Texas Gladden

'''Texas Anna Gladden''' (''{{nee}}'' '''Smith''', March 14, 1895 – May 23, 1966)<ref name=birth>[https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=9278&h=1451777&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=cnP2&_phstart=successSource Virginia Department of Health; Richmond, Virginia; Virginia Deaths, 1912-2014, 1885-96, at ''Ancestry,com'']. Retrieved 5 December 2019]</ref> was an American folk singer, best known for her traditional Appalachian ballad style of singing, which she began to record in the 1930s.

==Life== She was born Texas Anna Smith, in Rich Valley, Smyth County, Virginia, the daughter of Alexander King Smith and his wife Sarah Louvenia (née Hammonds); the name Texas was taken from that of an aunt.<ref name=birth/><ref name=wade/> She married Jim Gladden in 1912 at the age of seventeen.<ref name=wade/> In 1930, the couple lived in Salem, Virginia with their seven children (she had nine in all);<ref name=traditions>[http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/gladden.htm Liner notes for "Ballad Legacy - Alan Lomax Collection: Portrait" at ''Musical Traditions'']. Retrieved 12 April 2014</ref> Jim worked as a laborer.<ref name=":0">[http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/6224/4547856_00388/99029987?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3d1930usfedcen%26h%3d99029987%26ti%3d5538%26indiv%3dtry%26gss%3dpt%26ssrc%3dpt_t1428078_p-1894917653_kpidz0q3d-1894917653z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&ssrc=pt_t1428078_p-1894917653_kpidz0q3d-1894917653z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&backlabel=ReturnRecord 1930 United States Federal Census record for Texas A Gladden, at ''Ancestry.com'']. Retrieved 12 April 2014</ref>

She started to gain a public audience through singing at the White Top Festival in Smyth County in the mid-1930s,<ref name=wade/><ref name=traditions/> and also gained recognition by singing at events at the old Fort Lewis School<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tabler |first=Dave |date=2009-04-23 |title=People who sing operettas shouldn't tinker around with mountain music |url=https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2009/04/people-who-sing-operettas-shouldnt.html |access-date=2025-11-12 |website=Appalachian History |language=en-US}}</ref> as well as making some early recordings for the Virginia Folklore Society.<ref name=wade>[https://books.google.com/books?id=lWKHzhvqDlMC&dq=%22texas+gladden%22&pg=PA403 Stephen Wade, ''The Beautiful Music All Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience'', University of Illinois Press, 2012, pp.3, 237-266]</ref> In September 1941, along with her brother, musician Hobart Smith, she began to record with pioneer folk archivist and musicologist Alan Lomax. The largest collection of her work, which includes 37 tracks of songs and interviews, is compiled on the album ''Texas Gladden: Ballad Legacy'', which Lomax produced as part of his ''Southern Journey'' series. This album contains traditional ballads of Anglo-Saxon/Celtic origin, such as "Barbara Allen", "Mary Hamilton", and "Lord Thomas", as well as regional songs lullabies like "Hush, Baby, Don’t You Cry",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tabler |first=Dave |date=2009-04-23 |title=People who sing operettas shouldn't tinker around with mountain music |url=https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2009/04/people-who-sing-operettas-shouldnt.html |access-date=2025-11-12 |website=Appalachian History |language=en-US}}</ref> and even a Civil War-era ghost story.<ref name=traditions/><ref name=strong>{{cite book |last=Strong |first=Martin C. |year=2010 |title=The Great Folk Discography: Pioneers and Early Legends |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Polygon Books |pages=103|isbn=978-1-84697-141-9}}</ref> The album was reissued on CD by Rounder Records in 2001.<ref name=strong/>

Her granddaughter, Cindy Gladden, stated; "Granny always said that these songs should be sung by an uneducated voice as the ballads themselves were uneducated."{{Citation needed|date=March 2026}} Texas Gladden organized these songs through the use of unique phrasings and "grace notes" which her mother taught her, and defined them as "unanticipated bends on certain notes".

Texas Gladden died in hospital in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1966, and is buried at Salem. She did not enjoy much fame during her life and has remained a relatively obscure artist. Her work experienced a resurgence in popularity during the 1960s as she was referenced by Joan Baez{{Citation needed|date=March 2026}}. More recently her singing has been rediscovered through harpist Joanna Newsom's recording of the traditional Appalachian style song "Three Little Babes", recorded by Gladden as "The Three Babies".<ref name="strong" />

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== *Texas Gladden biography and review of ''Ballad Legacy'' [http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/gladden.htm], [http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/gladden2.htm] *{{find a Grave|170656342}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gladden, Texas}} Category:1895 births Category:1966 deaths Category:American folk singers Category:Singers from Virginia Category:Culture of Appalachia Category:People from Smyth County, Virginia Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American women singers Category:People from Salem, Virginia