I’d certainly think of it as a “southern” accent:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch-Irish_American
It still exists in modified form in the Appalachians.
Thanks for posting this. I am Appalachian, my grandfather had such a thick “hillbilly” accent that made it hard for us to understand him sometimes. My ancestors were Scotch-Irish, coming from Ireland in the 1700’s. Fascinating culture. I’m going to forward this to my father, he will enjoy it.
“...not what we think of as a Southern accent.”
What we think of as a “southern accent” didn’t exist until after the Civil War.
Not surprising.
The tune is Scots also.
Unless intended exaggeration, English language accents seldom come through in a song. An Aussie can sing a country western song in Sidney, but little accent difference can be noted in the same song sung in Nashville by an American.
People need to read their history. One very academic source about the migration of the Scots and Scot-Irish from Ulster is Albion’s Seed by David Hackett.
These clannish folk immigrated from the northern counties of England, Ulster, and Scotland in huge numbers in the mid 1700s. Most entered through Philadelhia because the pacifist Quakers wanted them to move to the West to serve as a buffer on the frontier. Many were indentured.
Naturally curious and adventurous, many soon broke free of whatever restraints the Quaker burgers wanted to impose and moved West of the Alleghenies. Many went into the Ohio country. But One wave went South as far as the Carolinas and then turned West.
These are the folk that became the rural Southern whites, many of whom lived in the mountain ‘hollers’ in ‘cabins’ which were similar in some ways to the glens of Scotland. These were some of the folk that Senator Jim Webb wrote about in his book, “Born Fighting: How the Scots Shaped America.
And fight they did. Not so much for slavery, but for their clans on both sides of the Civil War since most were part of the ‘common man’ and not rich gentry. Think of Bravehart warriors in Blue and Gray and you may not be far off.
In fact, many historians now think the Rebel yell was simply a ululation war cry from their Gaelic warrior past transplanted to America.
I’ve wondered what our Founders sounded like. Was the British accent similar to what it is today? Would the Founders have had a British accent? I was listening to an interview with historian Paul Johnson on Dennis Prager one time, and Johnson indicated that the British of that time wouldn’t have sounded like we think. Thanks for sharing the recordings.