The third Tufa novel, Long Black Curl, doesn’t come out until May. But you might win an advance reader copy right now by leaving a comment below telling me about your favorite folk song (new, old, original, traditional, it doesn’t matter). I’ll be giving away eight copies, so pass the word and let everyone know. Deadline is midnight on Sunday, February 22.
And, to get you in the mood, here’s Tuatha Dea doing their original song inspired by the book.
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135 Comments on “Win an advance reader copy of Long Black Curl”
It’s hard to just list one, but I will go with “Blowin’ in the Wind.”
A song older than you Alex. O Danny Boy.
I am so glad this series is containing. I love Eddie, but a little TN magic is awesome!
I guess I’ll go with “Lyke Wake Dirge”, because it talks about what happens to us when we die and why, a question that has been intriguing me lately. On a more positive note, though, “Rise Up Singing” by Daisy May Erlewine has been going through my head lately… “Trouble ain’t built to last..” They both fit the definition of Folk, which is so broad you can drive a strip-mining truck through it.
Tam Lin will always be my favourite folk ballad.
My Grandmother (from Tazewell VA) used to sing Pretty Polly. That would be the one.
Love the Tufa novels!
My favorite folk song would have to be “The Daylight Here” by Lauren O’Connell and Nataly Dawn (as My Terrible Friend)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzC-j9mt29M
I’d love to win a copy of your book!
First, Bronwyn, then Bliss. Can’t wait to see which Tufa member is featured this time!
And for my favorite folk song, would have to go with Peter Paul & Mary’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.”
Anxious to read the next Tufa novel – I guess my favorite folk song would be Puff the Magic Dragon
So many good ones.
I’d have to go with Great Big Sea’s “Concerning Charlie Horse”. esp. the version on “Courage and Patience and Grit: In Concert” with the explanation beforehand.
Growing up, the predominant musical genres in my home were delta blues, Irish folk, and college radio. That being said, I’m quite partial to ‘The Parting Glass’.
I love all the Tufa but especially Bronwyn. Being very different myself due to my vitiligo and my pagan beliefs, I can relate to being different and being an outsider like the Tufa. With family ties to Appalachia, the Tufa novels hit home:) Not to mention I love me some Tuatha Dea. My fave folk song would have to be Spirit on the sky. Thanks Alex for writing such an amazing series! Many blessings and lots of lizard Iove to you and yours :)— love, Lizard
I cannot wait to see what happens in Long Black Curl! I am anxiously awaiting the May release – I am hoping for some other magical & mysticism adventures! Keep on writing these wonderful novels, Mr. Bledsoe! You rock the Appalachian area.
hard to choose just one! I’d have to say Simon & Garfunkel’s Scarborough Fair. Haunting melody and beautiful words takes me to a place I yearn for
My favorite folk song comes from the Disney movie, Robin Hood. I’m unashamed.
“Oo-De-Lally” is a song I’m still trying to learn.
It may not be considered a folk song, but “Will the circle be unbroken” always reminds me of home and hang it on the am radio station that carries the Opry.
If that’s the sequel you offered the first Tuckerasation for I remember entering it. Shoshanah Marohn just piped me to the post but her entry details got mislaid and I was told I won. After contacting her and the person who dealt with the competition everything got sorted with me being runner up again. It’s also my Bday on closing date. Do I qualify? Please.
“Blue Moon of Kentucky” – Bill Monroe
Cannot wait to get my eyes into this book !\
This is a tough choice because I love so many,but I will go with, “Willow’s Song,” from the Original, “Wicker Man.” It is a mix of sensuality and innocence, seduction and anticipation.
I love Riding on the City of New Orleans by Arlo Guthrie …and I love my Tuatha Dea tribe ..will you sign the book Alex ? 🙂
My favorite is Long Black Curl by Tuatha Dea they embody the very essence of the TUFA in Appalachia. I an feel the magick and the story as it unfurls in their song long Black Curl. It opens a portal to the fae world and gives us a chance to step through and feel the ancient lines. It has everything magick, mystery, and the folklore of the mountains… majestic, alluring and transforming. I close my eyes and step through, I breathe a sigh and look at myself and I am there with them all….
I remember singing “John Henry” and “Blue Old Blue” with my Mom when I was a child, and “The Silkie Song” done by Joan Baez. Love your books and anxiously awaiting the third one!!!
My fave folk song is You Are My Sunshine. I used to sing it to my yellow parakeet Sunny.
Oh, I would LOVE to win a copy of this book!
I am a huge fan of Tuatha Dea, so my favorite song would be Long Black Curl!
