Biography
Dellie Norton performed the ancient, unaccompanied ballads and love songs transmitted through her relatives and fellow residents of her Blue Ridge Mountain community; across her 91 years she passed these melodies along to younger singers while earning national recognition as a ballad performer. Her approach to singing incorporated intricate spontaneous ornamentation, marked by vocal hiccups and drawn-out notes; her body of material drew chiefly from English and Scottish ballads such as “The House Carpenter” and “The Silk Merchant’s Daughter.” Although she is chiefly remembered for her voice, her long life reflected many facets of traditional mountain existence, which made her a favorite among folklorists. In addition to singing she played the banjo, quilted, wove, and practiced herbal healing.
She entered the world in Madison County, North Carolina, a district renowned for its vocal and instrumental traditions. Her extended family embraced the Wallins—Berzilla, Doug, and Jack—the Chandlers—Lloyd and Dillard—and fiddler Byard Ray, each celebrated for performances of traditional music. In 1917 and 1919 British folklorist Cecil Sharp surveyed the area for its preservation of ancient ballads and issued the findings in English Folksongs of the Southern Appalachians; in an often-quoted passage he declared singing as universal as speaking in Madison County. As a young woman Dellie Norton volunteered to sing for Sharp, yet his attention remained fixed on the community elders. In later decades scholars visited and esteemed her frequently, though ironically only after she herself had become an elder. John Cohen recorded her in the 1960s, placing three of her performances on the anthology High Atmosphere; she likewise appears in Cohen’s film The End of an Old Song. In her later years she performed occasionally at festivals, among them the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., and the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, TN; in 1990 she received a North Carolina Heritage Award. She died on October 3, 1993, within a mile of her birthplace.
She entered the world in Madison County, North Carolina, a district renowned for its vocal and instrumental traditions. Her extended family embraced the Wallins—Berzilla, Doug, and Jack—the Chandlers—Lloyd and Dillard—and fiddler Byard Ray, each celebrated for performances of traditional music. In 1917 and 1919 British folklorist Cecil Sharp surveyed the area for its preservation of ancient ballads and issued the findings in English Folksongs of the Southern Appalachians; in an often-quoted passage he declared singing as universal as speaking in Madison County. As a young woman Dellie Norton volunteered to sing for Sharp, yet his attention remained fixed on the community elders. In later decades scholars visited and esteemed her frequently, though ironically only after she herself had become an elder. John Cohen recorded her in the 1960s, placing three of her performances on the anthology High Atmosphere; she likewise appears in Cohen’s film The End of an Old Song. In her later years she performed occasionally at festivals, among them the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., and the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, TN; in 1990 she received a North Carolina Heritage Award. She died on October 3, 1993, within a mile of her birthplace.