About Us

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 for generations, being gently passed down knee-to-knee and warm hand to warm hand. Madison is still known for this rich tradition that spans at least nine generations.

The moniker has now been adopted by a cooperative of singers, known as the Nest of Singing Birds, 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.

“There is something magical about what you all are and what you’re doing. It’s beautiful to see, because that magic is what’s going to save us.””

— Audience member, Birthplace of Country Music Museum, Bristol, TN

Sheila Kay is a 7th generation ballad singer and a national folk legend, icon and treasure. She has been recognized with the Brown-Hudson Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society (1998), as a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow (2013), a North Carolina Arts Council Heritage Award (2016), and, most recently, the United States Artists Award (2026). Her work is featured in the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and she has been featured in multiple folk celebrations and festivals including the Smithsonian Folklife Festivals for the Bicentennial Celebration and the Appalachia: Heritage and Harmony celebration. She is a noted banjoist, storyteller, educator, and writer.

Donna Ray Norton is an 8th generation ballad singer, educator, and preservationist. She has been recognized as a South Arts Emerging Artist for 2026. She was also the recipient of Bascom Lamar Lunsford Youth Award for Balladry in 2005 and a grantee of the NC Arts Council. She is the granddaughter of celebrated old-time musician, Byard Ray. She has been a panelist for AmericanaFest and a spokesperson for Western North Carolina recovery from Hurricane Helene.

Together, they share one of the oldest unbroken non-indigenous oral traditions in the United States.

Newport Folk Festival
Earl Scruggs Festival
MerleFest
Capricorn Studios
Floyd Country Store
LEAF Festival
Harrah’s Cherokee Center
Folk Fest
International Storytelling Center
Blue Ridge Music Center
Resilience Fest
Folk Alliance International Conference
Grey Eagle
Old Songs Festival
Hed-Hi Studios (Charleston)
Cat's Cradle Backroom
Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Raleigh Wide Open
Grocery Atlanta
The Orange Peel
Shindig on the Green
American Folklore Society Conference
Warren Haynes Christmas Jam
Hed-Hi Studios
Harmony Festival
Moonshine + Motorsports Music Series
Laurel Theatre
NC Museum of History
NC Maritime Museum Elizabeth City
Mountain Dance and Folk Festival
Bluff Mountain Festival
Swannanoa Gathering
John C. Campbell Folk School
Blowing Rock Museum of Art + History
White Horse Black Mountain
Black Mountain Festival

Past Appearances

Shared Stages with

Yo-Yo Ma
Sierra Ferrell
Tim O’Brien
Iris Dement
Ketch Secor Warren Haynes Grahame Lesh

Press & Media

Climate change devestated their Appalachian town. These ballad singers are trying to save its music. Read more
“On a warm Wednesday in August, the crowded patio of the Old Marshall Jail Hotel in Marshall, North Carolina, falls silent as seventh-generation ballad performer Sheila Kay Adams begins to sing. Her rich, practiced voice mingles with the flow of the French Broad River a few yards away.” Read more
“Donna Ray Norton closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and steps to the mic. Out comes a high-pitched warble—a voice that’s part agitated angel, part prophet. Clear and strong, it’s a voice of old—a mournful, mountainous quaver of steep tonal curves navigating songs of heartbreak and hard-won wisdom.” Continue reading
Orphan Girl
“If Adams is the reigning queen of the Sodom Laurel ballad scene, then Donna Ray Norton is its emboldened lady-in-waiting. She sings all six minutes of “Little Mathey Groves” with earthy sensuality, and without appearing to draw breath. At the close of each line, she sends the last syllable lilting sharply upward—a rarefied inflection known as a “yip.”
Read more.
Read Newport Folk: Day One
Warren Haynes & MJ Lenderman Bring it All Home for Christmas, read here.
The NOSB at Earl Scruggs Music Fest, read here.
Mountain Xpress: Madison County ballad singer promotes mountain culture, climate resilience after Helene
Read here.

Video

The Nest of Singing Birds is available for performances with or without instrumentation, with two to 13 singers, and for traditional ballad swaps (where the singers “take turns” singing ballads).