Hubbry Logo
Jean RitchieJean RitchieMain
Open search
Jean Ritchie
Community hub
Jean Ritchie
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Jean Ritchie
Jean Ritchie
Jean Ritchie
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Jean Ruth Ritchie (December 8, 1922 – June 1, 2015) was an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player,[1] called by some the "Mother of Folk".[2] In her youth she learned hundreds of folk songs in the traditional way (orally, from her family and community), many of which were Appalachian variants of centuries-old British and Irish songs, including dozens of Child Ballads.[3][4] In adulthood, she shared these songs with wide audiences,[5] as well as writing some of her own songs using traditional foundations.[4]

Key Information

She is ultimately responsible for the revival of the Appalachian dulcimer, the traditional instrument of her community, which she popularized by playing the instrument on her albums and writing tutorial books.[4]

She also spent time collecting folk music in the United States and in Britain and Ireland,[6][7] in order to research the origins of her family songs and help preserve traditional music.[4]

She inspired a wide array of musicians, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Shirley Collins, Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris and Judy Collins.[5][2][8]

Out of Kentucky

[edit]

Family

[edit]

Jean Ritchie was born to Abigail (née Hall) Ritchie (1877–1972) and Balis Wilmar Ritchie (1869–1958) of Viper, an unincorporated community in Perry County in the Cumberland Mountains of southeastern Kentucky.[1] Along with the Combs family of adjacent Knott County,[a] the Ritchies of Perry County were one of the two "great ballad-singing families" of Kentucky celebrated among folk song scholars.[9] Jean's father Balis had printed up a book of old songs entitled Lovers' Melodies[10] in 1910 or 1911, which contained the most popular songs in Hindman at that time, including "Jackaro", "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender", "False Sir John and May Colvin" and "The Lyttle Musgrave".[11] However, Balis preferred playing the Appalachian dulcimer to singing, often singing entire ballads in his head along with his dulcimer playing.[12] In 1917, the folk music collector Cecil Sharp collected songs from Jean's older sisters May (1896–1982) and Una (1900–1989),[13][14][15] whilst her sister Edna (1910–1997) also learnt the old ballads, much later releasing her own album of traditional songs with dulcimer accompaniment.[16] Most of the Ritchie siblings seemed dedicated to performing and preserving traditional music.[17] Many of the Ritchies attended the Hindman Settlement School, a folk school where students were encouraged to cherish their own backgrounds and where Sharp found many of his songs.[18] It is possible that many of the Ritchies' songs were absorbed from neighbors, relatives, friends, school mates and even books, as well as being passed through the family.[11]

The paternal ancestors of the Ritchie family, Alexander Ritchie (1725–1787)[19] and his son James Ritchie Sr. (1757–1818) of Stewarton, East Ayrshire, Scotland,[20] emigrated to the United States.[when?] James Ritchie Sr. fought in the Revolutionary War in 1776 (including at the Siege of Yorktown), and lived in Virginia before settling on Carr Creek in what is now Knott County, Kentucky, with his family. When he drowned in 1818,[11] his family moved back to Virginia except his son Alexander Crockett Ritchie Sr. (1778–1878), Jean Ritchie's great-great-grandfather.[21]

Most of the Ritchies later fought on the Confederate side in the Civil War, including Jean's paternal grandfather Justice Austin Ritchie (1834–1899), who was 2nd Lieutenant of Company C of the 13th Kentucky Confederate Cavalry.[22]

Alan Lomax wrote that:

They were quiet, thoughtful folks, who went in for ballads, big families and educating their children. Jean's grandmother was a prime mover in the Old Regular Baptist Church, and all the traditional hymn tunes came from her. Jean's Uncle Jason was a lawyer, who remembers the big ballads like "Lord Barnard". Jean's father taught school, printed a newspaper, fitted specs, farmed and sent ten of his fourteen children to college.[23]

Her "uncle" Jason (1860–1959), who was actually her father's cousin,[24] practiced law while owning a farm in Talcum, Knott County, Kentucky.[11] He was the source of several of Jean Ritchie's songs and Cecil Sharp narrowly missed meeting him in 1917, stating in his diary that "they couldn't get hold of him".[24]

Early life

[edit]
The Cumberland Mountains

As the youngest of 14 siblings,[1] Ritchie was one of ten girls who slept in one room of the farming family's farm house. Ritchie and her family sang for entertainment, but also to accompany their manual work. When the family gathered to sing songs, they chose from a repertoire of over 300 songs including hymns, old ballads, and popular songs by composers such as Stephen Foster, which were mostly learnt orally and sung unaccompanied.[6] The Ritchies would sing improvised harmonies to accompany some of their songs, including "Pretty Saro".[25]

Ritchie graduated from high school in Viper and enrolled in Cumberland Junior College (now a four-year University of the Cumberlands) in Williamsburg, Kentucky,[6] and from there graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in social work from the University of Kentucky in Lexington in 1946.[1] At college she participated in the glee club and choir as well as learning the piano.[26] According to Ritchie, Maud Karpeles later said "[Ritchie] cannot be termed a folksinger, because she has been to college," which she took as a compliment.[27]

