The ToneWay Song Collection
Click any song for lyrics and a free audio clip.
A speaker icon means a recording is available.
-
392 songs found
- Adieu to Cold Weather
- Ain't Gonna Work Tomorrow
- Alabama Bound
- All the Good Times Are Past and Gone [core]
- Amazing Grace
- Amber Tresses
- Anchored in Love
- Angel Band [core]
- Are You Tired of Me My Darling [core]
- Are You Washed in the Blood
- Banjo Picking Girl [core]
- Banks of the Ohio [core]
- Barb'ry Ellen
- Beautiful Isle O'er the Sea
- Beautiful Life
- Beautiful, Beautiful Brown Eyes
- Bible in the Cabin by the Sea
- Big Ball in Boston
- Big Rock Candy Mountain
- Bile Them Cabbage Down
- Black Eyed Susie [core]
- Black Jack Davey
- Blue Ridge Mountain Blues
- Blue-Eyed Boston Boy
- Boll Weevil
- Bonnie Blue Eyes
- Bound to Ride
- Bowling Green
- Bravest Cowboy
- Bring Back My Blue Eyed Boy [core]
- Bring Back to Me My Wandering Boy [core]
- Broken Down Tramp
- Brown's Ferry Blues
- Buffalo Gals
- Building On That Rock
- Bury Me Beneath the Willow [core]
- Butcher's Boy
- Careless Love
- Charles Guiteau
- Charlie Brooks and Nellie Adair
- Christine Leroy
- Church in the Wildwood
- Cindy [core]
- Cluck Old Hen
- Coal Miner's Blues
- Columbus Stockade Blues [core]
- Come All Ye Tender-Hearted
- Come Home
- Corrina [core]
- Cotton Eyed Joe
- Country Blues
- Cowboy Jack [core]
- Crawdad Song [core]
- Cuckoo Bird
- Cumberland Gap
- Daniel Prayed
- Dark and Stormy Weather
- Darling Alalee
- Darling Cory [core]
- Darling Little Joe
- Darling Nelly Gray [core]
- Death is Only a Dream
- Deep Elem Blues
- Diamond Joe
- Distant Land to Roam
- Dixie Darling
- Do You Call That Religion
- Don't Let Your Deal Go Down [core]
- Don't This Road Look Rough and Rocky [core]
- Down Among the Budded Roses [core]
- Down in the Valley [core]
- Down in the Willow Garden [core]
- Down the Road
- Dream of a Miner's Child [core]
- Drifting Too Far from the Shore [core]
- Drinking From the Fountain
- Drunkard's Dream
- Drunkard's Hell
- Duncan and Brady
- East Virginia [core]
- Engine One-Forty-Three
- Everybody Will Be Happy Over There
- Faded Coat of Blue
- Faded Flowers
- Fair and Tender Ladies [core]
- Farther Along
- Few More Years
- Fifty Miles of Elbow Room
- Foggy Mountain Top
- Footprints in the Snow
- Forsaken Love
- Forty Years Ago
- Frankie and Johnny
- Funny When You Feel That Way
- Gathering Flowers from the Hillside
- Gathering Up the Shells from the Seashore
- Girl I Left Behind
- Girl I Left in Sunny Tennessee [core]
- Girl in the Blue Velvet Band
- Girl on the Greenbriar Shore
- Give Him One More as He Goes
- Give Me the Roses [core]
- Give Me Your Love and I'll Give You Mine
- Glory to the Lamb
- Glory-Land Way
- God Gave Noah the Rainbow Sign
- God's Gonna Ease My Troublin' Mind
- Goin' Across the Mountain
- Going Across the Sea
- Going to Georgia [core]
- Gold Watch and Chain
- Golden Vanity
- Gospel Plow
- Gospel Ship
- Grandfather's Clock
- Grave on the Green Hillside
- Green Grow the Lilacs
- Green Pastures
- Ground Hog [core]
- Hallelujah Side
- Hand in Hand With Jesus
- Handsome Molly [core]
- Happy or Lonesome
- Hard Times Come Again No More [core]
- Have Thine Own Way
- He is Coming to Us Dead
- He Will Set Your Fields on Fire
- Hear Jerusalem Moan
- Heart that was Broken for Me
- Heavenly Light is Shining On Me
- Hello Central, Give Me Heaven
- Hello Stranger
- Hesitation Blues
- Hills of Roane County
- Hold Fast to the Right [core]
- Hold to God's Unchanging Hand [core]
- Honey Babe Blues
- Honey in the Rock
- Hot Corn, Cold Corn [core]
- How Beautiful Heaven Must Be
- I Am a Pilgrim [core]
- I Cannot Be Your Sweetheart
- I Found You Among the Roses
- I Have Found the Way
- I Heard My Mother Call My Name in Prayer
- I Loved You Better Than You Knew
- I Never Will Marry [core]
- I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground
- I Wonder How the Old Folks Are at Home
- I Wouldn't Mind Dying
- If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again
- If One Won't Another One Will
- I'll Be All Smiles Tonight
- I'll Be No Stranger There
- I'll Be Rested
- I'll Remember You Love in My Prayers
- I'm Going Back to Jericho
- I'm Going to the West
- I'm Gonna Eat at the Welcome Table