I have lots of favorites, but I’ll go with Wayfarin’ Stranger. Love your books!
Ps..folksong. …missed that bit. Still the same as before…it’s called the Ode to the Hilly Land (rough translation). It’s a traditional local folk song from where I grew up in Germany
Glass house by ani difranco- new fold but I love anything by her!
Love long black curl of course…I love everything you do
Can’t wait to read this! So excited.. my favorite folk song is Father and Son by Cat Stevens. Thank you for your wonderful writing!
I actually have 2 favorite folk songs, one old and one new. I love Wildwood Flower, that you used in Hum and the Shiver, calling it I Will Twine. It was the first song my Daddy ever taught me to play on the guitar. The second is by the late Dave Carter from the album Tanglewood Tree. It is called The Mountain. Even from the swamps of Louisiana, I feel the mountains calling me home.
Down in the Valley – aka Birmingham Jail (change in lyrics) by far is my favorite folk song. The song has been sung for generations since the early 1800’s, recorded by so many artists. The song can bring a smile, or maybe even a tear, perhaps by our own emotions, but it is always soothing. It is undying Love – eternal~
So hard to pick only one as there are so many. I would have to say Bob Dylan Blowin’ in the wind is def a favorite of mine.
Well, that’s a hard one, but At Seventeen by Janice Ian comes to mind right away. It is such a perfect expression emotions that a young, insecure, teen girl feels. As for newer, well, it would be, hands down, Date With a Halo by Tuatha Dea…which can be found on the Tufa Tales CD. Or maybe it’s The Hum and the Shiver, or Wisp of a Thing, or Long Black Curl…
Your story of the Tufa remind me of stories my Mamaw and Grandmaw told me, as a child. They were both from Rocky Flats-Cosby. There was a story of a strang woman/girl who lived in the woods like a homeless person. She would sometimes stop by a home and ask for something…food or medicine or such. There were many wild and compelling tales from up the Mountain. I look forward to the new Tufa tale! Still say Cricket vs Rugby was brilliant and clever!
Sooo many songs to pick from. I think the one I always go back to is Wild Mountain Thyme, a traditional Scottish folk song done by so many different people over the years. A modern favorite is Spirit of Albion by Damh the Bard, and favorite Tuatha Dea song would be Corners. Thanks for the contest!
I am thoroughly enjoying these stories and so would love an advanced copy. Hopefully, if the stars align and the wind blows the right way, we’ll see you, along with Tuatha, at our Ren Faire in September.
left my links on Facebook … then noticed you wanted them on your blog. There are so many favorites of mine! Here are the most recent: and
I would love to win! I grew up as a kid with my folks going to Peter Paul and Mary concerts. Blowing in the wind, where have all the flowers gone and puff the magic dragon were some of my favorites and bring back memories.
Stranger With the Melodies from Harry Chapin
Will the Circle Be Unbroken is one favorite, which I guess is more country possibly than folk. Barbara Allen is right up there in the folk songs.
Glad to see you getting so much traffic on your blog!
“Wayfarin’ Stranger” is probably my favorite folk song, Alex! Rugby, Tennessee is eagerly awaiting “Long Black Curl!” We love our Tufas.
I think it should qualify as a folk song and my current favorite would have to be, “Paradise” by John Prince, because I learned it at the request of a resident in a nursing home where we entertain.
Hard to pick a favorite so I’ll go with the one that introduced me to contemporary folk: Land of the Bottom Line by John Gorka
granny’s bedtime tonic by Tuatha… or 5 nights drunk, their version is cleaned up/coded by damasqs grandmother into a lullaby, and then he took it and put the good ol’ tuatha spin on it…. i think it exemplifies how folk songs get passed down and evolve… plus i just love hearing danny tell stories.
Hi Alex! As with all of your work I am very much looking forward to reading Long Black Curl.
As a music lover it is a cruel thing to ask me to pick a favorite, so I’ll share the first folk song that came to my mind.
Moonshiner is originally an Irish Folk song. The Punch Brothers take it to a whole new level of feels in their rendition on Ahoy! Have a listen…
Wayfaring Stranger for me no matter who does it or how they do it always feel like it is already hard wired into my soul…….
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I don’t know if others consider this a folk song, but I do: Josh Ritter’s Thin Blue Flame 🙂
I really like Shady Grove but I really dig any minor-key folk songs, especially if they have a Southern Gothic vibe.
I suppose my all time favorite folk song would have to be The House of the Rising Sun but as a child I’d say it was Tom Dooley. There are many others we heard and sang as kids but those two stand out in my memory as being favorites.
