Oral history of Phyllis Marks

Identifier:

4224.MarksPhyllis.AudioInt.4.22.16

Title:

Oral history of Phyllis Marks

Date:

2016-04-22

Creator:

Marks, Phyllis

Contributor:

Hilliard, Emily

Description:

Phyllis Marks (June 5, 1927-June 22, 2019) was born Phyllis Mariam Frashure on June 5, 1927, in Sand Fork, Gilmer County, WV. According to folklorist Gerry Milnes, Marks was the last active ballad singer in the state who, as she says, learned by heart, via oral transmission, mainly from her mother and grandmother, both of Irish ancestry. Since 1954, Phyllis performed annually at the West Virginia State Folk Festival at Glenville. A fixture at the festival and in her community, the 2005 festival was dedicated to her.Marks was recorded in 1978 for the Library of Congress and has been featured in various books and radio programs. In 1997, she worked with Gerry Milnes to release the Augusta Heritage album Phyllis Marks: Old-Time Songs of West Virginia.In 2016, the West Virginia Folklife Program received a Henry Reed Fund Award from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress to host and record a concert with Marks at the West Virginia Humanities Council. Read more about that September 8, 2016 concert here: https://wvfolklife.org/2016/10/03/i-think-that-the-women-made-the-folk-songs-phyllis-marks-in-concert/Materials from that concert are available via the Library of Congress/American Folklife Center in the Emily Hilliard collection on West Virginia ballad singer Phyllis Marks: https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=2017655418&searchType=1&permalink=yRead our tribute to Phyllis Marks on the West Virginia Folklife blog: https://wvfolklife.org/2019/07/02/a-tribute-to-ballad-singer-phyllis-marks-june-51927-june-22-2019/Interviewers notes:I went to interview 88-year old ballad singer Phyllis Marks at her home in Glenville, WV. Folklorist Gerry Milnes believes Marks to be the last living ballad singer in the state who learned her repertoire via oral transmission. Marks is blind and was accompanied by her dog. She said she was hoarse today, but would sing for me another time.

Subject:

Storytelling, Ballads, Folk music--West Virginia, Old-time music, Working class families, Irish Americans

Rights:

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Location:

Glenville (W. Va.), Gilmer County (W. Va.)

Format:

audio/wav

Language:

English

Source:

A&M 4224, West Virginia Folklife Program Collection