Dillard Chandler

Dillard Chandler (April 16, 1907 – January 24, 1992) was an American Appalachian Folk singer from Madison County, North Carolina. His a cappella performances on compilation albums were recorded by folklorist and musicologist John Cohen.

Early life Chandler grew up in an old log cabin in the isolated mountain community of Sodom, North Carolina. This section of the North Carolina mountains is particularly rich in ballads, and noted folklorist Cecil Sharp transcribed several "Old World" ballads sung to him by several of Chandler's relatives in 1916.

Recordings During the American folk music revival in the 1960s, John Cohen traveled to Western North Carolina to research and record traditional ballad singers. Old Love Songs & Ballads from the Big Laurel, North Carolina and Dark Holler: Old Love Songs and Ballads are compilation albums of these recordings.

The subject matter of the traditional songs is often dark; there are themes of murder, revenge, infidelity, and abandoned children.

The New York Times describes Dark Holler as "traditional songs about love and murder usually traceable to England, a century or more before, but sung in a style rooted in the region: the singers all stretch out, irregularly, on vowels of their choosing, and add upturned yips to the end of stanzas".

Influence According to Cohen, in 1969 Bob Dylan knew Chandler's singing, despite the fact that Old Love Songs & Ballads had sold only fifty copies at the time. Dylan had a copy of the album.

Chandler's version of "I Wish My Baby Was Born" has been covered by Uncle Tupelo, Tim Eriksen, Riley Baugus and Tim O'Brien (for the Cold Mountain soundtrack), and The Be Good Tanyas.

Documentary Cohen created a short documentary film entitled The End of an Old Song that features Chandler's hardscrabble lifestyle. Chandler is shown in his primitive mountain cabin, and also in a trip to town to socialize at a diner. Cohen briefly interviews Chandler, and in response to a question about the last time he had been in love, the reply is:

Well, I ain't been in love for 10 or 15 years. There ain't much to that. When I want a woman, I go to town and fetch one up and bring her out here a couple of nights and send her back and that's that.

Cohen's motivation in making the film was to debunk stereotypes of Appalachian folksingers being merely the preservers of traditional British ballads, with few modern influences or styles. He wrote in the liner notes, "With the example of Dillard in mind, I could envision ballad singers as impure—rich with contradictions and a new vitality, which could propel the songs to future generations." He believed that while Chandler was raised in a strong Old World ballad tradition, much of his work bore more resemblance to the struggles of modern life than to Old World storytelling.

A bonus DVD of the documentary is included in the packaging of Dark Holler.

Later life Residents in his native Madison County described Chandler as a "mysterious man" who "didn't live in one specific place, but would just show up from time to time". Unlike many such folk singers discovered during the folk revival of the 1960s, Chandler rarely performed at festivals or on radio. Travel arrangements were made for Chandler to play the 1967 Newport Folk Festival, but he did not make the trip. The 1967 University of Chicago Folk Festival saw Chandler's only visit outside the mountains. His performance was marked by his shy and eccentric mannerisms, as he rocked back and forth and sung facing the side of the stage.

Chandler spent time working in Asheville, and was "remembered as a man who loved to sing".

Selected discography Old Love Songs & Ballads from the Big Laurel, North Carolina, Folkways Records, 1964 (Dillard Chandler is on 5 of the 14 tracks on this album) The End Of An Old Song, Folkways Records, 1975 (Re-released by Tompkins Square, 2014) High Atmosphere: Ballads and Banjo Tunes from Virginia and North Carolina, Rounder Records, 1975 (Dillard Chandler sings 2 of the 33 tracks on this album) Dark Holler: Old Love Songs and Ballads, Smithsonian Folkways, 2005 (Dillard Chandler is on 14 of the 26 tracks on this album)

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