# Songcatcher > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Songcatcher > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Songcatcher.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songcatcher > Source revision: 1351103383 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = Songcatcher | image = Songcatcher.jpg | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = [Maggie Greenwald](/source/Maggie_Greenwald) | producer = {{Plainlist| * Ellen Rigas Venetis * Richard Miller }} | writer = Maggie Greenwald | narrator = | starring = {{Plainlist| * [Janet McTeer](/source/Janet_McTeer) * [Aidan Quinn](/source/Aidan_Quinn) * Michael Davis * [Michael Goodwin](/source/Michael_Goodwin_(actor)) * [Jane Adams](/source/Jane_Adams_(actress%2C_born_1965)) * E. Katherine Kerr * [Emmy Rossum](/source/Emmy_Rossum) * [Pat Carroll](/source/Pat_Carroll) }} | music = [David Mansfield](/source/David_Mansfield) | cinematography = [Enrique Chediak](/source/Enrique_Chediak) | editing = Keith Reamer | distributor = {{Plainlist| * [Lions Gate Films](/source/Lions_Gate_Films) (United States and Canada) * [United Artists Films](/source/United_Artists) (International){{cite web|title=World Briefs|website=[Variety](/source/Variety_(magazine))|date=27 March 2000|access-date=17 October 2023|url=https://variety.com/2000/more/news/world-briefs-152-1117779948/}} }} | released = {{Film date|2000|1|25|[Sundance](/source/Sundance_Film_Festival)|2001|6|15|United States}} | runtime = 109 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $1.8 million{{cite web|url=http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2001/SONGC.php|title=Songcatcher Box Office Data|work=The Numbers|publisher=Nash Information Services|accessdate=October 9, 2011|archive-date=December 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216045310/http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2001/SONGC.php|url-status=live}} | gross = $3 million{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=songcatcher.htm|title=Songcatcher (2001)|work=Box Office Mojo|publisher=Amazon.com|accessdate=October 9, 2011|archive-date=November 12, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112180103/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=songcatcher.htm|url-status=live}} }} '''''Songcatcher''''' is a 2000 American [drama film](/source/drama_film) written and directed by [Maggie Greenwald](/source/Maggie_Greenwald). It is about a [musicologist](/source/Musicology) researching and collecting [Appalachian folk music](/source/Appalachian_music) in the mountains of western [North Carolina](/source/North_Carolina). Although ''Songcatcher'' is a fictional film, it is loosely based on the work of [Olive Dame Campbell](/source/Olive_Dame_Campbell), founder of the [John C. Campbell Folk School](/source/John_C._Campbell_Folk_School) in [Brasstown, North Carolina](/source/Brasstown_Township%2C_Clay_County%2C_North_Carolina), and that of the English folk song collector [Cecil Sharp](/source/Cecil_Sharp), portrayed at the end of the film as professor Cyrus Whittle. The film grossed $3 million in [limited theatrical release](/source/limited_theatrical_release) in the United States,{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=songcatcher.htm|title=Songcatcher (2001)|work=Box Office Mojo|publisher=Amazon.com|accessdate=October 9, 2011|archive-date=November 12, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112180103/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=songcatcher.htm|url-status=live}} which was generally considered as a respectable result for an [arthouse film](/source/arthouse_film) release in 2001.{{Cite web|url = https://www.deseret.com/2001/8/22/19602649/blockbusters-leave-art-film-niche|title = Blockbusters leave art-film niche|date = 22 August 2001|access-date = 20 October 2021|archive-date = 20 October 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211020121606/https://www.deseret.com/2001/8/22/19602649/blockbusters-leave-art-film-niche|url-status = live}} == Plot == In 1907, Dr. Lily Penleric, a professor of musicology, is denied a promotion at the university where she teaches. She impulsively visits her sister Eleanor, who runs a struggling rural school in [Appalachia](/source/Appalachia). There, she discovers a treasure trove of traditional English and