During World War II, she taught in an elementary school.[28] Meanwhile, in 1946, whilst still in Kentucky, Ritchie was recorded performing traditional songs with her sisters Edna, Kitty, and Pauline by Mary Elizabeth Barnicle[29][24] and by Artus Moser.[30]

New York

[edit]
Alan Lomax

After graduating she got a job as a social worker at the Henry Street Settlement in New York, where she taught her Appalachian songs and traditions to local children.[6] This caught the attention of folk singers, scholars, and enthusiasts based in New York, and she befriended Woody Guthrie, Oscar Brand, Pete Seeger, and Alan Lomax.[24] To many, Ritchie represented the ideal traditional musician, due to her rural upbringing, dulcimer playing, and the fact her songs came from within her family.[6]

In 1948, Ritchie shared a stage with The Weavers, Woody Guthrie, and Betty Sanders at the Spring Fever Hootenanny.[31] By October 1949, she was a regular guest on Oscar Brand's Folksong Festival radio show on WNYC.[24]

Ritchie playing the dulcimer in 1950, photo from the Library of Congress

In 1949 and 1950, she recorded several hours of songs, stories, and oral history for Lomax in New York City.[32] All of Lomax's recordings of Ritchie are available online courtesy of the Lomax Digital Archive.[33] She was recorded extensively for the Library of Congress in 1951.

By 1951, Ritchie became a full-time singer, folksong collector, and songwriter.[24] Elektra records signed her and she released her first album of family songs, Singing the Traditional Songs of Her Kentucky Mountain Family (1952),[4] which included family versions of such songs as "Gypsum Davy", "The Cuckoo", and "The Little Devils", a song which had particularly fascinated Cecil Sharp when he heard it from Una and Sabrina Ritchie in 1917.[24]

The Fulbright expedition

[edit]
Elizabeth Cronin

In 1952, Ritchie was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to trace the links between American ballads and the songs from England, Scotland, and Ireland.[34] As a song-collector, she began by setting down the 300 songs that she already knew from her mother's knee.[6] Ritchie and her husband, George Pickow, then spent 18 months tape recording, interviewing and photographing singers,[34] including Elizabeth Cronin,[4] Tommy and Sarah Makem,[24] Leo Rowsome,[24] and Seamus Ennis in Ireland;[34] Jeannie Robertson[4] and Jimmy MacBeath in Scotland; and Harry Cox and Bob Roberts in England.[24] When people asked what sort of songs they were looking for, Ritchie would sometimes ask them if they knew Barbara Allen and sing a few verses for them.[35] In 1954, Ritchie released some of the British and Irish recordings on the album Field Trip, side by side with Ritchie family versions of the same songs.[4] A broader selection was issued by Folkways on the two LPs Field Trip–England (1959) and As I Roved Out (Field Trip–Ireland) (1960).[24] Some transcriptions and photographs were later published in Ritchie's book From Fair to Fair: Folksongs of the British Isles (1966).[24]

While in Britain, Ritchie sang at concerts for the English Folk Dance and Song Society, including its annual Royal Albert Hall festival, and presented several BBC radio programmes, appearing on The Ballad-Hunter which was presented by her friend Alan Lomax.[4][36] On one occasion, Maud Karpeles took Ritchie and Pickow to visit Ralph Vaughan Williams and his wife Ursula, for whom she sang "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies"; Pickow photographed the four of them together.[37]

Musical achievements

[edit]

In 1955, Ritchie wrote a book about her family called Singing Family of the Cumberlands.[38] The book documented the role of the family songs in everyday life, such as accompanying everyday tasks on the farm and in the home, or being sung when gathered on the porch in the evening to "sing the moon up." Singing Family of the Cumberlands is widely regarded as an American classic, and continues to be used in American schools.[4]

As well as work songs and ballads, Ritchie knew hymns from the "Old Regular Baptist" church[6] she attended in Jeff, Kentucky.[39] These were sung as "lining out" songs, in a lingering soulful way, including the song "Amazing Grace,"[40] which she helped popularize.[4] Family versions of "Amazing Grace" and the hymn "Brightest And Best" were released on the 1959 album Jean Ritchie Interviews Her Family, With Documentary Recordings.[41]

Ritchie directed and sang at the first Newport Folk Festival in 1959,[4][24] and served on the first folklore panel for the National Endowment for the Arts.[24]

Ritchie after a performance on April 26, 2008

Her album Ballads from Her Appalachian Family Tradition (1961) compiled many traditional Ritchie family versions of Child Ballads, including "False Sir John," "Hangman," "Lord Bateman," "Barbary Allen," "There Lived an Old Lord (Two Sisters)," "The Cherry-Tree Carol" and "Edward."[42]

Her traditional version of "My Dear Companion" (Roud 411) appeared on the album Trio recorded by Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, and Emmylou Harris.[43] Judy Collins recorded some of Ritchie's traditional songs, "Tender Ladies" and "Pretty Saro," and also used a photograph by George Pickow on the front of her album "Golden Apples of the Sun" (1962).