Hands down, it’s Tumbalalaika. Learned it as a little kid and gets stuck in my head to this day.
As you know Alex I too am a huge Tuatha Dea fan and as well a fan of yours. So very much looking forward to June and meeting you and getting to see my TD family here at home…w/ all that said my all time fav TD tune would definitely be Pipers Pay and while it isn’t exactly my all time favorite folk song (that would be Joni Mitchell Circle Game btw) it is indeed the one of the best of our beloved Tufa…good luck and Love to everyone!
Being a good train freak, my vote is for “City of New Orleans”. Penned by Steve Goodman, the version that gives the best feel of tbe click and sway of the train and the lonely desperation is from Arlo Guthrie.
Canadian Railroad Trilogy. I listened the silver off my Gordon Lightfoot tape. I love folk music, but GL always takes me to a happy place. 🙂
Dead heat tie between the Chieftain’s version of “Long Black Veil” and Alison Krauss’s “I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby”.
Anything from The High Kings, especially Parting Glass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMkQExuzL_0
Don’t know if the Tufa memories include bagpipes, but perhaps they should? Can’t wait for the next books!
Hi Alex! Thank you for the great opportunity to win one of these AR copies! I love your work, and love everything you’ve done with the Tufa even more.
As for my folk song, I go back to when I was younger. I remember watching “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and being introduced to music I found I really liked. It was the first time I realized I didn’t have to like what my parents liked; that I could love a song even though my Dad disliked it. It’s a revelation that I still appreciate, even to this day.
So, to this day, Man of Constant Sorrow and Down to the River are some of my favorite folk songs.
Oh you know I want this one! I absolutely loved Wisp of a Thing. It would be an honor to receive a copy of this one!
The song that pops into my head right away is Johnny Cash singing ‘Long Black Veil’…..Would love to have the next Tufa novel.
This nice of you. I like everyone else would love to read before everyone else.thanks for the opportunity Alex.
I love the old folk song “The Lady and the Dragoon”.
Let’s see… I love the melody o the Appalachian song I was named after (Darlin’ Cory).only thing is the words in the story are not something esteemable I would name my daughter after so what was my dad thinking?! Therefore, one song I really am touched deep in the soul by … Tough to choose between Black, Black,Black, Black(is the color of my true loves hair) and one of many protest songs that fuels passion for social change… Ok We Shall Overcome because I am a dreamer and lover. I hope ; I am making it my purpose in life to assist, affect , guide and catalyze healing play (dance, sing, talk story, make art) all for the purpose of soul healing. Therefore, We Shall Overcome infuses me with passion and drive every time I lose hope and feel alone in my pursuits of social change. Loong story and regardless if I recieve an advance copy, I am profoundly happy to share my story :))))
I enjoy reading your Tufa novels.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot.
me, let it be me who wins. my choice for most influential folk song is CATS IN THE CRADLE by harry chapin.
I am hereby officially entering the contest to win a copy of Long Black Curl. As I love your work Alex and feel myself connected to the Tufa! So I hope I win a copy! Yay!!!!!
Oh, that’s hard. Tomorrow my answer might be different, but for now I’ll pick The Selkie of Sule Skerrie, in all of it’s various variants.
I would have to go with Jack-A-Roe — particularly the Grateful Dead version.
Folk song “Old Joe Clark” I was in a puppet parade for our library. I was a tree with birds flying around me. (Hand held handmade birds on sticks. A bluebird and a yellow bird!)
I would love a copy of the book, thank you for the opportunity.
I love the song The Long Black Curl and The Hum and the Shiver. And the story of how this group found you. The song turned book turned into a song again. Three artist three different takes amazing and fun.
I love Tuatha Dea! I have to say my favorite folk singers are The Kingston Trio. The first song I heard was Tom Dooley as a teen in honors US history. It is not a happy song but it embodies what that genre is about and was relevant to the times. As a young girl hearing this song it gave me an understanding of consequence to actions that you don’t see today. Today murders walk free in the streets and there is no sense of responsibility. I also had no idea that I would end up living in Tennessee from my small town in Maine.
not sure if would be considered a folk song or not but Sounds of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel.
My favorite folk song would probably have to be “Whiskey in a Jar.” It’s just such a timeless Irish folk song and has been covered by countless artists across numerous genres and eras. From Thin Lizzy to Metallica and all the way back down to Tuatha Dea. This song is a tried and true classic and will still be going strong generations from now.
