Yesterday we lost one of Appalachia's most influential voices, Jean Ritchie. Jean Ritchie was born in Viper Kentucky on December 8, 1922, the youngest of fourteen children. Jean Ritchie graduated with a degree in social work from the University of Kentucky and moved to New York City to work with poor children in the settlement house. She began to sing her traditional songs from her Kentucky Mountain family in coffee houses as part of the growing folk music movement. She was responsible for reviving the popularity of the dulcimer, and with her husband, George Pickow, even ran a dulcimer making shop for ten years. She collected, recorded and researched the history of traditional ballads of the Cumberlands and also wrote her own songs, often with a liberal and environmental point of view. She spoke out against the environmental destruction of strip mining and later, mountain top removal. Follow me below the orange squiggle as I share some of her recordings.
Jean Ritchie was one of the founders of the Newport Folk Festival and sang with Woodie Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Doc Watson. She was recorded by Alan Lomax from the Library of Congress and she also became a collector of folk songs, receiving a Fullbright Fellowship to travel to Great Britain to research the history of the Childe Roland song cycle.
She sang in a high clear soprano with the traditional quavering voice of the Kentucky Mountains. She recorded many albums and performed around the world for many years. Wikipedia lists her many recordings
One of her most moving compositions is Black Waters, written to speak out against strip mining in Kentucky.
"The L and N don't stop here" any more is a plaintive song about job loss in the Kentucky coal fields, recorded by many other artists. It captures the sadness of loss of a traditional life and the problems of joblessness dating back over 50 years of neglect of this region of our country.
Jubilee is a traditional folk song and this version, recorded with Doc Watson, is joyful.
If you want to do a little thing to help those trying to stop mountaintop removal, vote for the Judy Marks Center in this State Farm Contest. This is the last day to vote for projects which will receive $25,000. You can vote with all ten votes at once.