Born of the British ballad, it's American offspring was the blank canvas for all type of tale, the more calamitous or scandalous, the better. Jesse James and Billy the Kid, train wrecks and hurricanes, the Titanic and Tom Dooley, fatal lovers' quarrels and foiling the devil, all and more were normal fare, served up in a song. Classic American Ballads is 25 tracks of time-worn tragedy drawn from the deep fount of the Smithsonian Folkways archives. 74 minutes, 40-page booklet with extensive notes and photos.