"Pretty Saro" (Roud 417) is an English folk ballad originating in the early 1700s.Sharp, Cecil James. Campbell, Olive Dame. Karpeles, Maud. English folk songs from the Southern Appalachians, Volume 1. Oxford University Press, Volume 1. page 10 The song died out in England by the mid eighteenth century but was rediscovered in North America (particularly in the Appalachian Mountains) in the early twentieth century, where it had been preserved through oral traditions.Reed, Smith. South Carolina ballads: with a study of the traditional ballad to-day. Harvard University Press, 1928. pages 75-76 Cecil Sharp and later folklorists and proponents of the folk revival helped keep songs such as "Pretty Saro" alive well into modern times.
Traditional Versions The famous Appalachian musician Jean Ritchie was recorded with her sisters in 1946 by Mary Elizabeth Barnacle singing her family's traditional version on the song, before recording it on the album Jean Ritchie And Doc Watson At Folk City (1963). The Appalachian traditional singer Horton Barker also recorded a traditional version on his eponymous 1962 album. Several other traditional Appalachian versions were recorded, particularly by Alan Lomax. A few traditional Ozark recordings were also made (many of which can be heard online), and one in Toronto, Canada.
Popular Recordings
Notable artists who have recorded Pretty Saro include:
Artist Album Derroll Adams 65th Birthday Concert Sam Amidon All is Well Judy Collins A Maid of Constant Sorrow Shirley Collins and Davy Graham Folk Roots, New Routes Iris Dement Songcatcher Bob Dylan The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 – Another Self Portrait (1969–1971) Chris Jones Cloud of DustBruce Molsky and Big HoedownBruce Molsky and Big Hoedown Ashley Monroe featuring Aubrey Haynie Divided & United: The Songs of the Civil War Jay Munly Galvanized Yankee Pete Seeger God Bless the Grass Doc Watson Home Again! The Dixie Bee-Liners Through My Screen Door John Doyle Evening Comes Early Bert Jansch A Rare Conundrum Rhiannon Giddens Music from The American Epic Sessions: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps Session 44 Martin Simpson Live (1996) The Westerlies The Westerlies Stephen Wake The Mystical Land (2020) Rocketship RaritiesAmerican Patchwork QuartetAmerican Patchwork Quartet (2024)Sam ShackletonScottish Cowboy Ballads & Early American Folk Songs (2025) During his Self Portrait sessions in March 1970 at Columbia Records' New York studio, Bob Dylan ran through "Pretty Saro" six consecutive times. While none of those versions made the final cut for the album, the song remained in Columbia's vault, until it was released on Another Self Portrait, a 35-track box set of songs cut for Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning.Andy Greene, "Bob Dylan's Lost 1970 Gem 'Pretty Saro' - Premiere", Rolling Stone Video (7 August 2013).
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