Over the centuries, composers have used folk songs or hymn tunes as part of their output, a practice that has certainly become a part of my compositional style over the past 20 years. I have treated this kind of music as either a part of larger pieces or in a self-contained manner, as is the case in the two folk song settings presented here. Songs from Old Plum Grove takes its name from a settlement that once existed west of LaGrange, Texas — all that remains now is a cemetery. It was here that some of my maternal ancestors — the Scallorns, McClures and Youngs, all of Scottish heritage — settled in the early 19th century. Allowing some poetic license, I have imagined that the two songs that form this set, “Ye banks and braes” and “Skip to my Lou,” were sung in that community.