I forgot my folk song. Probably because I have so many that I love… can’t name just one:
Leonard Cohen “Hallelujah”
Eric Bogle “And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
The Indigo Girls “Closer to Fine”
Towns Van Zandt “Tecumseh Valley”
Carter Family “Can Thr Circle Be Unbroken”
and many traditionals like “The Water Is Wide”
That’s my short list off the top of my head. Again thanks for this opportunity.
Not sure if this is considered a folk song but this title reminds me of a song called “Long Black Veil.” Though I am rather partial to “Loch Lomond.”
Anything in Gordon Lightfoot’s catalogue of the 70s. “Early Morning Rain”?
I would have to say Trouble Don’t You Stop by Here. I have no idea who first sang this old song,but I would love a copy of your book.
(( Crone SoulShine Hugs ))
Where have all the flowers gone?
Stopping to think of a favourite is hard! One folk song I’ve really enjoyed lately is “Fathom the bowl” (I first heard it on ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’).
Tough question! First answer: “Barbara Allen.” Then I thought, “What about ‘Down in the Valley’?” Then I thought “‘My Darling Clementine.'” Had fun singing them all. “Barbara Allen” is still the winner.
My favorite folk songs: on odd-numbered days it’s “Puff the Magic Dragon,” and on even-numbered days it’s “Alice’s Restaurant.” Thanks!
My father used to sing us to sleep, accompanying himself on his guitar. I suppose my fondness for sea chanties stems from that period. “John B. Sails,” “Drunken Sailor” … and my favorite, the haunting “Greenland Whale Fishery.” A child of Southern California, I found the idea of “a barren land, a land that bares no green” both fascinating and frightening.
“Red Is The Rose” will always have a special place in my heart but if you chance to catch me alone, you might hear me humming “Tam Lin”! I cannot wait for the book, Alex!!!!
sooo excited about the next addition to Tufa tales! 🙂
In the Bleak Midwinter, definitely! 🙂 Soooo excited for the new book.
Hard question! Not sure I have one true favorite, but Fields of Athenry is volunteering to be the favorite for the moment 🙂
At this moment, it would be Boiled in Lead’s “The Man Who Was Boiled in Lead.” Ask me tomorrow, I might give a different answer.
Barbara Allen, definitely. Looks like it will be a good read!
I’m a big fan of the German band Faun, so I’d have to say their enchanting “Hymn to Pan” would be my favorite.
I’m craving another taste of the mountain Tufa’s! Please pick me…one of your biggest fans! LOL. We’re snowed (iced) in, here in Tennessee today and a serving of Long Black Curl would be warm taste of better days to come.
I’m really looking forward to reading this book!
Keep on the Sunnyside I heard it on O’Brother where Art Thou the first time. Thank you
“Ain’t No Grave,” especially this version:
http://youtu.be/bD3orQ9mS2A
I am new to your work (thanks to Tuatha Dea…who I am also only just discovering) I am looking forward to delving deeply into your writing and their music. In terms of folk songs, I know and love many. IN response to your question, I can only come to “Puff the Magic Dragon”. I am forty three years old and the song makes me weep as deeply as it did when I was child. It is becouse of this song that I held close my own “Dream Dragon”…and so a vital aspect of my child self has remained present to me as an adult woman. This song also influenced how I Mothered my son, becouse I never wanted him to lose relationship with his Dream Dragon…or the boy self that would aid the man he would one day become…I have always taught him that his Dream Dragon is his best friend…However daft this may sound to others reading it…perhaps even you! Fair Blessings…
Whatever Rhiannon Giddens from the Carolina Chocolate Drops is doing here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjSiLKVE3SA
Otherwise Alice’s Restaurant.
A new Tufa book would be a wonderful birthday present for me!! Favorite folksong? Hmmm. Something from the Civil War era, probably. “The Vacate Chair” is good & sad. Though, if one can tribute an author, is it really a folk song? So a campfire song from my Girl Scout days? All I can think of is “Found a Peanut!”
I don’t know if this could as a folk song but my favorite is “Country Song” by Seanan McGuire.
Hello In There: John Prine, Where Will the Children Play:Cat Stevens, Long Black Veil: Johnny Cash, Silver Threads and Golden Needles: June Carter, Coat of Many Colors: Dolly Parton…I could go on and on
My favorite folk song would have to be Cats in the Cradle. I have loved this song ever since I heard it for the first time when i was a child.
Puff the Magic Dragon:-)
“If I had a Hammer.” I grew up with a lot of folk music ala the college groups (Brothers Four, Kingston Trio) but Peter, Paul, and Mary are my faves.
