I wonder if classical scholars crosspollinate their reading with scholarship about American ballads from Dixie? There’s a wonderful little essay by #EricMcHenry on the origins of #Mississippi John Hurt’s #murderballad that goes through fragments and traditions to get to the story of Louis Collins, subject of Hurt’s ballad with the refrain: “angels laid him away.”, The essay is here: https://theamericanscholar.org/the-bully-in-the-ballad/?fbclid=IwAR3JagR65EdXiy6_IF1lAj2DEfIkJdr0dG8BOtQGJIp6LKIBbGuPAT3pqyg