In 1963, Ritchie recorded an album with Doc Watson entitled Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson Live at Folk City (1963).[4] The traditional Appalachian song "Shady Grove" was popularized by Doc Watson after he most likely learnt it from Jean Ritchie, who in turn learned it from her father Balis Ritchie.[44]

As folk music became more popular in the 1960s, new political songs overshadowed the traditional ballads. Whilst Ritchie largely stuck to the traditional songs, she wrote and recorded Kentucky-themed songs with wider implications, such as the destruction of the environment by loggers and the strip-mining techniques of coal firms.[45] These songs included "Blue Diamond Mines," "Black Waters," and "The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore," which Johnny Cash covered[4] after he heard June Carter Cash sing it.[46] Ritchie had written numerous songs about mining under the pseudonym "'Than Hall," to avoid troubling her non-political mother, and believing they might be better received if attributed to a man.[47]

"Nottamun Town" (which Ritchie had learned from her uncle Jason and performed in 1954 on Kentucky Mountains Songs and in 1965 on A Time For Singin) was covered by Shirley Collins (1964), Bert Jansch (1966), and Fairport Convention (1969).[48] Bob Dylan used the tune for his 1963 song "Masters of War" on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.[49]

From her "uncle" Jason,[24] Ritchie had learned to alter tunes and lyrics from verse to verse and performance to performance, viewing elements of improvisation and variation as a natural part of traditional music. Her versions of family songs and original compositions vary slightly between performances, and she often created new songs by using bits of material from existing ones or adding newly composed verses to flesh out song fragments she recalled from her childhood.[6]

Her record None but One (1977), which won the 1977 critics' award in Rolling Stone, introduced her music to a younger audience[4] and secured her place in mainstream folk music.[6]

Her 50th anniversary album was Mountain Born (1995), which features her sons Peter and Jonathan.[50]

Ritchie was the subject of the 1996 documentary Mountain Born: The Jean Ritchie Story, which was produced by Kentucky Educational Television.[24]

The dulcimer revival

[edit]
Appalachian dulcimer

Ritchie is credited with bringing national and international attention to the Appalachian dulcimer as the main initiator of the "dulcimer revival."[6] Distinct from the hammer dulcimer, the Appalachian dulcimer (or "mountain dulcimer") is an intimate indoor instrument with a soft, ethereal sound, probably first played by Appalachian Scotch-Irish immigrants in the early half of the nineteenth century.[51] The Ritchies strummed their dulcimers with a goose-feather quill.[4]

Her father Balis (1869–1958) had played the Appalachian dulcimer but forbade his children to touch it. At age five or six, Ritchie defied this prohibition and covertly played the instrument. By the time Balis decided to teach her how to play, Jean was already accustomed to the instrument, so father labeled her as a "natural born musician".[6] By 1949, Jean's dulcimer playing had become a hallmark of her style. After Jean's husband George Pickow made her one as a present,[52] the couple decided there might be a potential market for them. Morris Pickow, Pickow's uncle, set up an instrument workshop for them under the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn.[24] At first, they were shipped to New York in an unfinished state by Ritchie's Kentucky relative, Jethro Amburgey, then back to the woodworking instructor at the Hindman Settlement School. George placed a finish and Jean tuned the dulcimers, and soon they had sold 300 dulcimers. Later, the couple manufactured the dulcimers from start to finish themselves.[24]

Ritchie's use of the dulcimer and her tutorial, The Dulcimer Book (1974), inspired folk revival musicians both in the US and Britain to record songs using the instrument.[4] Because fans kept asking her "Which album has the most dulcimer?", she finally recorded an album called The Most Dulcimer in 1984,[53] which included the dulcimer on every song.[54]

Personal life and death

[edit]
Ritchie in 2004

Ritchie was married to photographer George Pickow from 1950 until his death in 2010, with whom she had two sons, Peter (1954–) and Jonathan (1958–2020).[55] She lived in Baxter Estates, New York, and was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2008.[56][57][58]

In early December 2009, Ritchie was hospitalized after suffering a stroke which impaired her ability to communicate.[59] She recovered to some degree[60] then returned to her home in Berea, Kentucky.[6] A friend reported on her 90th birthday, "Jean has been living quietly in Berea for the last few years, in good spirits and well cared for by neighbors and family."[61] She died at home in Berea on June 1, 2015, aged 92.[62][63]

