Wallin Family

The Wallin Family refers to an extended family of traditional singers and musicians associated with Madison County in western North Carolina. Rather than a commercial music company or a formally incorporated performing group, the family is known for preserving and transmitting Appalachian ballads within a multigenerational community. Its repertoire includes songs inherited through oral tradition, many of which have counterparts in British and Irish ballad traditions, including material associated with the Child Ballads. The family’s documented history reaches back to Hugh Wallin, who was born in 1829 and was killed in 1864 during the American Civil War after recruiting for the Union Army. His descendants, and people who married into the family, formed the wider network later identified with the Wallin singing tradition. Among the important nineteenth- and early twentieth-century figures were Mitchell Wallin and Thomas Jefferson “Tom” Wallin. Tom’s children included Robert Lee “Lee” Wallin, Chappel Wallin, Jeter Wallin and Cas Wallin. Lee and his wife, Berzilla Chandler Wallin, raised a large family that included Martin Douglas “Doug” Wallin and Jack Wallin. The family was also connected by marriage and kinship to other notable Madison County singers, including Mary Bullman Sands, Lloyd Chandler, Dellie Chandler Norton and Dillard Chandler. The Wallins first entered wider folkloric documentation during the fieldwork of English folklorist Cecil Sharp and his assistant Maud Karpeles in 1916. Sharp met Mary Sands at the end of July and collected numerous ballads from her, then met her half-brother Mitchell Wallin on August 4. The songs and tunes gathered from them formed part of Sharp’s broader effort to trace British-derived ballad traditions surviving in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Local residents were initially wary of the visitors, partly because of rumors that they were surveying the area for a dam or reservoir and partly because of wartime suspicions that Sharp might be a German agent. Despite this distrust, Madison County became one of Sharp’s productive collecting locations. The family gained renewed attention during the American folk-music revival. After Peter and Polly Gott moved to Madison County around 1960, they introduced folk musician and filmmaker John Cohen to Lee Wallin and other relatives. Cohen and the Gotts recorded Lee, Cas, Berzilla and additional family members in 1963. The resulting material appeared on the Folkways album Old Love Songs and Ballads, issued in 1964. Cohen returned for further recordings in 1965 and 1967, and selected performances later appeared on the Smithsonian Folkways compilation Dark Holler: Old Love Songs and Ballads. Additional field recordings were made by folklorist Mike Yates in the early 1980s, including sessions with Cas Wallin, his wife Virginia “Vergie” Wallin and Berzilla. The Wallin tradition also became part of documentary and public-heritage work. Related singers appeared in independent documentary projects, while recordings of the family preserved a style usually performed without instrumental accompaniment, though fiddle could be used for occasional decoration. In 1990, Doug Wallin received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States government’s highest recognition in folk and traditional arts. Doug and Jack later recorded songs and stories for the North Carolina Arts Council; selections were released by Smithsonian Folkways in 1993 on Family Songs and Stories from the North Carolina Mountains. Today, the Wallin Family is best understood as a heritage and repertoire name rather than a conventional brand. Its significance lies in the survival, documentation and circulation of Appalachian traditional song, especially ballads connected to older transatlantic traditions. Recordings, field notes, albums and documentaries provide the main means through which the family’s musical legacy remains available to researchers, performers and listeners.

