From Vol. 90, Ed. 08 May 2, 2024
Originally published in The Mountaineer
Donna Ray Norton, eighth generation ballad singer and Local to Revere, North Carolina joins the Canton library concert series for a free performance of traditional ballads and stories.
One of a “dying breed” of Appalachian ballad singers, Norton fights to keep the tradition alive by singing and storytelling all over the east coast.
Though it wasn’t always this way.
“My mom always took me to the festivals, and she would offer to let me sing, but I just always said no,” Norton said.
As a 16-year-old in a family of acclaimed musicians Norton did not originally feel the same calling as the rest of her family.
“My mom was a ballad singer herself. She didn’t really push me to do things because I think she just didn’t want to push me away from it. She just let me find my way back to it on my own,” Norton said.
Eventually, with her mother’s patience and with help from her cousin Sheila Adams, Norton found her musical calling just like the rest of her family. She took up ballad singing like her mother and soon after, she began receiving accolades and attention.
She and her family of musicians have performed all over the east coast and their music has been featured in numerous albums including “Big Bend Killing, The Appalachian Ballad Tradition” which went on to receive a Grammy nomination in 2018.
Norton’s ballad singing has different effects on people regardless of their familiarity with the art, and Norton has witnessed that effect at various concerts she has performed.
“When I come off stage, I have people that come up to me all the time and say, I remember hearing my grandfather singing that song. They tell me about how their parents passed away recently or something like that,” Norton said. “I had one woman who, not too long ago, was in tears while she was talking about how beautiful it all was. She had never heard anything like ballad singing before, so it wasn’t that she remembered something…she was crying because she felt [the beauty of the ballad].”
For Norton, there seems to be something in the water somewhere in her hometown of Revere that leads to musical success. Revere, also known as Sodom Laurel, is known for it’s rich heritage and historical musical community.
It’s known as the “Nest of Singing Birds” and got its name from the famous collector of folk songs, composer and musician Cecil Sharp. Norton’s family is of direct lineage from the people who Cecil Sharp recorded singing when he came through Western North Carolina over 100 years ago.
That tradition continues to be passed on.
Norton’s paternal grandfather, Byard Ray, was a well-known fiddle player around the country. Norton is also the second cousin of renowned ballad singer, storyteller, and musician, Sheila Kay Adams.
“If it weren’t for folks like my cousin Sheila Kay Adams, my mom and Cecil Sharp coming through the mountains and collecting all those old love songs… if it weren’t for David Holt and Rob Amberg and all these different names of people that you hear in our area coming through and collecting and recognizing all these things, it would be a dying art form,” Norton said.
It remains critical to Norton that she pass the ballad singing tradition on to preserve its rich culture and unique way of storytelling.
“We’re eighth generation and we don’t have five kids and we don’t have ten kids. Hopefully a couple of those kids are going to pick up on ballad singing,” said Norton. “I only have three kids and my cousin only has one. I’ve got a shot because I’ve got three, maybe one of them will pick it up.”
Though she has fewer children than her grandparents to pass on ballad singing to, she still tries her best to impart her wisdom on her young daughter. She does this the same way her mother did for her, with gentle encouragement, but never force.
“It’s definitely just so important because it’s an unbroken tradition for my family and I would like to continue that,” Norton said.