Discography

[edit]
  • Singing the Traditional Songs of Her Kentucky Mountain Family (1952)
  • Appalachian Folk Songs: Black-eyed Susie, Goin' to Boston, Lovin' Hanna (195–)
  • Kentucky Mountains Songs (1954)
  • Field Trip (1954)
  • Courting Songs (1954) (with Oscar Brand)
  • Shivaree (1955)
  • Songs from Kentucky (1956)
  • American Folk Tales and Songs (1956)
  • Saturday Night and Sunday Too (1956)
  • Children's Songs & Games from the Southern Mountains (1957)
  • Singing Family of the Cumberlands (1957)
  • The Ritchie Family of Kentucky (1959)
  • Riddle Me This (1959) (with Oscar Brand)
  • Carols for All Seasons (1959)
  • Field Trip – England (1959)[64]
  • British Traditional Ballads in the Southern Mountains, Vol. 1 Folkways (1960) (Child ballads)[65]
  • British Traditional Ballads in the Southern Mountains, Vol. 2 Folkways FA 2302 (1960) (Child ballads)[66]
  • As I Roved Out (Field Trip-Ireland) (1960)[67]
  • Ballads from Her Appalachian Family Tradition (1961)
  • Precious Memories (1962)[68]
  • The Appalachian Dulcimer: An Instructional Record (1964)[69]
  • Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson Live at Folk City (1963)
  • A Time For Singing (1965)
  • Marching Across the Green Grass & Other American Children's Game Songs (1968)[70]
  • Clear Waters Remembered (1974) Geordie 101 [71]
  • Jean Ritchie At Home (1974) Pacific Cascade Records LPL 7026 [71]
  • None But One (1977)
  • High Hills and Mountains (1979)
  • Sweet Rivers (1981) June Appal JA 037 (hymns)
  • Christmas Revels. Wassail! Wassail! (1982)
  • The Most Dulcimer (1984)[72]
  • O Love Is Teasin' (1985)
  • Kentucky Christmas, Old and New (1987)
  • Childhood Songs (1991)
  • Mountain Born (1995)
  • Legends of Old Time Music (2002, DVD)
  • Ballads (2003; vol. 1 and 2 above, issued on a single CD)[73]

With others

  • Roger Nicholson and Lorraine Hammond: An Exultation of Dulcimers (tracks 5, 11, and 13) (1980)
  • Mike Seeger: Third Annual Farewell Reunion (track 11) (1994)

Published works

[edit]
  • Ritchie, Jean (1955). Singing Family of the Cumberlands. Illustrated by Maurice Sendak. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8131-0186-6. LCCN 55005554. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  • Ritchie, Jean (1963). The Dulcimer Book; Being a Book about the Three-stringed Appalachian Dulcimer, Including Some Ways of Tuning and Playing; Some Recollections in its Local History in Perry and Knott Counties, Kentucky. New York: Oak Music. LCCN 63020754.
  • Ritchie, Jean (1965). Apple Seeds and Soda Straws. illustrated by Don Bolognese. New York: H.Z. Walck. LCCN 65013223.
  • Ritchie, Jean (1965/1997) Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians ISBN 978-0-8131-0927-5. The original 1965 edition was issued by Oak Publications, the 1997 expanded version by University Press of Kentucky. The task of transcribing Ritchie's sung music into musical notation was carried out (1965) by Melinda Zacuto and Jerry Silverman.
  • Jean Ritchie's Swapping Song Book ISBN 978-0-8131-0973-2
  • Jean Ritchie's Dulcimer People (1975)
  • Ritchie, Jean, ed. (1953). A Garland of Mountain Song; Songs from the Repertoire of the Ritchie family of Viper, Kentucky (New ed.). New York: Broadcast Music. LCCN m53001732.
  • Ritchie, Jean (1971). Celebration of Life: Her songs, Her poems. Port Washington: Geordie Music Publishing. ISBN 0-8256-9676-3.
  • Ritchie, Jean; Brumfield, Susan (2015). Jean Ritchie's Kentucky Mother Goose: Songs and Stories from My Childhood. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Books. ISBN 978-1-4950-0788-0.

Awards and honors

[edit]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Jean Ritchie

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Jean Ruth Ritchie (December 8, 1922 – June 1, 2015) was an American folk singer, songwriter, and player, widely recognized for preserving traditional ballads from her family's mountain heritage and earning the moniker "Mother of Folk." Born the youngest of 14 children in Viper, , Ritchie grew up in a community where unaccompanied singing of British-derived ballads like "Barbara Allen" formed a core part of daily life and family bonding. She learned the from her father and uncle as a young child, an instrument she later championed, producing instructional recordings and helping revive its popularity beyond regional folk circles during the 1950s and 1960s folk revival. Ritchie's career bridged traditional with broader audiences, as she recorded over 30 albums, authored books on folk songs and craftsmanship, and performed songs that influenced figures like , , and . Her authentic, style and commitment to unadorned renditions of emphasized the oral traditions of her upbringing, distinguishing her from more commercialized contemporaries. Married to photographer George Pickow, she donated archival materials to the Library of Congress's American Folklife Center, ensuring the documentation of Appalachian cultural practices for future generations. Despite suffering a in 2009, Ritchie continued to embody the enduring legacy of mountain music until her death at age 92 in .

