Ballads of Living and Dying

Ballads of Living and Dying is Marissa Nadler's first studio album, released in 2004 on Eclipse Records.

Background
Nadler first began recording her songs onto cassette at an early age. When she turned 16, her parents gifted her a couple hours in a recording studio. When she entered art school in Providence, Rhode Island, she would perform at open mic events. This eventually led to her recording her first album: "I had a boyfriend at the time and he recorded that record for me over the course of many months and we fell in love during the recording, and he ended up being the subject matter for several albums after!"

Track listing
All songs written by Marissa Nadler, except where noted.
 * 1) "Fifty Five Falls" – 5:01
 * 2) "Hay tantos muertos" – 2:51 (Nadler, Pablo Neruda)
 * 3) "Stallions" – 3:11
 * 4) "Undertaker" – 2:17
 * 5) "Box of Cedar" – 4:39
 * 6) "Bird Song" – 3:07
 * 7) "Mayflower May" – 3:21
 * 8) "Days of Rum" – 4:20
 * 9) "Virginia" – 2:39
 * 10) "Annabelle Lee" – 5:15 (Nadler, Edgar Allan Poe)
 * 11) "Door Slam" (vinyl-only bonus track)

Personnel
Credits taken from album booklet.

Musicians

 * Marissa Nadler – vocals (all tracks), acoustic guitar (all tracks except 8), organ (tracks 3 and 7), keys (tracks 4 and 9), banjo (track 8)
 * Myles Baer – electric guitar (tracks 1 and 10), background vocals (track 1), accordion (track 2), e-bow (track 10)
 * Kendra Flowers – harmony vocals (track 5)

Production
Recorded, mixed and produced by Myles Baer at Black Hole Sound Studios, 2003-2004.