Scotch-Irish ballads, which have been preserved by the secluded [mountain people](/source/Appalachian_people) since the colonial period of the 1600s and 1700s. Lily decides to record and transcribe the songs and share them with the outside world. With the help of a musically talented orphan named Deladis Slocumb, Lily ventures into isolated areas of the mountains to collect the songs. She finds herself increasingly enchanted, not only by the rugged purity of the music, but also by the courage and endurance of the local people as they carve out meaningful lives against the harsh conditions. She becomes privy to their struggles to save their land from Earl Giddens, representative of a coal mining company. At the same time, Lily is troubled when she finds that Eleanor is engaged in a [lesbian](/source/lesbian) love affair with her co-teacher at the school. Lily meets Tom Bledsoe, a handsome, hardened war veteran and talented musician. Despite some initial suspicion from Tom that Lily is exploiting his community's traditions, they grow attracted to one another and soon begin a love affair. She experiences a slow change in both her perception of the mountain people as savage and uncouth, and of her sister's sexuality as immoral. Events come to a crisis when a young man discovers Eleanor and her lover, Harriet, kissing in the woods. That night, two men set fire to the school building, burning Eleanor, Harriet, and Deladis out of their home and destroying Lily's transcriptions of the ballads and her phonograph recordings. Rather than starting over again, Lily decides to leave, but she convinces Tom and Deladis to "go down the mountain" with her to make and sell phonograph recordings of mountain music. As they depart, Cyrus Whittle, a renowned professor from England, arrives on a collection foray of his own, ensuring that the ballads will be preserved in the manner that Lily had originally intended. == Cast == {{Cast list| * [Janet McTeer](/source/Janet_McTeer) as Professor Lily Penleric * [Aidan Quinn](/source/Aidan_Quinn) as Tom Bledsoe * Michael Davis as Dean Arthur Pembroke * [Michael Goodwin](/source/Michael_Goodwin_(actor)) as Professor Wallace Aldrich * Greg Russell Cook as Fate Honeycutt * [Jane Adams](/source/Jane_Adams_(actress%2C_born_1965)) as Eleanor Penleric * E. Katherine Kerr as Harriet Tolliver * [Emmy Rossum](/source/Emmy_Rossum) as Deladis Slocumb * [Pat Carroll](/source/Pat_Carroll) as Viney Butler * Stephanie Roth Haberle as Alice Kincaid * Bart Hansard as Hilliard * Erin Blake Clanton as Polly * [David Patrick Kelly](/source/David_Patrick_Kelly) as Earl Giddens * Kristin Hall as Isabel * Michael Harding as Reese Kincaid * [Taj Mahal](/source/Taj_Mahal_(musician)) as Dexter Speaks * [Muse Watson](/source/Muse_Watson) as Parley Gentry * [Iris DeMent](/source/Iris_DeMent) as Rose Gentry * [Rhoda Griffis](/source/Rhoda_Griffis) as Clementine McFarland * Steve Boles as Ambrose McFarland * Taylor Hayes as Reverend Merriweather * Josh Goforth as Will * Don Pedi as Barn Band – Dulcimer * [Sheila Kay Adams](/source/Sheila_Kay_Adams) as Barn Band – Banjo * [Bobby McMillon](/source/Bobby_McMillon) as Singer at Barn Dance * [Hazel Dickens](/source/Hazel_Dickens) as Singer at Barn Dance * Andrea Powell as Josie Moore * [Danny Nelson](/source/Danny_Nelson) as Uncle Cratis * David Ducey as Postman Johnson * Steven Sutherland as Cyrus Whittle * [Shawn Lindsay](/source/Shawn_Lindsay) as Dancer at Barn Dance }} ==Production== Producer Ellen Rigas invested $3 million in ''Songcatcher'' which her family borrowed as part of the [Adelphia Communications](/source/Adelphia_Communications) fraud.{{Cite magazine |last=Lowenstein |first=Roger |date=2004-02-01 |title=The Company They Kept |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/01/magazine/the-company-they-kept.html |magazine=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} ==Inspiration and historical accuracy== While the film's producers portray the movie as a work of fiction and include the standard "any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental" disclaimer in the film's credits, virtually all commentators agree that the basic story—stripped of its romantic and post-modern trappings—is inspired by real events, and follows quite closely the song collecting activities of [Olive Dame