Early Life in Appalachia

Family Background and Heritage

Jean Ritchie was born on December 8, 1922, in the rural community of Viper, , to Balis Ritchie, a farmer, and his wife , as the youngest of their fourteen children. The large family resided in a modest farmhouse, where the ten daughters, including Ritchie, shared a single room amid the demands of agrarian life. The Ritchies maintained a longstanding oral tradition of singing unaccompanied British-derived ballads and folk songs, inherited across generations in the isolated hollows of eastern Kentucky. Balis and Abigail led this practice, with parents and siblings performing the repertoire during everyday tasks like mining, weaving, and farming, fostering an environment where music served as both entertainment and cultural preservation. This heritage positioned the family as one of the notable "singing families" of Appalachia, emphasizing variants of Child ballads such as Barbara Allen and Lord Bateman that had evolved through transatlantic migration and regional adaptation. Ritchie's siblings—among them Una, Kitty, and Patty—contributed to this communal singing legacy, with some, like Kitty Ritchie Singleton, later recording family traditions in Viper. The absence of formal instruments in early family performances underscored a purist approach to vocal balladry, rooted in the Scotch-Irish settler influences that shaped County's cultural landscape.

Childhood Musical Education

Jean Ritchie, born on December 8, 1922, in Viper, , grew up as the youngest of 14 children in a family immersed in Appalachian oral traditions, where music formed an essential part of daily subsistence farming life in the . accompanied routine tasks such as washing dishes or working in the cornfields, as well as social gatherings, with family members harmonizing old ballads, Victorian parlor songs, and contemporary popular tunes passed down orally across generations. This informal environment, centered in a modest three-room home later expanded, provided Ritchie's primary musical education without structured lessons or external instruction, emphasizing communal participation over individual performance. Her repertoire developed through direct absorption from relatives, including and hymns that traced back to British roots preserved in the region, alongside play-party songs and humorous courting tunes led by family elders. Key influences included her father's cousin "Uncle Jason," a prolific repository of songs who specialized in lively group activities, and her sisters Una and Sabrina, who had performed traditional pieces for English collector in 1917. Ritchie's mother contributed a high, clear vocal style, while siblings added harmonies, fostering a collective tradition that prioritized preservation over innovation and exposed her to over 300 family-held songs encompassing love ballads, murder narratives, and religious hymns. Instrumental training began early and remained family-taught; Ritchie learned the Appalachian lap from her father, Balis Ritchie, initially experimenting secretly around age four or five before receiving guidance at seven. Her father played melodies using a noter and quill pick, techniques Ritchie adapted to render harmonic accompaniments rather than lead melodies, reflecting the 's traditional role in supporting vocals in household settings. An uncle also contributed to her proficiency, embedding the instrument within the broader oral framework where tunes from church services and kin gatherings reinforced melodic memory without reliance on notation. This hands-on, observational method, absent formal , aligned with Appalachian cultural norms that valued inherited knowledge over institutionalized training, shaping Ritchie's lifelong commitment to authentic transmission.

Entry into the Folk Revival

Move to New York and Settlement Work

In 1946, following her graduation from the with a in , Jean Ritchie relocated to to pursue employment in the field. She secured a position at the , a longstanding social service organization on Manhattan's dedicated to aiding immigrants, the urban poor, and children through educational and recreational programs. At Henry Street, Ritchie's role as a social worker emphasized , where she introduced local children to Appalachian folk traditions by singing ballads and songs from her family's repertoire, often accompanying herself on simple instruments or . This work leveraged her childhood immersion in oral from Viper, Kentucky, to foster cultural exchange and provide structured activities amid the settlement's broader mission of community upliftment. Her tenure there, though relatively brief, marked an early urban application of her heritage, bridging rural Appalachian customs with the diverse, working-class environment of postwar New York.

Initial Performances and Recordings

Ritchie's entry into public performance followed her relocation to New York City in the late 1940s, where she integrated into the burgeoning folk music scene through appearances at Greenwich Village coffeehouses and informal gatherings. By 1950, she had established herself as a notable presence, performing traditional Appalachian ballads that highlighted her family's inherited repertoire. These early shows often featured unaccompanied singing, drawing from oral traditions passed down in her Kentucky mountain home. In 1948, Ritchie shared a stage with the folk group during the height of New York's evolving folk revival, marking one of her initial documented live collaborations in the urban scene. She also contributed to radio broadcasts, including episodes of Oscar Brand's "Folk Festival of the Air" on , which exposed her music to wider audiences through live or recorded segments. Her first formal recordings occurred in May 1951 at the studios, under the supervision of archivist Herman Norwood, capturing several traditional songs from her repertoire as part of the of Folk Song collection (AFS 10089). This session preceded her commercial debut, preserving authentic renditions without instrumental accompaniment. The following year, in 1952, released her inaugural solo album, Jean Ritchie Singing the Traditional Songs of Her Mountain Family, a 10-inch LP that served as the label's first folk release and introduced her voice to broader markets. The album featured tracks like "Black Waters" and family ballads, emphasizing her role in documenting Appalachian heritage amid the commercial folk revival.

