Scots Folk Singers and Their Sources A Study of Two Major Scottish Song Collections

"The extent to which song collectors exert an influence on their contributors during the fieldwork process has been an important consideration for ethnological disciplines over recent decades. It is a question that implicitly underpins Caroline Macafee's thought-provoking and original study of song transmission [...]."
- Eilidh Whiteford, Folk Music Journal, 2023.

"This volume should really be required reading for ethnological researchers with interests in the song culture and traditions of lowland Scotland, and will be of more general interest to others curious about the ways in which traditional songs reach us. While the audience is likely to be primarily an academic one, singers who use historic or archival sources to identify and develop repertoire may also find Macafee's perspectives helpful and informative. However, perhaps the greatest value of her research lies in the tables of quantitative data found in the appendices, which will provide an invaluable resource for future researchers, whether or not they share Macafee's thematic concerns or reach similar conclusions. In having done this 'heavy lifting', Macafee bequeaths a generous legacy to a new generation of scholars and reframes our understanding of traditional song culture in Scotland."
- Eilidh Whiteford, Folk Music Journal, 2023.

"Macafee's discussion about the nature of the gaps and the reliability of the data tells readers a great deal about the debates surrounding Scots folk song collecting and the nature of the repertoire more generally."
- Jane Pettegree, in Soundyngs: Conversations on the History of Scottish Music, July 2022.