by Katharine D. Newman
University of Illinois Press, 1995
Cloth: 978-0-252-02081-0 | Paper: 978-0-252-06371-8
Library of Congress Classification ML420.D534N5 1995
Dewey Decimal Classification 782.42162130092

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Never Without a Song focuses on the centrality of folksong in the life of Jennie Devlin, a woman who worked for fourteen years as a "bound-out girl," or serving maid, along the New York-Pennsylvania border in the late 1800s. Largely ignored and unwanted, Devlin persevered through Dickensian misfortunes to find love and raise a family (often alone) in Philadelphia and Gloucester, New Jersey. Katharine Newman met Devlin in 1936 and compiled information about the older woman's life and music. Half a century later, Newman returned to her collection in retirement, with her own perspective of age. The result is a unique biography of an American working-class woman, told with depth and candor. Newman also includes "I Wish I'd Been Born a Boy," "James Bird," "Martha Decker," "My Grandmother's Old Armchair," and other pieces, both British and American, most with tunes.

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