Campbell](/source/Olive_Dame_Campbell) (1882–1954) in the southern [Appalachians](/source/Appalachian_Mountains) from 1909 onwards,{{Cite journal |last=Krim |first=Arthur |year=2007 |title=Appalachian Songcatcher: Olive Dame Campbell and the Scotch-Irish Ballad |journal=Journal of Cultural Geography |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=91–112 |doi=10.1080/08873630709478218|doi-access= }}{{cite web|url=https://birthplaceofcountrymusic.org/giving-the-dame-her-due-olive-dame-campbell-and-the-history-of-ballad-collecting/ |title=Giving the Dame Her Due: Olive Dame Campbell and the History of Ballad Collecting |website=The Birthplace of Country Music |date=12 May 2018 |accessdate=21 October 2023}} although with some differences, presumably inserted for dramatic effect: the real Olive Dame Campbell was not a professional musicologist or college professor (Betty Smith, in a 2003 review of the movie, points out that those characteristics instead echo those of [Dorothy Scarborough](/source/Dorothy_Scarborough), who visited the mountains in search of folksongs in 1930);{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Betty|year=2003 |title=[Review:] Songcatcher |journal=Appalachian Journal |volume=30 |issue=2/3 |pages=248–253 |jstor=40934255 |jstor-access= }} Campbell made her transcriptions without the aid of a recording machine; and she already had a husband, the educator and social reformer [John Charles Campbell](/source/John_C._Campbell) at the time of her collecting, which was in fact initially a spin-off of a 1909 trip funded by a grant from the recently established [Russell Sage Foundation](/source/Russell_Sage_Foundation) to enable John to study the area's social and cultural conditions in hopes of improving their school systems. Elizabeth M. Williams (ed.), 2012: Appalachian Travels: The Diary of Olive Dame Campbell. University Press of Kentucky. {{ISBN|9780813136448}}. Available online at https://academic.oup.com/kentucky-scholarship-online/book/16129 Nevertheless, the concept of ballads collected by "Lily Penleric" closely parallels those collected by Campbell (whose exposure to this particular seam of song commenced with hearing "Barbara Allen" sung by a "Miss Ada B. Smith" at [Hindman School](/source/Hindman_Settlement_School) in Knott County, Kentucky) and ultimately, passed to [Cecil Sharp](/source/Cecil_Sharp) ("Cyrus Whittle" in the film) for his interest, although their first in-person meeting (arranged at Campbell's behest) occurred in suburban Massachusetts in 1915, not on the slopes of an Appalachian mountain. Interestingly, despite the disclaimer in the movie credits mentioned above, the sentence "The filmmakers gratefully acknowledge the work of Olive Dame Campbell and Cecil J. Sharp" does also occur as a separate acknowledgment therein. Following his 1915 meeting with Campbell, at which she showed him her collection of over 200 ballads, Sharp (together with his assistant [Maud Karpeles](/source/Maud_Karpeles)) planned and carried out his own song collecting expeditions in Appalachia, which occurred over the period 1916–1918.{{Cite journal |last=Peters |first=Brian |date=2018 |title=Myths of 'Merrie Olde England'? Cecil Sharp's Collecting Practice in the Southern Appalachians |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44987648 |journal=Folk Music Journal |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=6–46 |jstor=44987648}} The results of Campbell and Sharp's respective work were ultimately made publicly available in a groundbreaking 1917 publication "English Folk Songs from Southern Appalachia"Campbell, O. D., and C. J. Sharp. 1917. English Folk Songs from Southern Appalachia. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. which exposed for the first time the persistence of such folk songs, of Scotch-Irish origin, in the repertoires of the residents of the remote Appalachian mountains, and whose effects have resonated through the succeeding years into the folk song revival of the 1950s to the present day; in addition, performers such as [Mary Jane Queen](/source/Mary_Jane_Queen), whom Greenwald consulted when researching the film and on whom the character of Viney Butler was based,{{cite web|url=https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/mary-jane-queen|title=NEA National Heritage Fellowships – NEA|website=www.arts.gov|accessdate=7 July 2017|archive-date=1 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801150719/https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/mary-jane-queen|url-status=live}} lived until 2007, having received a number of awards for her continued folk heritage activities. (Queen was born in 1914, later than when the fictional events are set, thus to be strictly chronological the character would overlap more with the lifespans of her mother or grandmother, who were also noted local musicians). Betty Smith, whose review of the movie is mentioned above, states that the character Alice Kincaid, the poor woman with the philandering husband whose artwork Lily appreciates and finds buyers for, is "surely" modelled after [Emma Bell Miles](/source/Emma_Bell_Miles), an Appalachian mountain resident who lived in poor circumstances with a large family who found some local fame as a writer, poet, and artist before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 39.Edwards, Grace Toney (1981), Emma Bell Miles: Appalachian Author, Artist, and Interpreter of Folk Culture, University of Virginia. Smith goes on to note that the actual watercolors attributed to Alice in the movie were created by Appalachian artist Elizabeth Ellison of Bryson City, who also worked on the set.{{cite news|url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2021/11/20/word-smokies-artist-elizabeth-ellison-represents-pure-smoky-mountains/8661095002/|title=Word from the Smokies: Bryson City artist Elizabeth Ellison represents everything Smokies|author=Frances Figart|website=Citizen Times|date=20 November 2021|accessdate=22 October 2023}} == Soundtrack == {{Infobox album | name = Songcatcher: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture | type = Soundtrack | artist = various artists | cover = | alt = | released = January 23, 2001 | recorded = | venue = | studio = | genre = [Country](/source/Country_music)
[Film score](/source/Film_score) | length = | label = [Vanguard](/source/Vanguard_Records) | producer = [David Mansfield](/source/David_Mansfield) | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = | next_year = }} {{Music ratings | rev1 = [AllMusic](/source/AllMusic) | rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}} [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r529281|pure_url=yes}} link] }} The film's score was written by [David Mansfield](/source/David_Mansfield), who also assembled a roster of female [country music](/source/country_music) artists to perform mostly traditional [mountain ballads](/source/Old-time_music). Some of the songs are contemporary arrangements, and some are played in the traditional Appalachian music style. The artists include [Rosanne Cash](/source/Rosanne_Cash), [Emmylou Harris](/source/Emmylou_Harris), [Maria McKee](/source/Maria_McKee), [Dolly Parton](/source/Dolly_Parton), [Gillian Welch](/source/Gillian_Welch) and [Patty Loveless](/source/Patty_Loveless). Singers [Emmy Rossum](/source/Emmy_Rossum), [Iris DeMent](/source/Iris_DeMent), and [Hazel Dickens](/source/Hazel_Dickens), who appeared in the film, are also featured on the soundtrack. The soundtrack album inspired the 2002 follow-up album by [Vanguard Records](/source/Vanguard_Records), ''Songcatcher II: The Tradition That Inspired the Movie'', that compiled recordings of some of the songs selected for the film as performed by authentic Appalachian artists. The recordings are mostly from the 1960s, out of the Vanguard vaults. === Track listing === # "Fair and Tender Ladies" (Traditional, performed by [Rosanne Cash](/source/Rosanne_Cash)) – 2:56 # "[Pretty Saro](/source/Pretty_Saro)" (Traditional, performed by [Iris DeMent](/source/Iris_DeMent)) – 2:54 # "When Love Is New" (Composed and performed by [Dolly Parton](/source/Dolly_Parton)) – 5:16 # "[Barbara Allen](/source/Barbara_Allen_(song))" (Traditional, performed by [Emmy Rossum](/source/Emmy_Rossum)) – 0:43 # "Barbara Allen" (Traditional, performed by [Emmylou Harris](/source/Emmylou_Harris)) – 4:35 # "Moonshiner" (Traditional, performed by [Allison Moorer](/source/Allison_Moorer)) – 3:34 # "Sounds of Loneliness" (Composed by Patty Ramey, performed by [Patty Loveless](/source/Patty_Loveless)) – 3:44 # "All My Tears" (Composed and performed by [Julie Miller](/source/Julie_Miller)) – 3:11 # "Mary