Come Go Home with Me: Stories By Sheila Kay Adams

Sheila Adams has been performing Appalachian ballads and telling stories for over twenty years. A native of Madison County, North Carolina, she was introduced to the tale-telling tradition by her great-aunt 'Granny, ' well-known balladeer Dellie Chandler Norton. This collection of Adams's stories provides a rare portrait of a distinctive mountain community and charts the development of an artist's unique voice. The tales range from stories of heroic, sometimes fierce, mountain settlers to the comic adventures of local drifters and tricksters, from magical childhood encounters to adult rites of passage. We meet Bertha and the snake handlers, local preacher Manassey Fender (who 'looked like a pencil with a burr haircut, in a suit'), and Adams's beloved grandfather Breaddaddy, who taught her about life and death with an enchanting graveyard dance. But perhaps the most powerful character depicted here is 'Granny, ' whom Adams calls 'the most exciting person I have ever known and the best teacher I would ever have.' By weaving these remembrances into her stories, Adams both preserves and extends a rich artistic heritage.

Author: Sheila Kay Adams
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 09/11/1995
Pages: 136
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.41lbs
Size: 9.30h x 5.16w x 0.35d
ISBN: 9780807845363

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 08/07/1995 pg. 456
Kirkus Reviews 08/01/1995 pg. 1038

About the Author
Adams, Sheila Kay: - Sheila Kay Adams, a former public school teacher, now pursues a career of sharing the music, stories, and heritage of her mountain culture. She lives with her husband and children in western North Carolina.