- I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes
- I'm Troubled
- In the Baggage Coach Ahead
- In the Pines [core]
- In the Shadow of the Pines
- I've Been All Around This World
- Jacob's Vision
- Jealous Lover
- Jesse James [core]
- Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me
- Jimmie Brown the Newsboy
- John Hardy [core]
- John Henry [core]
- Johnson Boys [core]
- Just a Closer Walk with Thee
- Just Another Broken Heart
- Just Over in the Glory Land [core]
- Katie Cline
- Katie Dear
- Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy
- Keep on the Firing Line
- Keep on the Sunny Side
- Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning
- Kneel at the Cross
- Knoxville Girl
- Last Mile of the Way
- Late Last Night [core]
- Leaning on the Everlasting Arms [core]
- Let the Church Roll On
- Letter Edged in Black
- Life's Railway to Heaven [core]
- Little Bennie
- Little Bessie [core]
- Little Birdie [core]
- Little Black Train
- Little Log Cabin in the Lane [core]
- Little Maggie [core]
- Little Rosewood Casket
- Little Sadie
- Little White Church
- Little Whitewashed Chimney
- Little Willie
- Lone Pilgrim
- Lonesome Road Blues [core]
- Lonesome Valley [core]
- Long Journey Home [core]
- Longing for Old Virginia
- Look Away from the Cross
- Lord I'm Coming Home [core]
- Lorena
- Lost John
- Lover's Farewell
- Lover's Quarrel
- Lover's Return
- Lulu Walls
- Mama Don't Allow
- Man of Constant Sorrow [core]
- Maple on the Hill
- Mary of the Wild Moor
- May I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight, Mister? [core]
- Meet Me by the Moonlight [core]
- Meeting in the Air
- Methodist Pie
- Mid the Green Fields of Virginia
- Midnight on the Stormy Deep [core]
- Midnight Special
- Model Church
- Molly and Tenbrooks [core]
- Moonshiner
- More Pretty Girls Than One [core]
- Motherless Children
- My Clinch Mountain Home
- My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains [core]
- My Native Home [core]
- My Old Cottage Home
- My Old Kentucky Home
- Nearer My God to Thee
- New River Train [core]
- Nine Hundred Miles
- Nine Pound Hammer [core]
- No More the Moon Shines on Lorena
- No Telephone in Heaven
- Nobody's Darling on Earth
- Oh Death
- Oh Susanna [core]
- Oh Those Tombs [core]
- Oh, Them Golden Slippers
- Old Account Settled
- Old Black Joe
- Old Dan Tucker
- Old Folks at Home
- Old Joe Clark [core]
- Old Man at the Mill
- Old Rugged Cross
- Old Time Religion
- Omie Wise
- On a Hill Lone and Gray
- On My Way to Canaan's Land
- On the Banks of Old Tennessee
- On the Rock Where Moses Stood
- On Top of Old Smoky [core]
- One Little Word
- Orphan Girl
- Over the Garden Wall
- Over the Hills to the Poorhouse
- Palms of Victory [core]
- Pass Me Not [core]
- Paul and Silas [core]
- Peg and Awl
- Picture on the Wall
- Pictures from the Far Side of Life
- Pig in a Pen
- Please Mommy Please
- Poor Ellen Smith
- Poor Little Orphaned Boy
- Poor Miss Liza Jane
- Poor Orphan Child
- Precious Memories [core]
- Pretty Little Miss
- Pretty Polly [core]
- Pretty Saro
- Put My Little Shoes Away
- Rabbit in the Log [core]
- Rain and Snow [core]
- Raleigh and Spencer
- Rambling Boy
- Red Rocking Chair [core]
- Reuben's Train [core]
- Richmond Blues
- Riddle Song
- Rocky Island [core]
- Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms [core]
- Roll on Buddy
- Roving Gambler [core]
- Run Mountain
- Rye Whiskey [core]
- Sad and Lonesome Day [core]
- Sail Away Ladies
- Sailor Boy's Farewell
- Sailor on the Deep Blue Sea
- Sal Got a Meatskin
- Sally Ann [core]
- Sally Goodin
- Salty Dog
- Saro Jane
- Seeing Nelly Home
- Shady Grove [core]
- Shake Hands With Mother Again
- She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain [core]
- Short Life of Trouble [core]
- Shortenin' Bread
- Shoutin' on the Hills of Glory
- Shut Up in the Mines of Coal Creek
- Single Girl
- Sittin' on Top of the World [core]
- Six Months Ain't Long
- Sourwood Mountain
- Standing in the Need of Prayer [core]
- Stepstone [core]
- Storms are on the Ocean
- Streets of Laredo
- Sunny Side of Life
- Sweeping Through the Gates
- Sweet Fern
- Sweet Heaven in My View
- Sweet Sunny South
- Swing Low, Sweet Chariot [core]
- Take Me Home
- Take this Hammer [core]