of the Wild Moor" (Traditional, performed by [Sara Evans](/source/Sara_Evans)) – 3:51 # "[Wayfaring Stranger](/source/The_Wayfaring_Stranger_(song)) (Traditional, [Maria McKee](/source/Maria_McKee)) – 3:24 # "[Wind and Rain](/source/The_Twa_Sisters)" (Traditional, performed by [Gillian Welch](/source/Gillian_Welch) and [David Rawlings](/source/David_Rawlings)) – 3:25 # "[The Cuckoo Bird](/source/The_Cuckoo_(song))" (Traditional, performed by [Deana Carter](/source/Deana_Carter)) – 3:33 # "Score Suite # 1" (Composed by [David Mansfield](/source/David_Mansfield)) – 5:01 # "Conversation With Death" (Traditional, performed by [Hazel Dickens](/source/Hazel_Dickens)) – 3:01 # "Score Suite # 2" (Composed by [David Mansfield](/source/David_Mansfield)) – 4:58 # "Single Girl" (Traditional, performed by [Pat Carroll](/source/Pat_Carroll)) – 1:04 ===Chart performance=== {| class="wikitable" ! Chart (2001) ! Peak
position |- | U.S. ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums | align="center"| 42 |- | U.S. ''Billboard'' Top Independent Albums | align="center"| 31 |} ==Reception== The review aggregation website [Rotten Tomatoes](/source/Rotten_Tomatoes) reported a 74% approval rating with an average rating of 6.34/10 based on 88 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "The story may be a bit too melodramatic, but great performances abound in Songcatcher. The real reason to see the movie, however, is the hypnotic music."{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/songcatcher|title=SONGCATCHER|website=[Rotten Tomatoes](/source/Rotten_Tomatoes)|access-date=October 4, 2019|archive-date=May 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504183704/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/songcatcher|url-status=live}} [Metacritic](/source/Metacritic) assigned a score of 63 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/songcatcher|title=Songcatcher|website=[Metacritic](/source/Metacritic)|access-date=October 4, 2019|archive-date=November 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121103412/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/songcatcher|url-status=live}} ==Accolades== It was nominated for two [Independent Spirit Awards](/source/Independent_Spirit_Awards).{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pNuJdfReH0 |title=16th Spirit Awards ceremony hosted by John Waters - full show (2001) {{!}} Film Independent on YouTube |website=[YouTube](/source/YouTube) |date=8 July 2020 |access-date=2021-02-07 |archive-date=2020-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009095501/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pNuJdfReH0&app=desktop |url-status=live }} ==See also== *[Folk music](/source/Folk_music) *[Alan Lomax](/source/Alan_Lomax) *[Loraine Wyman](/source/Loraine_Wyman) – a popular songcatcher of the same historical period *''[Anthology of American Folk Music](/source/Anthology_of_American_Folk_Music)'' *[Folk music revival](/source/Folk_music_revival) ==References== == Further reading == * [Dorothy Scarborough](/source/Dorothy_Scarborough), ''A Song Catcher in Southern Mountains: American Folk Songs of British Ancestry.'' New York: Columbia University Press, 1937. == External links == * {{IMDb title|id=0210299|title=Songcatcher}} * {{Rotten Tomatoes|songcatcher}} {{Maggie Greenwald}} Category:Sundance Film Festival award–winning films Category:2000 independent films Category:2000 films Category:2000 drama films Category:American LGBTQ-related films Category:Lesbian-related films Category:Country music films Category:Films shot in North Carolina Category:Lionsgate films Category:Films scored by David Mansfield Category:Films set in 1907 Category:Films set in Appalachia Category:Films set in the 1900s Category:2000 English-language films Category:2000 American films Category:Films directed by Maggie Greenwald Category:English-language drama films Category:2000s LGBTQ-related drama films Category:2000 LGBTQ-related films Category:American drama films Category:English-language independent films Category:LGBTQ-related independent films --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Songcatcher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songcatcher) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songcatcher?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.