My favorite would have to be Wabash Cannonball.
My favorite “modern” folk-style singer has to be Michael Peter Smith, with his songs such as The Dutchman, Last Day of Pompeii, Three Monkeys, and Vampire.
His 1986/1988 albums are particular favorites of mine and feel timeless in an unusual modern sort of sense.
My favorite is Blame It On Hemingway by Jenifer Goree. (She is who introduced me to your work and I’ve become a big fan of your Eddie LaCrosse series!)
Hallelujah for sure! I like Rufus Wainwright’s version the best.
I don’t actually listen to much vocal music (words interfere with my reading!) but I love listening to the flying fingers or bow of a skilled “picker” or fiddler in a lively, upbeat tune.
My favorite folk song is a new version of a traditional, retitled by the musicians as “Get down off the stove, granny, you’re too old to ride the range” by a group of teens that went by the name of the Psychedelic Exploding Orangutans. They were brilliant.
No idea the name, just the tune and origin. It’s a song my mother’s mother sang to her when she was a child in Brazil, and my mother sang it to us, and my sibs and I all sing it to our children. After so many generations the only 2 words we can remember now, however, are Na-Na (which is far from the original Portuguese words). My children have heard it every night before bed for their whole lives, and I am sure they will sing it to there babies, as well.
The song above was marvelous. My favorite folk song?
She Moves(d) Through The Fair. Or The Minstrel Boy.
I guess you know mine is “Valiant and Fury Girls” by Lou Buckingham (bassist for Wasted Wine- on her solo album).
I love Star of the County Down but being a hillbilly I grew up singing Mtn Dew! I have really enjoyed your books and would love to win a copy of Long Black Curl.
Alison Krauss and Union Station, The Lucky One
I dig Pete Seeger’s version of “Little Boxes”.
I love the Tufa novels and hate to come to the end of the book. “The Water is Wide” is my favorite old folk song. So sad and so beautiful. Thank you for touching so many on such a deep level. I think there are many who can identify with your strong characters.
I’d recommend SUNU by Rising Applachia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-16VK4dwuI
Bold Marauder. Very Tufa, also, I think. And lots of the above songs, too!
Hard question, but I’m going to go with “Barbra Allen”
I can’t wait for this Tufa episode! And my favorite ‘folk song’ is “They Call the Wind Maria” – I know it is really a show tune but I love what it evokes in me when I hear it –
Favorite modern folk song is Lumineers ho hey
Thankyou for writing such amazing books Alex, nothing else has filled the void since I finished them all!
For me it has to be Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield and sung by Maggie Reilly. So atmospheric. Always get goose bumps when I hear it. I’m in the UK by the way. Not too sure if open to people outside the U.S but thought I’d post anyway. 🙂 xx
The folksong “Knoxville Girl ” has been my life long favorite. Being from Knoxville, as a child this song stuck with me. If you’ve never heard it, please YouTube it.
Easy…’The Blackest Crow’ (sometimes called ‘As Time Draws Near’). It is a lament written during the Civil War. The lyrics are poignant and the melody is haunting. The slower you play it, the prettier it gets.
One Tin Soldier by Coven best known for it’s use in the film The Legend of Billy Jack. I remember being so moved by this song, a friend and I used it in a class project, illustrating a children’s book to it. It was done in black and red illustrations and to us seemed quite powerful. I remember too that we were quite angry at the time too when our teacher refused to return it to us after the project was done.
Love this series. I really like times they are a-changin’
As a rabid Bob Dylan fan, it’s hard to choose one single folk song as my favorite but I’ll go with “The Times They Are-A Changin'”. How can you go wrong with lyrics such as:
“The line it is drawn
And the curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin’
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.”
“I Wish I Was the Moon” by Neko Case. Hauntingly beautiful, and it never fails to put me in a thoughtful mood.
Also, just wanted to say that all of the Tufa novels have wonderful, evocative titles! Some of the best book titles I have ever seen.
I like it. Added their music to my favorites. I am retired now to a disability , thus looking for new hobbies and reading is one of them. Wish you much success with your novel.
Pete Seeger used to come and play at my school in Ossining NY. So, I would say “If I had a hammer”.
Don’t know the actual title, but I think it’s Hear the Wind Blow. Or, Down in the Valley. Also – love the Tufa novels and can’t wait for this next installment. 🙂
“Here Comes That Rainbow Again”. One in the line of anthems of the Tribe of humans that practice kindness and generosity for its sake, no expectation of even eye contact.
I love Almeda Riddle- hangman tree- also have always loved the dreadful wind and rain:)