Core Contributions to Folk Music

Preservation of Traditional Ballads

Jean Ritchie actively preserved traditional ballads by recording and documenting the unaccompanied versions she inherited from her family's in the of . Born in 1922 as the youngest of 14 children to Balis and Sallie Ritchie, she absorbed a repertoire shaped by her ancestors' migration from and in the , learning songs directly from her father and uncle Jason Ritchie during daily activities like farming and . Her 1955 autobiography, Singing Family of the Cumberlands, serves as a key archival effort, embedding 42 family ballads—complete with and —within personal anecdotes of Appalachian life, such as singing to soothe infants or commemorate hardships. Published initially by a and later reissued by the University Press of in 1988, the book captures variants of ancient narrative songs, including murder tales and romances, without alteration to reflect commercial tastes. Ritchie's recordings furthered this preservation through performances that mirrored her upbringing's style, eschewing instrumental accompaniment to highlight vocal purity and regional inflections. Her 1952 album Jean Ritchie Singing the Traditional Songs of Her Mountain Family, released by Tradition Records, introduced urban audiences to raw family variants, while the 1961 Folkways release Ballads from Her Appalachian Family Tradition compiled 16 tracks of ballad adaptations, such as "False Sir John" ( 4), "Hangman" ( 95), and "Lord Bateman" ( 53), drawn exclusively from Ritchie kin sources. By performing these ballads in folk revival settings and contributing to institutional collections, including donations to the American Folklife Center, Ritchie ensured their transmission beyond isolated mountain communities, prioritizing fidelity to provenance over stylistic modernization.

Revival and Popularization of the Appalachian Dulcimer

Jean Ritchie learned to play the , also known as the mountain dulcimer, from her father in Viper, , beginning at age five by imitating his playing of tunes such as "Go Tell Aunt Rhody," despite his initial prohibition. She brought the instrument with her upon moving to in 1946, where it became integral to her performances amid the emerging folk revival scene. By 1950, the dulcimer had emerged as a hallmark of her style, distinguishing her contributions to urban folk audiences previously unfamiliar with the three-stringed, fretted instrument traditional to Appalachian communities. In the early 1950s, Ritchie and her husband, photographer George Pickow, established a workshop under the in , New York, where they handcrafted and sold s, distributing over 300 units in their first year of operation and thereby sparking widespread interest in the instrument beyond its regional origins. Her 1952 debut album for featured traditional songs accompanied by the , such as those from "Songs of the Mountains," introducing its teardrop-shaped sound and modal tunings to broader listeners. Performances, including recordings by for the in 1951 and appearances at the in 1966 and 1967, further amplified its visibility through live demonstrations and preserved audio. Ritchie's instructional efforts solidified the revival; her 1963 publication, The Dulcimer Book, provided detailed guidance on construction, tuning, and playing techniques, including original arrangements, enabling self-taught enthusiasts nationwide. This was followed by Jean Ritchie’s Dulcimer People in 1975, which chronicled the growing community of players and makers influenced by her work. Her recordings, exceeding 30 albums with 15 on , and festival teachings directly contributed to the instrument's national popularity, transforming it from an obscure Appalachian artifact into a staple of the American folk revival by the . Archives such as the Library of Congress's American Folklife Center preserve evidence of this shift, attributing to Ritchie the key role in expanding the dulcimer's use outside its stronghold in the southern mountains.

International and Scholarly Engagements

Fulbright Expedition to Britain

In 1952, Jean Ritchie received a Fulbright scholarship to investigate the British and Irish roots of Appalachian folk ballads, focusing on tracing the transatlantic transmission of songs preserved in her family's traditions. The award supported an 18-month expedition across , , , and , during which Ritchie sought empirical parallels between oral repertoires and American variants, emphasizing unaltered melodic and lyrical structures over romanticized interpretations. Accompanied by her husband, photographer George Pickow, Ritchie documented over 100 traditional singers through audio recordings and visual captures, prioritizing rural informants with direct lineage to pre-industrial balladry. Notable fieldwork included collaborations with English collector Peter Kennedy in , where they captured variants of like "Barbara Allen" from sources less influenced by 20th-century commercialization, and sessions with singers such as Elizabeth Cronin, whose unaccompanied renditions revealed modal affinities to Appalachian styles. This hands-on approach yielded raw field tapes that underscored causal links via migration patterns, rather than relying on secondary academic conjectures. The expedition's outputs included the 1954 Field Trip—England, compiling Ritchie's on-site recordings of British performers, which highlighted fidelity to source material without studio embellishments. These efforts reinforced Ritchie's in causal folkloric scholarship, demonstrating how 17th- and 18th-century British Isles emigrants carried intact repertoires to the Appalachians, preserved through geographic isolation. Later analyses of her archived materials at the affirmed the expedition's value in countering diluted revivalist narratives with verifiable oral evidence.