- There'll Be No Distinction There
- There's No Hiding Place
- There's No One Like Mother to Me
- They Call Her Mother
- This Train
- This World Is Not My Home [core]
- Tom Dooley
- Train 45
- Train That Carried My Girl from Town
- Two Coats
- Two Little Boys
- Two More Years
- Two Sweethearts
- Uncle Joe
- Uncle Ned
- Unclouded Day
- Unquiet Grave
- Wabash Cannonball
- Walk in Jerusalem Just Like John
- Walking in the King's Highway
- Water Bound [core]
- Watermelon on the Vine
- Waves on the Sea [core]
- Way Down the Old Plank Road
- Wayfaring Stranger
- We Shall Rise
- Were You There When They Crucified My Lord
- What Would You Give in Exchange for Your Soul
- When He Reached Down His Hand for Me
- When I Lay My Burden Down
- When Silver Threads are Gold Again
- When the Bees Are in the Hive [core]
- When the Roll Is Called up Yonder
- When the Roses Bloom in Dixieland
- When the Roses Come Again
- When They Ring the Golden Bells
- When You and I Were Young, Maggie
- Where Shall I Be?
- Where the Silvery Colorado Wends Its Way
- Where the Soul of Man Never Dies [core]
- Where We'll Never Grow Old
- Whispering Hope
- White House Blues
- Who Will Sing for Me [core]
- Who's Going Down to Town
- Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet
- Who's That Knocking on My Window
- Wild and Reckless Hobo
- Wild Bill Jones [core]
- Wildwood Flower
- Will My Mother Know Me There
- Will the Circle Be Unbroken
- Will the Roses Bloom in Heaven
- Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown
- Will You Miss Me [core]
- Willie Moore
- Wind and Rain
- Working on a Building [core]
- Worried Man Blues [core]
- Wreck of the Old 97
- You Are My Flower
- Your Mother Still Prays For You
- You're a Flower in the Wildwood
- You've Got to Righten That Wrong
About This List
The songs here are variously called bluegrass songs, old-time songs, mountain music songs, folk songs… all different names for what we broadly call people music.
Most of the songs featured here are also available (with chords) in our songbooks.
What is ‘Mountain Music’?
The songs here are old, pre-radio songs. Many come from the rich musical traditions of 19th-century Appalachia. Thus, they have a special, “stood the test of time” quality to them.
Mountain music comes from two very distinct and age-old musical traditions: African and European. These traditions blended into what is informally known as “mountain music” through years of cross-pollination in the impoverished rural mountains of Appalachia (USA) during the 1800’s.
This combination of melodic and rhythmic styles became the foundation for jazz, blues, rock and roll, country, bluegrass, modern folk and more. It is this unique “synthesis” quality that makes “mountain music” a perfect launchpad for those ‘modern’ styles and a perfect ‘home base’ for followers of other styles to come together.
Song Origins
Most of these songs in the public domain, though a few may not be—it can be very hard to tell sometimes. Some are traditional songs with no known author, others were originally old parlor songs that have gone out of copyright. However, they all “traditional” in the sense that they have entered the oral tradition.
The “Core Songs” Designation [core]
We picked 100 songs that represent some of the best and most
commonly-played songs in ‘people music’. They're featured in our
songbooks as well as a CD series; see below.
[core] indicates a "core song."
Books and CDs with these songs:
Big Print Songs
Over 200 time-honored classics in alphabetical order. One
song per page, 20-point type. Chords.
Historical information. Jamming hints and more.
Read more and look inside.
Get Started Plus!
Core Songs Edition
Like Big Print Songs, except only the 100 Core Songs are included. But you also get
our acclaimed playing-by-ear learning method, a 49-track companion CD,
and supplemental online instruction videos.
Read more and look inside.
Core Songs CD Series
Five CDs, 100 songs or 100 songs in MP3 format for a discount.
Recordings from the Abbott family and their friends.
Listen to samples and buy.
Family Tradition
Songbook & T.M.M.
A compact reference book with lyrics and chords for 330 songs. Includes a full
ToneWay Music Method reference.
Read more and look inside.
