Bowling Green and Other Folk Songs from the Southern Mountains

Appalachian folk harmony singing strikes a chord in one’s soul, sounding notes of joy, regret, longing, loss, and faith all in one high, lonesome sound. And the 1956 debut album by The Kossoy Sisters (identical twins Irene and Ellen) is a foundational album in the genre’s canon. Recorded in 1956 by famed Folkways engineer Mel Kaiser for the Tradition label run by Paddy Clancy of Clancy Brothers fame, Bowling Green and Other Folk Songs from the Southern Mountains set the close harmony singing of the sisters to instrumental accompaniment by legendary folkie Erik Darling (Weavers, Rooftop Singers). The effect was devastating and the album’s legacy lasting; despite the Sisters’ splitting up to raise their own families, demand for their music remained constant through the decades, resulting in various reunions, additional recordings both together and separate, and culminating in the Coen Brothers’ prominently placing their recording of “I’ll Fly Away” in the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack to their 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? But this is the first reissue of the record on LP, and it comes on the 70th anniversary of its release; we’ve remastered it for vinyl and pressed it in pink to match the album cover. Guaranteed to make the hairs on your neck stand at attention!