This is a rich and historic collection of rare French ballads sung a cappella by Cajun and Creole women in the 1950s through the 1970s. These field recordings were made by folklorists Barry Ancelet, Catherine Blanchet, Elizabeth Brandon, Harry Oster, Ralph Rinzler, Claudie Marcel-Dubois, and Nicholas Spitzer on mediums ranging from lacquer discs to reel-to-reel tape. Restored by Origin Jazz Library, the recordings reflect the captivating and often humorous songs of love, infidelity, war, and murder, some of them centuries old.