Vera Ward Hall

April 6, 1902 - January 29, 1964

Vera Ward Hall

Adele "Vera" Ward Hall (1902-1964), despite her exquisite singing abilities and her extensive repertoire, worked all of her life as a washerwoman, nursemaid, and cook. She first came to the attention of John A. Lomax in 1937, when Ruby Pickens Tartt, folklorist and chair of the Federal Writers' Project of Sumter County, Alabama, introduced them; Lomax recorded Hall during three separate sessions in 1937, 1939, and 1940, writing that she had "the loveliest voice I have ever recorded." She sang Baptist hymns with her cousin Dock Reed and other Livingston friends like Jesse Allison, but she was also willing to record blues, ballads, hollers, and "worldly songs" such as "Stagolee” and "John Henry” learned from her friend Rich Amerson (and forbidden by her family).

Alan Lomax met Hall in 1948, when he arranged for her and Reed to come New York City for an American Music Festival. (It was Vera’s first and only time out of Alabama.) Their time together resulted in six- and-a-half hours of recordings and the raw material for her oral biography, which Lomax published in The Rainbow Sign. In that book, published in 1959 (the same year Hall made her last recordings, for Alan), Vera is called “Nora” to protect her identity and honor her confidence. Five years later Lomax wrote in her obituary in Sing Out! magazine: "The sound comes from deep within her when she sings, from a source of gold and light, otherwise hidden, and falls directly upon your ear like sunlight.... It is from singers like Vera Hall that all of us who love folk music in American have everything to learn. Her performances were all graced with dignity and love."

Appears in 150 items.
Title Contributor(s) Date Track
The Black Cat (II) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 4
Wild Ox Moan (II) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 5
Wild Ox Moan (III) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 6
Boll Weevil (II) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 7
Boll Weevil (fragment) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 8
Stagolee (false start) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 1
Stagolee Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 2
Railroad Bill Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 3
Unidentified song fragment Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 4
When I Can Read My Titles Clear Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 5
I Know The Lord Will Make A Way Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 1
Down On Me Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 2
Let Me Ride Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 3
Interview with Vera Hall about playing church and singing Performer: Unidentified woman; Performer: Lomax, Alan; Performer: Hall, Vera Ward May 1, 1948 4
Riding In A Buggy Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 1
Yes, Ma'am Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 2
Come Up Horsey (II) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 3
Come Up Horsey (fragment) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 4
Come Up Horsey (III) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 5
Come Up Horsey (IV) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan May 1, 1948 6
No Room At The Inn (song) (I) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 5
No Room At The Inn (story) (I) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 6
Last Month Of The Year (I) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 7
No Room At The Inn (song) (II) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 8
No Room At The Inn (story) (II) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 9
Last Month Of The Year (II) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 10
Last Month Of The Year (last stanza) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 11
Mama's Gonna Buy You A Little Lap Dog Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 12
Wild Ox Moan (I) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 13
Wild Ox Moan (II) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 14
No Room At The Inn (false start) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 1
No Room At The Inn (song) (III) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 2
No Room At The Inn (story) (III) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 3
Last Month Of The Year (III) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 4
Ridin' In A Buggy / Candy Gal Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 5
Candy Gal Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 6
I Got A Home In That Rock Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 7
Boll Weevil Holler (I) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 8
Talk/ambience Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 9
Boll Weevil Holler (II) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 10
Wild Ox Moan (III) (part 1) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 11
Wild Ox Moan (III) (part 2) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 12
Trouble So Hard (I) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 15
Trouble So Hard (fragment) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 16
Trouble So Hard (II) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 17
Young Speckled Lady Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 18
Great Day Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 19
Death Have Mercy (I) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 20
Death Have Mercy (II) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 1
Death Have Mercy (III) Performer: Hall, Vera Ward; Recordist: Lomax, Alan Oct 10, 1959 2