Mary Bullman Sands (April 8, 1872 – April 2, 1949), from Allanstand in
Madison County, North Carolina
Madison County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,193. Its county seat is Marshall. Madison County is part of the Asheville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The ...
, was a singer of old traditional ballads during the early part of the 20th century. She was known locally as "Singing Mary" due to her singing talent and extensive knowledge of the words and melodies of many old-time traditional songs that had been passed down through previous generations.
[Virginia Sparks Turner, "525, Sands and Bullman," in ''Madison County Heritage - North Carolina Vol. I'', comp. Madison County Heritage Book Committee (Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing, 1994), 190.] In 1916, English folklorist
Cecil Sharp
Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English-born collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was the pre-eminent activist in the development of t ...
visited Madison County to collect and record traditional folk songs being sung in America that would have originated generations earlier in the British Isles. Sands sang 25 songs for him, 23 of which he included in his book, ''English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians''.
[Cecil Sharp, Maud Karpeles (ed.), ''English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians'' (London: Oxford University Press, 1932).]
Early life and family
Mary Sands née Bullman was born on April 8, 1872, in the Laurel section of Madison County, North Carolina. Her parents were John Wesley Bullman (1847–1895) and Rosannah Shelton (aka Franklin) (1836–1909).
[Mike Yates and Kriss Sands]
''A Nest of Singing Birds: Cecil Sharp, Mary Sands, and the Madison County Song Tradition''
Musical Traditions, March 15, 2002. Retrieved: December 22, 2012. She had a twin sister, Martha Bullman (1872–1897), who died while in her twenties. She also had an older sister, Melvina ("Jane") Bullman (c. 1865 – c. 1930) and an older brother, Christopher Columbus ("Sonny") Bullman (1869–1935). John Wesley Bullman (called "Wesley") was the second husband of Rosannah. Her first husband,
Hugh Wallin (1826–1864), was killed in the
U.S. Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states t ...
. Rosannah and Hugh Wallin had five sons – Sands's half brothers – some of whom also became well-known traditional ballad singers.
In 1892, Mary Bullman married James Monroe Sands (1849–1923),
who had moved to Madison County from
Danville, Virginia
Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...
. Together they had ten children, none of whom are currently living.
Cecil Sharp
When
Cecil Sharp
Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English-born collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was the pre-eminent activist in the development of t ...
came to Madison County in 1916 as part of his project to collect old English ballads, Sands was 44 years old and was eight and a half months pregnant with her tenth child.
Of the 39 different Madison County singers that sang for Sharp, Sands provided him the second largest number of songs, 25, with Jane Hicks Gentry of
Hot Springs, North Carolina
Hot Springs is a town in Madison County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 560 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is a resort town, reliant on the tourist economy of its namesake spri ...
providing him the most, a total of 70, 40 of which were published in his book ''English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians''. After Sharp's visit, Sands continued to sing, became very active in her church and wrote a number of unpublished religious songs.
She was a lifelong resident of Madison County, except for brief stays with her children during the latter part of her life as her health began to fail.
Death
Sands died April 2, 1949, due to complications following a stroke, just a few days short of her 77th birthday. She was buried in the Walnut Methodist Church Cemetery,
Walnut, North Carolina
Walnut in an unincorporated community in Madison County, North Carolina, United States. The community is named after the Walnut Mountains, located further north. Centered along Barnard Road (SR 1151), it is accessible via NC 213 and ...
.
Songs collected by Sharp
This list includes dates, titles, and volume and page references to the second and enlarged edition (two volumes-in-one) of Sharp's ''English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians'',
published in 1932.
(In some cases, Sands referred to her songs by titles different from their more common titles,
and parenthetical entries indicate the titles Sharp used in his book.)
July 31, 1916
*The Silk Merchant's Daughter, I, 381
*The Perbadus Lady (Pretty Nancy of Yarmouth), I, 379
*
The Brown Girl, I, 295
*
Lord Bateman (Young Beichan), I, 81
*
Fair Margaret and Sweet William, I, 135
*
Come You People Old and Young (The Suffolk Miracle), I, 261
August 1, 1916
*Awake! Awake!, I, 358
*Little Soldier Boy (The Lady and the Dragoon), I, 333
*
The Daemon Lover
"The Daemon Lover" (Roud 14, Child 243) – also known as "James Harris", "A Warning for Married Women", "The Distressed Ship Carpenter", "James Herries", "The Carpenter’s Wife", "The Banks of Italy", or "The House-Carpenter" – is a popular ba ...
