Join 8th generation ballad singer Donna Ray Norton on Saturday, August 15 for an immersive workshop exploring one of the nation’s oldest surviving non-indigenous oral traditions. Raised in the Sodom Laurel community of Madison County, Donna Ray learned these songs directly from family and community tradition and has carried them forward for almost 30 years.

More than music, ballad singing has long served as a way of preserving history, memory, and connection within Appalachian communities. Many of these songs were passed person-to-person and generation-to-generation long before they were ever written down. In places like Sodom Laurel, traditions survived partly because of the seclusion of the mountains and the deep commitment families had to carrying songs and stories forward.

This workshop creates space to learn these songs in the same person-to-person way they have traditionally been shared, while also connecting participants to the region’s resilience, history, and cultural memory.

Participants will hear traditional ballads, learn about the singers who preserved them, experience the traditional “knee-to-knee” style of teaching and singing, and have the opportunity to learn a ballad together. Questions and conversation are encouraged throughout the workshop. Whether you are already involved in traditional music or completely new to ballad singing, this workshop offers a rare chance to experience a living tradition that continues to connect many different communities today.