I'll Twine 'Mid The Ringlets (Wildwood Flower)

"I'll twine 'mid the ringlets of my raven black hair?" What does that even mean? Well, whatever it means, it's the title of the classic old Appalachian folk song better known as "Wildwood Flower." The song was made famous by the Carter family, into which Johnny Cash married. They've all been gone for a while now but the song lives on.

The lyrics seem a bit hard hitting in their original text, especially for children, so we softened them a bit. But they still fit the vibe of the old Appalachian culture. The instrumentation also takes on that spirit with a hammer dulcimer supported by guitar, banjo, dobro, mandolin, harmonica, and bass. We also included light piano and a cajon on the downbeats. (We'll call that creative license.)

Now, what we have here is an optional 2-part arrangement but you're in unison for the first two verses. At the "Ooh" bridge (bar 26), you break into parts with the optional second part. You will remain in two parts till the end of the song. The melody stays in part 1 at all times, just in case you'd prefer to sing it all in unison. You'll see that part 2 starts below the melody but at the end of most lines it finds its way to a third above the melody, which is more typical to the genre. A rehearsal track for part 2 can be found on our web site.

There are really no changes dynamically. The piece should be sung mezzo forte, maintaining a cheerful and energetic feel. Let singers listen to the demo to hear how it works, also to demonstrate how to sing the word "flower," which is usually two syllables. In this song, it's only one.

While we did not add claps on beats 2 and 4 of the bridge, feel free to have your group add those. In fact, you could get as creative as you like with body percussion in the bridge, just for fun.