THE IDAHO SONGS PROJECT

In 2007, Gary Eller held a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council to collect historically-based songs of the Snake and Salmon River region. Songs about actual Idaho people, places and events provide a unique window into the region's rich heritage. An IHC grant also was awarded in 2008 to collect songs of the Idaho panhandle. To date, Gary has collected about 1000 songs related in some way to Idaho, of which about 100 predate 1910 and about 200 are historically rooted. These songs range widely and include somber event ballads, stage songs, hilarious parodies and operas. The early songs are being preserved in written and recorded forms that are accessible to present and future generations, and in public performances. Please click on Early Idaho Songs to see an annotated bibliography of early Idaho songs. Click on Songs of the Month List to hear and read about selected early Idaho songs. Click on Nashville abstract to read about the paper that was presented at the International Conference on Country Music in May, 2008 about Idaho roots music.

The project is continuing and people with knowledge of such songs are urged to contact Gary Eller by phone at 208-442-8844 or by email at pgaryeller@aol.com.

Gary Eller also is a member of the Speaker's Bureau of the Idaho Humanities Council. To read about his program, click on Gary Eller's Speaker's Bureau Program. He is available on request through the Council to share historically-based Idaho folk songs. The Speaker's Bureau provides support for presentations on a variety of other subjects to Idaho organizations. Details are available through the Humanities Council website or 208-345-5346.

The Idaho Humanities Council is a state-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The 2007 work also was sponsored in part by the Owyhee County Historical Society. Some of the 2008 work was co-sponsored by the Museum of Northern Idaho.

Copyright 2008-9. This page was last revised on February 16, 2009.