Folkloric Research and Transatlantic Connections

Ritchie's folkloric research during her 1952–1953 Fulbright fellowship focused on documenting traditional songs in , , and to trace the transatlantic migration of ballads preserved in her family's Appalachian repertoire. Accompanied by her husband George Pickow, who photographed performers, she recorded over 400 audio items, capturing unaccompanied singers, pipers, and fiddlers whose repertoires exhibited melodic and textual parallels to Kentucky variants of —narrative forms originating in medieval Britain and that evolved through oral transmission across the ocean. These efforts empirically demonstrated how isolation in Appalachian hollows conserved archaic elements, such as modal scales and stanzaic structures, often eroded in European urban settings by the . In Ireland, Ritchie targeted Ulster and Munster singers to map connections to American fiddle tunes and laments; notable recordings included Sarah Makem's renditions of "Bonny Portmore" and Seamus Ennis on uilleann pipes playing dance sets akin to Appalachian breakdowns. Elizabeth Cronin's Gaelic-inflected ballads, such as those shared with fiddler Johnny Hoare, revealed lyrical motifs—lost lovers, familial betrayals—mirroring Ritchie's family versions of "Barbara Allen" or "The Two Sisters," underscoring 18th-century Scots-Irish emigration as a causal vector for transmission. Scottish fieldwork yielded captures like Jeannie Robertson's "Bonny Lass o' Anglesey," a variant linking to Appalachian "The Bonnie Lass of Alabama," while Jimmy McBeath contributed bothy ballads evoking rural labor themes preserved in U.S. coal-mining songs. English collections, aided by scholars like Peter Kennedy, encompassed broadside ballads, children's rhymes, and instrumental traditions, including Northumbrian small pipes and hand-bell ringing, which Ritchie compared to dulcimer-accompanied hymns from her homeland. A excerpt and pipe-and-tabor dances highlighted ritualistic survivals analogous to Appalachian morris influences, reinforcing scholarly consensus on bidirectional exchange via colonial settlers. Her findings, cross-referenced with earlier collectors like —who noted Ritchie kin singing "The Farmer's Curst Wife" in 1917—illustrated unbroken lineages, with "" as a prime example of a fragmented English riddle-song retained intact in but fragmented in its origins. These transatlantic linkages informed Ritchie's publications, including Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians (1965), which annotated 72 family ballads with British/Irish cognates, and archival donations exceeding 15,000 photos and tapes to institutions like the and . Resulting releases—"" (1954), "–England" (1959), and "As I Roved Out" (1960)—disseminated raw field audio, enabling verification of oral variants and influencing subsequent ethnomusicological studies on diaspora preservation. By privileging direct recordings over secondary accounts, her methodology underscored causal realism in folk transmission: selective retention driven by cultural isolation rather than invention.

Later Career and Social Engagement

Original Songwriting on Environmental Realities

Jean Ritchie turned to original songwriting in the mid-20th century to document the environmental toll of industrial activities in , drawing from firsthand observations of her native Kentucky's landscapes. Her compositions emphasized the causal links between extractive practices like strip mining and ecological harm, including and , without romanticizing or abstracting the realities. These works departed from her preservation of traditional ballads by incorporating contemporary critique, often performed with her signature accompaniment. The most prominent example is "Black Waters," composed around 1968 in response to strip mining operations scarring hills near her Viper, , birthplace, which contaminated local streams with acidic runoff and . Lyrics depict once-clear waters turning "black" from mining waste, decrying the loss of fish, , and potable sources: "Now they're gone for a little while / And the hills stand naked to the sky / And the waters they run black as night." First released on her 1971 album None But One, the song galvanized anti-strip-mining activism, serving as a rallying point for campaigns against mountaintop removal by highlighting irreversible damage to watersheds and . Ritchie's "Now Is the Cool of the Day," written in the , addresses broader agrarian environmental shifts, mourning the displacement of family farms by and resource extraction while invoking of the land: "Now is the cool of the day / Time to slip away." Recorded on her 1977 album High Hills and Mountains, it underscores causal disruptions to rural ecosystems and human-nature bonds, influencing later repertoires. These songs reflect Ritchie's empirical grounding in regional data—such as documented incidents from operations—rather than generalized advocacy, prioritizing observable degradation over policy prescriptions. Her environmental themes extended to logging and coal-dependent economies, as in compositions critiquing deforestation's role in erosion and flooding, though less singularly focused than "Black Waters." Performed into the 2000s with family ensembles, these originals maintained fidelity to Appalachian causal realities, influencing folk activists without aligning to institutional environmental narratives prevalent in academia or media.

