The ToneWay Song Collection
Click any song for lyrics and a free audio clip.
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100 songs found
- All the Good Times Are Past and Gone [core]
- Angel Band [core]
- Are You Tired of Me My Darling [core]
- Banjo Picking Girl [core]
- Banks of the Ohio [core]
- Black Eyed Susie [core]
- Bring Back My Blue Eyed Boy [core]
- Bring Back to Me My Wandering Boy [core]
- Bury Me Beneath the Willow [core]
- Cindy [core]
- Columbus Stockade Blues [core]
- Corrina [core]
- Cowboy Jack [core]
- Crawdad Song [core]
- Darling Cory [core]
- Darling Nelly Gray [core]
- 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]
- Dream of a Miner's Child [core]
- Drifting Too Far from the Shore [core]
- East Virginia [core]
- Fair and Tender Ladies [core]
- Girl I Left in Sunny Tennessee [core]
- Give Me the Roses [core]
- Going to Georgia [core]
- Ground Hog [core]
- Handsome Molly [core]
- Hard Times Come Again No More [core]
- Hold Fast to the Right [core]
- Hold to God's Unchanging Hand [core]
- Hot Corn, Cold Corn [core]
- I Am a Pilgrim [core]
- I Never Will Marry [core]
- In the Pines [core]
- Jesse James [core]
- John Hardy [core]
- John Henry [core]
- Johnson Boys [core]
- Just Over in the Glory Land [core]
- Late Last Night [core]
- Leaning on the Everlasting Arms [core]
- Life's Railway to Heaven [core]
- Little Bessie [core]
- Little Birdie [core]
- Little Log Cabin in the Lane [core]
- Little Maggie [core]
- Lonesome Road Blues [core]
- Lonesome Valley [core]
- Long Journey Home [core]
- Lord I'm Coming Home [core]
- Man of Constant Sorrow [core]
- May I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight, Mister? [core]
- Meet Me by the Moonlight [core]
- Midnight on the Stormy Deep [core]
- Molly and Tenbrooks [core]
- More Pretty Girls Than One [core]
- My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains [core]
- My Native Home [core]
- New River Train [core]
- Nine Pound Hammer [core]
- Oh Susanna [core]
- Oh Those Tombs [core]
- Old Joe Clark [core]
- On Top of Old Smoky [core]
- Palms of Victory [core]
- Pass Me Not [core]
- Paul and Silas [core]
- Precious Memories [core]
- Pretty Polly [core]
- Rabbit in the Log [core]
- Rain and Snow [core]
- Red Rocking Chair [core]
- Reuben's Train [core]
- Rocky Island [core]
- Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms [core]
- Roving Gambler [core]
- Rye Whiskey [core]
- Sad and Lonesome Day [core]
- Sally Ann [core]
- Shady Grove [core]
- She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain [core]
- Short Life of Trouble [core]
- Sittin' on Top of the World [core]
- Standing in the Need of Prayer [core]
- Stepstone [core]
- Swing Low, Sweet Chariot [core]
- Take this Hammer [core]
- This World Is Not My Home [core]
- Water Bound [core]
- Waves on the Sea [core]
- When the Bees Are in the Hive [core]
- Where the Soul of Man Never Dies [core]
- Who Will Sing for Me [core]
- Wild Bill Jones [core]
- Will You Miss Me [core]
- Working on a Building [core]
- Worried Man Blues [core]
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.
Click here to view our entire list of songs.
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.
