Friends Anais Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer are two songwriters who have co-arranged a selection of epic old folk songs from 19th Century UK for this release. (Child Ballads, for the uninitiated aren't kids' songs, the anthology is named after collector, Sir Francis James Child.). Mitchell and Hamer quickly discovered their shared love of Celtic and British Isles ballads, especially the classic folk albums of the 1970s-and made a plan to arrange and record some of their favourites together. The resulting album was recorded by producer/engineer Gary Paczosa (Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton) in Nashville. The production is minimal, and the songs are driven by two guitar arrangements and the kind of close harmonies reminiscent of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris.