Louisville local John Jacob Niles (1892--1980) is taken into account to be one in every of our nation's so much influential musicians. As a composer and balladeer, Niles drew thought from the deep good of conventional Appalachian and African American folks songs. on the age of 16 Niles wrote one in every of his so much enduring tunes, "Go 'Way from My Window," basing it on a music fragment from a black farm employee. This iconic music has been played by means of folks artists ever for the reason that and will also have encouraged the hole line of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe."

In I ask yourself as I Wander: The lifetime of John Jacob Niles, the 1st full-length biography of Niles, Ron Pen deals a wealthy portrait of the musician's personality and profession. utilizing Niles's personal money owed from his journals, notebooks, and unpublished autobiography, Pen tracks his upward thrust from farm boy to songwriter and people collector extraordinaire. Niles used to be specifically drawn to documenting the voices of his fellow international battle I squaddies, the folk of Appalachia, and the spirituals of African american citizens. within the Twenties he collaborated with famous photographer Doris Ulmann in the course of journeys to Appalachia, the place he transcribed, tailored, and organized conventional songs and ballads equivalent to "Pretty Polly" and "Black Is the colour of My actual Love's Hair."

Niles's maintenance and presentation of yank people songs earned him the identify of "Dean of yankee Balladeers," and his theatrical use of the dulcimer is credited with contributing to the recognition of that tool this present day. Niles's commitment to the folks track culture lives on in generations of folks revival artists akin to Jean Ritchie, Joan Baez, and Oscar model. I ask yourself as I Wander explores the origins and affects of the yank people tune resurgence of the Fifties and Nineteen Sixties, and at last tells the tale of a guy on the vanguard of that movement.