The Wallin Family’s musical identity developed within the rural communities of Madison County, North Carolina, where songs were passed between relatives and neighbors through memory and performance. The family’s known lineage includes descendants of Hugh Wallin, a Union Army recruiter killed in 1864 during the Civil War, and members of families connected to the Wallins through marriage. Hugh’s children with Rosannah included Mitchell Wallin and Thomas Jefferson “Tom” Wallin. Rosannah later married John Bullman, and their daughter Mary Bullman Sands became another important source for traditional-ballad collectors. Tom Wallin’s children included Robert Lee “Lee” Wallin, Chappel, Jeter and Cas. Lee and Berzilla Chandler Wallin had more than ten children, among them Doug Wallin and Jack Wallin. Berzilla’s family connections extended to other recognized traditional singers, including Lloyd Chandler, Dellie Chandler Norton and Dillard Chandler. This network meant that songs circulated across households rather than belonging to a single performer or fixed stage ensemble. The first major external documentation came in 1916, when Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles visited Appalachia to collect songs with links to British ballad traditions. Sharp met Mary Sands on July 31 and recorded 25 ballads from her over several days. On August 4 he met Mitchell Wallin, who supplied additional ballads and a fiddle tune. Sharp’s notes indicate that Mitchell’s improvisational style made transcription difficult, but he still regarded the visit as productive. The collecting expedition also took Sharp to neighboring Madison County families, helping establish the area as an important repository of older ballad forms. The relationship between local singers and outside researchers was not always straightforward. Residents reportedly questioned Sharp’s motives, with some fearing that his surveying might be connected to a future dam or reservoir and others suspecting espionage during the First World War. Tom Wallin, who had become a committed Baptist, reportedly objected to secular singing and threatened to disown relatives who performed for Sharp. Nevertheless, the songs survived and continued to circulate within the family. The Wallins became more visible during the folk revival of the 1960s. Peter and Polly Gott settled in Madison County around 1960 and met Lee Wallin, who played banjo at local events. Through Lee, they and John Cohen encountered a wider circle of Wallin singers. In August 1963, Cohen and the Gotts recorded Lee, Cas, Berzilla and other relatives. Folkways Records released part of the material in 1964 on Old Love Songs and Ballads. Cohen made additional recordings in 1965 and 1967, and later archival releases expanded public access to the performances. His work also helped connect the Wallin-related tradition to documentary filmmaking and the broader study of vernacular music. Further preservation work took place in the early 1980s, when Mike Yates recorded Cas and Virginia “Vergie” Wallin as well as Berzilla. The recordings generally emphasize solo or unaccompanied singing, with occasional fiddle accompaniment. This performance format, combined with the age and variation of the songs, made the recordings valuable for studying how ballads were remembered and reshaped in oral tradition. Recognition continued through public arts institutions. Doug Wallin received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1990. Doug and Jack subsequently recorded for the North Carolina Arts Council, and Smithsonian Folkways issued selections on Family Songs and Stories from the North Carolina Mountains in 1993. Cohen’s recordings and related documentary work, together with later compilations such as Dark Holler: Old Love Songs and Ballads, made the Wallin repertoire accessible beyond Madison County. The Wallin Family is therefore best viewed as a cultural lineage and traditional repertoire rather than a conventional commercial brand. Its historical importance derives from the continuity of Appalachian singing, the relationship between family transmission and scholarly collecting, and the preservation of songs with deep connections to the British Isles and the wider Atlantic folk tradition.

• 2005

  Dark Holler: Old Love Songs and Ballads expands the archive

  [1]Wallin Familyen.wikipedia.org

  Smithsonian Folkways issued later selections from John Cohen’s recordings of Wallin-related singers and their musical community.

• 1993

  Family Songs and Stories from the North Carolina Mountains is released

  [1]Wallin Familyen.wikipedia.org

  Smithsonian Folkways released selections recorded by Doug and Jack Wallin for the North Carolina Arts Council.

• 1990

  Doug Wallin receives a National Heritage Fellowship

  [1]Wallin Familyen.wikipedia.org

  Doug Wallin was honored by the National Endowment for the Arts for achievement in folk and traditional arts.

• 1964

  Old Love Songs and Ballads is released

  [1]Wallin Familyen.wikipedia.org

  Folkways Records issued recordings made with Wallin family singers during the early 1960s folk revival.

• 1963

  John Cohen records Wallin family members

  [1]Wallin Familyen.wikipedia.org

  John Cohen, working with Peter and Polly Gott, recorded Lee Wallin, Cas Wallin, Berzilla Wallin and other relatives in Madison County.

• 1916

  Cecil Sharp documents Wallin-related singers

  [1]Wallin Familyen.wikipedia.org

  Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles visited Madison County. Sharp collected numerous ballads from Mary Bullman Sands and additional songs and a fiddle tune from Mitchell Wallin.

A historically significant Appalachian family singing tradition known for orally transmitted ballads, British Isles-derived repertoire, field recordings and contributions to American folk-music preservation.

• Folk music album · 1964

  Old Love Songs and Ballads

  A Folkways Records album released in 1964 from recordings made in Madison County in 1963. It presents traditional songs performed by Lee Wallin, Cas Wallin, Berzilla Wallin and other family members, documenting the family’s repertoire during the American folk revival.

• Archival folk music compilation · 2005

  Dark Holler: Old Love Songs and Ballads

  A Smithsonian Folkways release drawing on John Cohen’s later field recordings from 1965 and 1967. The compilation places Wallin family performances and related Madison County singing traditions within a broader Appalachian archival context.

• Folk music and oral-history album · 1993

  Family Songs and Stories from the North Carolina Mountains

  An album issued by Smithsonian Folkways from recordings Doug and Jack Wallin made for the North Carolina Arts Council in 1992 and 1993. It combines traditional family songs with spoken material associated with the North Carolina mountain tradition.

1. 1Wallin Familyen.wikipedia.org