From the NYTimes:
Jean Ritchie, who brought hundreds of traditional songs from her native Appalachia to a wide audience — singing of faith and unfaithfulness, murder and revenge, love unrequited and love lost — and in the process helped ignite the folk song revival of the mid-20th century, died on Monday at her home in Berea, Ky. She was 92.
. . .
The youngest of 14 children in a farming family from Viper, Ky., Ms. Ritchie was a vital link in a chain of oral tradition that stretched back centuries. . . .
She single-handedly brought the Appalachian dulcimer to national attention.
Here she is singing of her native Perry County, KY.
(I don't know how to imbed videos -- hope the link works for you.)