mountain dulcimer, Irish tin whistle, mandolin and old-time banjo, and she has also learned Appalachian clogging.[4] Her solo page notes that she has taught dulcimer and ballad classes on visits to places including the Hindman Settlement School.[4] Her DulcimerDownloads biography explains that she and Elwood Donnelly met as volunteers at Providence's Stone Soup Coffeehouse early in 1987, began performing as a duo a few months later, and married in 1989.[5] The pair have performed and researched traditional music and dance in Appalachia, the Ozarks and New England as well as Ireland, England and Prince Edward Island, and have performed with or shared festival bills with Jean Ritchie, Pete Seeger and Doc Watson.[5]

Our book that contains the song "Scary Song"

Sources

  1. Aubrey Atwater: "Aubrey Atwater, Song By Song, Vol. II".
  2. Atwater-Donnelly: "Table of Contents, Song By Song, Volume II".
  3. Atwater-Donnelly: "Discography & Online Store".
  4. Atwater-Donnelly: "Aubrey Atwater Solo".
  5. DulcimerDownloads: "Aubrey Atwater".
  6. Image: Tani Bun'ichi, Ghost and Oil Lamp, hanging scroll, ink, color, and gold on silk, 1810. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

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