, I, 244
*
Earl Brand
"Earl Brand" ( Child 7, Roudbr>23 is a pseudo-historical English ballad.
Synopsis
The hero, who may be Earl Brand, Lord Douglas, or Lord William, flees with the heroine, who may be Lady Margaret. A Carl Hood may betray them to her father, but the ...
, I, 16
*I Am a Man of Honour (The Virginian Lover), unpublished
*The Broken Token, II, 70
August 2, 1916
*
The Outlandish Knight (Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight), I, 5
*
The Golden Glove
''The Golden Glove'' (german: Der Goldene Handschuh) is a 2019 internationally co-produced horror drama film directed by Fatih Akin. It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. The film is an a ...
, I, 377
August 3, 1916
*
Lord Lovell, I, 146
*Married and Single Life, II, 3
*My Sad Overthrow (The Sheffield Apprentice), II, 66
*
Lord Randal
"Lord Randall", or "Lord Randal", () is an Anglo- Scottish border ballad consisting of dialogue between a young Lord and his mother. Similar ballads can be found across Europe in many languages, including Danish, German, Magyar, Irish, Swe ...
, I, 38
August 4, 1916
*
Polly Oliver, I, 344
*I Waited Out My Hours, unpublished
*The Boatsman and the Chest, I, 338
*If You Want to Go A-courting, II, 6
August 5, 1916
*
Pretty Saro
''Pretty Saro'' (Roud 417) is an English folk ballad originating in the early 1700s. The song died out in England by the mid eighteenth century but was rediscovered in North America (particularly in the Appalachian Mountains) in the early twent ...
, II, 10
*
Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender (Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor), I, 121
*My Dearest Dear, II, 13
Present-day singers
The old ballads collected by Sharp from Sands and others over a century ago have not been forgotten. A number of present-day traditional ballad singers have included Sands's songs in their repertoires for live concerts as well as in sound recordings.
Sheila Kay Adams, award-winning singer, musician, story teller, and author, has recorded an album entitled ''My Dearest Dear'', which includes six songs that are part of Sharp's collection from Sands. They are: "Fine Sally" (aka "The Brown Girl"), "Awake! Awake!," "My Dearest Dear," "Little Soldier Boy," "Silk Merchant's Daughter," and "Jimmy Randall" (aka "Lord Randall").
Joe Penland, ballad singer and story teller, has recorded several albums that include songs from Sands, with his most recent album, ''The Mary Sands Project, Volume I'', containing eleven of the songs Sands sang for Sharp and one original song written by Sands. They are: "Awake! Awake!," "The Silk Merchants Daughter," "Sweet William (Earl Brand)," "The House Carpenter (The Daemon Lover)," "My Sad Overthrow (The Sheffield Apprentice)," "The Handkerchief (The Suffolk Miracle)," "Lady Marget (Fair Margaret and Sweet William)," "The Boatsman and the Chest," "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender," "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight," "Jimmy Randall (Lord Randall)," and "Your Sins Will Find You Out." "Your Sins Will Find You Out" was written by Sands depicting the 1937 shooting death of her son Chesley in
Marshall, North Carolina
Marshall is a town in Madison County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 872 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Madison County.
Marshall is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The Bank of Frenc ...
.
Prior to the release of ''The Mary Sands Project, Volume I'', Penland had recorded two other albums that included songs from Sands. They are: ''Standing on Tradition'', which includes "Pretty Saro," and ''On Shakey Ground'', which includes "My Dearest Dear" and "Fine Sally" (aka "The Brown Girl").
Other traditional Southern Appalachian ballad singers who have recorded albums containing one or more of Sands's songs include: Donna Ray Norton, ''Single Girl'' and ''Forks in the Road''; Bobby McMillon, ''A Deeper Feeling''; Bill Morris, ''Blue Ridge Mountain Music, Volume II''; Jerry Adams, ''When I First Come to this Country'';
Doug and Jack Wallin, ''Family Songs and Stories from the North Carolina Mountains''; and Betty Smith, ''Songs Traditionally Sung in North Carolina''.
[Betty Smith, ''Songs Traditionally Sung in North Carolina'', Folk-Legacy Records, 1987, cassette tape.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sands, Mary
1872 births
1949 deaths
People from Madison County, North Carolina
American folk singers
Musicians from Appalachia