From director Maggie Greenwald (The Ballad of Little Joe) comes this promising but ultimately disappointing historically derived fiction. A feisty Victorian musicologist, Lily Penleric (Anywhere But Here’s Janet McTeer), leaves behind the good-old-boys network at a Northeastern college to visit her sister, a schoolmarm in the wilds of Appalachia. Lily’s previous exposure to English folksongs has been limited to sitting-room recitals, so when a local urchin bursts into " Barbara Allen, " she’s shocked, realizing she’s discovered a vast musical tradition. Lily immediately begins collecting the songs for a book, but her department wants to assign another expert (based on actual folklorist Cecil Sharp) to the work and demote her to assistant. There are some wonderful scenes with traditional singers like Iris DeMent, and Aidan Quinn is appealing as the gruff-but-compassionate-banjo-picking-moonshiner-and-convenient-love-interest. But the intriguing story is rife with tacked-on plot elements, like Lily’s sister’s clandestine lesbian affair. Worst of all, a syrupy score leaves this Songcatcher without any catchy songs.