Rock and Roll comes from a mixture of many musical cultures. The longest train I ever saw Went down that Georgia line. The train passed by at 6 o'clock The cab passed by at 9. In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines And we shiver when the cold wind blows. The ballad structure that influenced rock and roll comes from rural ballad-singing that originated in the British Isles and was then common in parts of the United States, in particular the southern Appalachian Mountains.
Ballads tell a story.
Cecil Sharp Cecil Sharp, in the early 1900s, set out to document the singing of ballads in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Sharp discovered these ballads to be alive and well in the mountains of Appalachia while they were dying out in the British Isles. Sung by Nimrod Workman. Function of Ballads in Rural America Entertainment before TV, radio, etc. Record historical events.