Editor: Dr. Michael F. Murray, Missouri State University
Editor's Note
UPDATE August 1, 2007: All 1,594 Real Audio files are now available! Thank you for your patience.
The Max Hunter Collection is an archive of almost 1600 Ozark Mountain folk songs, recorded between 1956 and 1976. A traveling salesman from Springfield, Missouri, Hunter took his reel-to-reel tape recorder into the hills and backwoods of the Ozarks, preserving the heritage of the region by recording the songs and stories of many generations of Ozark history. As important as the songs themselves are the voices of the Missouri and Arkansas folks who shared their talents and recollections with Hunter. Designed to give increased public access to this unique and invaluable resource, this site is a joint project of the Missouri State University Department of Music and the Springfield-Greene County Library in Springfield, Missouri, where the permanent collection is housed.
There is now available on CD a recording of Max Hunter singing favorites from the collection. Follow the link for more information. Max Hunter recording
Child Ballads in the Hunter Collection
Information about audio playback (RealAudio, MIDI and AIFF)
Information about copyright and other restrictions
Information about variants and other collections cited
Max Hunter's statement on punctuation
Please send comments and/or suggestions to MikeMurray@missouristate.edu