Our Story

A “nest of singing birds” was the name Cecil Sharp gave to Madison County, North Carolina, when he visited the area in 1916 to collect the ancient ballads that had survived there, being gently passed down knee to knee and warm hand to warm hand. The county is still known for this rich tradition that goes back at least nine generations.

The moniker has now been adopted by a cooperative of singers in the region that are keeping this art form alive. Centering around Sheila Kay Adams, the matriarch of the traditional music community in Western North Carolina, the group is led by her second cousin Donna Ray Norton, one of the eighth generation of their family to keep these songs of love and loss and the stories that surround them alive. Through activities like Ballad Night at the Old Marshall Jail and performances at festivals and performing arts centers across the United States and the world, these a cappella songs are shared from the hearts of the singers to an ever-expanding community of people searching for the magic that abides inside this viable living, breathing tradition not yet lost to time and technology.

A swap is a time honored tradition that brings singers and ballad lovers together to share the old “love songs” and keep the tradition alive and breathing. In Marshall, NC in 2022, Josh Copus and Donna Ray Norton hatched a plan to bring this time honored tradition to the renovated Old Marshall Jail - a hotel and restaurant housed in the meticulously curated renovated jail. By inviting the wider community into the fold, the group hopes to protect and spread an appreciation of the art.

The Old Marshall Jail Ballad Swap is a celebration of Appalachian heritage, hosted by Copus, Norton, and Sheila Kay Adams. This casual “front porch” gathering brings together ballad singers from across the region to share stories and songs that have been passed down for generations. Madison County, known for its rich ballad tradition, was famously described by English folk song collector Cecil Sharp as a “nest of singing birds” in 1916. The ballad tradition here goes back at least nine generations, making it one of the oldest unbroken oral traditions in the U.S.

The Marshall Sessions

In 2023, a group of singers gathered at the Old Marshall Jail, where they had been hosting the monthly ballad swap, to record a set of songs. This project is a capsule of the past brought forward into the present, and the production and release of the album were brought about with support from the North Carolina Arts Council and the North Carolina Music Office. Now out on vinyl and pending digital release, the Marshall Sessions is available for purchase via the web store or on location at the Old Marshall Jail Hotel and Zadie’s Restaurant.