You Don't Look Seedy Enough to Be a Folk Singer

You Don't Look Seedy Enough to Be a Folk Singer is a composite of the life of Betty Nance Smith, written in her fine hand about the world into which she was born. The first half of her book portrays a simple world of buttermilk biscuits on a wood stove, soft feather beds and dimity quilts, a frosty wet ice box in summer, and household chores on her grandparents' farm. She writes of her parents' life of law enforcement, gardening, singing, and sewing during the Great Depression and the children's carefree world of games and school. She recounts her marriage to her childhood sweetheart, Bill Smith, the joys and sorrows and laughter of rearing a family, and her lifelong love of music.

    Betty devotes the last half of her book to her love of ballads, which she claims "have a richness of spirit not found in most commercial music. It is a reflection of how people lived, how they felt about life and living. We can feel the pain and sorrow, share in the joy, and laugh at the ridiculous. The themes in the stories and songs are universal. They have meaning for people today as they did two hundred years ago." As a folk singer, songwriter, performer, and teacher of traditional music, Betty was recently recognized by the Order of the Long Leaf Pine as one of Western North Carolina's most cherished music legends.