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“Black is the Color (of My True Love’s Hair)“ is an Appalachian folk song collected by Cecil Sharp in 1917 and published in his anthology English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. This is a different melody from the one popularized by John Jacob Niles, which he composed himself. My version is much more akin to Betty Smith’s rendition on Songs Traditionally Sung in North Carolina, but I must say that my arrangement owes much to Christy Moore’s interpretation as well. The piece is said to have Scottish roots, as indicated by a reference to the place name of “the Clyde.“
(Tuning: Db-Ab-Db, key of B flat minor)
I offer multiple arrangements of this song in my book “Mountain Dulcimer Wildflowers,“ which can be found here:
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