"Them Ole' Love Songs": The Ballad And Country Music Tradition Of Earl Silvers, From Green Mountain, North Carolina

In this thesis the ballad and early country music singing traditions of Earl Silvers, from Green Mountain, North Carolina are examined. Silvers has never been a professional performer, and sings ballads, early country music hits, and folksongs to his grandchildren and family members. He comes from a legacy of mountain musicians. Earl's father, Tom Silvers, was born in 1881 and was a noted fiddle and banjo player in the Higgins community of Yancey County. Zora Higgins Silvers, Earl's mother, was a singer of old ballads and songs she leaned from the radio and from her neighbors. Earl's parents, as well as the early country music broadcast from the radio into the mountains of western North Carolina helped Earl develop a passion for and connection to mountain music. Earl sings the songs his parents, family, and neighbors sang for him in his lifetime to his family, fiends, and neighbors in the community of Green Mountain.