Wildwood Flower: A Song History
"Wildwood Flower" began as a parlor song, reportedly first titled "I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets," and is believed to date from 1860; its words are usually credited to Maud Irving and its music to Joseph Philbrick Webster. The Library of Congress adds that the melody may owe something to an older Scottish or Irish folk air.[1] Like most popular songs of its day, it lasted mainly because people passed it along by ear, and in the process the original verses were largely lost and replaced by a number of alternate wordings.[1]
Adirondack Mountain Wild Flowers, photochrom print, Detroit Publishing Co., c1902. Library of Congress. No known restrictions on publication. The print is not connected to the song.
The Carter Family recorded the song, under the title "Wildwood Flower," for Victor at Camden, New Jersey, in May 1928.[1] The record sold close to 100,000 copies, a striking figure for the period.[1] What made it famous, though, was Maybelle Carter's guitar: she picked the melody on the low strings while brushing the rhythm on the high ones, a method loosely modeled on old-time banjo playing that came to be called the "Carter lick" or "Carter scratch."[1][2] Her arrangements on this and other Carter Family records are some of the most widely copied instrumental parts in country music.[2] The recording received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999[2] and was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2006.[3]
Later artists including Merle Travis, Jean Ritchie, June Carter Cash and Joan Baez have recorded the song or made it part of their shows.[1] For mountain dulcimer players it is a jam favorite, included in Stephen Seifert's Join the Jam, a collection of popular tunes from the dulcimer jamming tradition.[4]
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