The author of the book Folk Hymns of America (1938) as well as myriad journal articles,[1] Buchanan (along with John Powell) helped found the White Top Folk Festival (hosted in Grayson County, Virginia, from 1931 to 1939), which promoted music of the people in the Appalachian Mountains.

[2][3] Buchanan's documenting practices are credited for preserving many folk songs that might have otherwise gone on unrecorded.

[1] Buchanan was born Annie Bell Morris on October 22, 1888, in Groesbeck, Texas.

She went on to teach music at Halsell College in Vinita, Oklahoma (1907–08) and the Stonewall Jackson Institute in Abingdon, Virginia (1909–12).

In 1912, Annabel married John Preston Buchanan, a lawyer who would eventually serve as a member of the Virginia Senate, representing the state's 1st district.