Nest of Singing Bird (from left to right): William Ritter, Sheila Kay Adams, Donna Ray Norton.
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, BRAHM invites you for an afternoon of songs older than America that have been preserved in the hills and hollers of Madison County, North Carolina.
Join us for a special afternoon of Appalachian ballads with three incredible musicians, singers, and storytellers Sheila Kay Adams, Donna Ray Norton, and William Ritter - together they are the Nest of Singing Birds
A “nest of singing birds” was the name English folklorist Cecil Sharp gave to Madison County, North Carolina, when he visited the area in 1916 to collect the ancient ballads that had survived there, being gently passed down knee to knee and warm hand to warm hand. During his visit, he collected over 25 ballads from a woman named Mary Sands. The county is still known for this rich tradition that goes back at least nine generations.
The moniker has now been adopted by a cooperative of singers in the region that are keeping this art form alive. Centering around Sheila Kay Adams, the matriarch of the traditional music community in Western North Carolina, the group is led by her second cousin Donna Ray Norton, one of the eighth generation of their family to keep these songs of love and loss and the stories that surround them alive. Through activities like Ballad Night at the Old Marshall Jail Hotel and performances at festivals and performing arts centers across the United States and the world, these a cappella songs are shared from the hearts of the singers to an ever-expanding community of people searching for the magic that abides inside this viable living, breathing tradition not yet lost to time and technology.
“I found myself for the first time in my life in a community in which singing was as common and almost as universal practice as speaking… So closely, indeed, is the practice of this particular art interwoven with the ordinary avocations of everyday life that singers, unable to recall a song I had asked for, would often make some such remark as, ‘Oh, if only I were driving the cows home I could sing it at once.’ … I would go away in the evening with the feeling that I had never before been in a more musical atmosphere.” - Cecil Sharpe
This concert is made possible through a grant from America 250 NC, an initiative by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
About the performers
Sheila Kay Adams is a seventh-generation ballad singer, storyteller, and musician from the Sodom Laurel community of Madison County, North Carolina, an area known for its centuries-old tradition of unaccompanied ballad singing rooted in the early Scots-Irish and English settlers. Taught by the elder singers of her mountain community, Sheila has spent her life preserving and sharing this powerful oral tradition.
A gifted clawhammer banjo player and award-winning storyteller, Sheila began performing in her teens. She has since appeared at major festivals and events across the U.S. and the U.K., including the National Storytelling Festival and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. She is a 2013 recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Brown-Hudson Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society. She is a 2013 NC Arts Council Heritage Award Fellow.
In January, Sheila Kay was recognized as a 2026 United States Artist Fellow as well.
Sheila is also the author of two books, has released several acclaimed recordings, and has served as a singing coach and advisor for film projects. Through her performances, teaching, and advocacy, she continues to inspire a new generation to carry forward the songs and stories of Southern Appalachia.
Donna Ray Norton is an eighth-generation Appalachian ballad singer, storyteller, and culture bearer from the Sodom Laurel (Revere) community of Madison County, North Carolina, where ballad singing has lived in her family for nine generations. She learned these songs the traditional way, by ear and knee to knee, through her mother, Lena Jean Ray; her cousin, Sheila Kay Adams; and generations of Ray, Wallin, Shelton, and Norton kin, carrying forward one of the oldest surviving oral traditions in the United States. She did not inherit land or wealth. She inherited songs, stories held in memory and passed through bloodlines, where music is not separate from life but woven into it.
As the next in line behind Adams, Donna Ray carries the responsibility of keeping the torch lit and ensuring the songs that shaped her family continue to burn brightly for those who come after her. She has shared stages with artists including Ketch Secor, Warren Haynes, Grahame Lesh, Tim O’Brien, and Sierra Ferrell, bringing traditional unaccompanied ballads into contemporary performance spaces. Her work and advocacy for Appalachian culture have been featured in Oxford American, Rolling Stone, and Garden & Gun. As founder and leader of The Nest of Singing Birds and host of the monthly Old Marshall Jail Ballad Swap, she remains committed to ensuring these songs are not museum pieces but living, evolving traditions rooted in the mountains and resonant far beyond them.
Donna Ray has been recognized as a 2026 South Arts Emerging Artist.
William Ritter is a seasoned old-time fiddler, seed-saver, and ballad singer from the mountains of Mitchell County, North Carolina. Deeply passionate about preserving and sharing the rich cultural heritage of his region, William weaves together stories, songs, and seeds, believing that these old ways hold the key to building resilient communities. His dedication to Appalachian traditions led him to a life-changing apprenticeship with renowned ballad singer and storyteller Bobby McMillon in 2020. The following year, William released his first solo album, Mentor, paying tribute to the mentors who generously shared their wisdom and heritage with him.
William’s music is a heartfelt blend of old-time fiddle tunes, folk songs, ballads, and original compositions that celebrate seed-saving and cultural preservation. His performances and programs are enriched by tales and insights from his studies in Appalachian Roots Music and his experiences during porch visits, bean-stringings, and seed-swaps.
William was recognized as a 2021 South Arts Emerging Artist.