Teaching, Performances, and Institutional Roles

Ritchie maintained an active schedule of live performances throughout her career, appearing on radio and television broadcasts, in , and at folk festivals across the and abroad. She performed at the on multiple occasions, including in 1959 and 1966, where she played sets featuring her mountain dulcimer accompaniment to traditional ballads. Other notable appearances included a 1994 with her sister Edna Ritchie at the Seedtime on the Cumberland festival and a 1979 open-house event at the John C. Campbell Folk School. In her teaching efforts, Ritchie emphasized hands-on instruction in Appalachian music traditions, particularly the mountain dulcimer, which she helped revive through both performances and educational resources. She authored The Dulcimer Book (1971), an instructional guide that included techniques, tunings, and repertoire drawn from her family's traditions, accompanying it with recordings to aid learners. Ritchie led dulcimer workshops, such as a playing session documented at Appalachian State University, where participants learned her notefinger style of playing. Her early demonstrations of the instrument at the John C. Campbell Folk School in 1948 further exemplified her role in disseminating these skills to folk music enthusiasts. Ritchie's institutional engagements focused on preserving and promoting folk heritage. She served as a cultural activist, earning the National Endowment for the Arts' Bess Lomax Hawes National Heritage Fellowship in 2002 for her work as a master traditional artist who transmitted Appalachian songs and dulcimer techniques to younger generations. Ritchie contributed to archival efforts by donating materials to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and participated in the planning committee for Berea College's annual Celebration of Traditional Music, where she performed regularly to highlight regional aesthetics and counter negative stereotypes of Appalachian culture.

Personal Life

Marriage and Family Dynamics

Jean Ritchie married , filmmaker, and enthusiast George Pickow on June 2, 1950, in New York. The couple's partnership extended beyond personal life into professional collaboration, with Pickow documenting Ritchie's performances and travels through and , including accompanying her during the 1952–1953 Fulbright expedition to Britain where she researched British folk songs. Together, they co-founded the Greenhays recording label in the 1950s to release Ritchie's work and other , and Pickow crafted an for her, prompting the couple to explore commercial production of the instrument. The marriage produced two sons, Peter, born in 1954, and Jonathan, born in 1957; the family resided primarily in Port Washington, New York, during this period, balancing Ritchie's touring schedule with domestic life. Pickow's urban origins contrasted with Ritchie's rural Appalachian upbringing as the youngest of 14 children in a musical family from Viper, , yet their union facilitated transatlantic cultural exchanges and sustained Ritchie's career amid family responsibilities. In later years, after Pickow's death on February 10, 2010, Ritchie maintained close ties with her sons while returning to Kentucky, reflecting a lifelong dynamic of mutual support in preserving and promoting folk traditions.

Residences and Final Years

Ritchie spent her early years in the family homeplace in Viper, , a log cabin on Elk Branch that served as the birthplace for her and many siblings in a musical household of 14 children. After moving to in the late 1940s for work in social services and early performances, she established residences there and later in Port Washington on , where she lived with husband George Pickow from 1950 until his death on May 10, 2010. Following Pickow's passing, Ritchie relocated to , approximately 70 miles southeast of Viper, to be closer to family and roots. In Berea during her final years from 2010 onward, Ritchie resided quietly, focusing on rest after health challenges including a 2014 hospitalization from which she partially recovered. She marked her 90th birthday on December 8, 2012, in relative seclusion, with accounts noting her continued engagement with family amid declining public activity. Ritchie died at her Berea home on June 1, 2015, at age 92, surrounded by family including niece Judy Hudson.

Death and Immediate Legacy

Circumstances of Passing

Jean Ritchie died on June 1, 2015, at her home in , at the age of 92. She was surrounded by family members during her final moments. Prior to her death, Ritchie had endured a in 2009 that curtailed her performing career and prompted her return to from her longtime residence on , New York. No public records specify a direct medical cause for her passing, consistent with reports framing it as occurring peacefully at home after years of declining health.

Posthumous Tributes and Archival Donations

Following her death on June 1, 2015, at age 92 in , Jean Ritchie received widespread recognition for her preservation of Appalachian folk traditions. The Library of Congress's American Folklife Center described her as a "peerless traditional singer, , folklorist," emphasizing her role in donating materials that enriched their archive and her influence on scholarship. obituaries highlighted her as "The Mother of Folk," crediting her with popularizing music and traditional ballads from and through her recordings and performances. noted her emergence on the 1940s New York folk scene, where her family-sourced repertoire helped shape the revival, underscoring her authentic transmission of Anglo-American ballads. Tributes included personal remembrances from contemporaries; folk musician Dan Schatz, who co-produced the 2014 album Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie featuring , , , and , praised her songs for carrying transatlantic traditions. Appalachian author recalled her kindness and invitation to cultural events, framing her passing as a loss to regional heritage preservation. In 2024, Ritchie was posthumously inducted into the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame, recognizing her over 30 albums and seven books on as foundational to the genre's endurance. Ritchie's archival contributions centered on donations to the Library of Congress's American Folklife Center, forming the Jean Ritchie and George Pickow collection, which documents her recording career, lectures, folklore seminars, festivals, concerts, radio broadcasts, and life alongside her husband George Pickow's photography of folk artists and events. This collection preserves primary materials like audio recordings and visual documentation, supporting scholarly access to Appalachian oral traditions she championed. Her requested memorial donations in lieu of flowers to support such preservation efforts, aligning with her lifelong commitment to folkloric documentation.

Discography

Studio and Live Albums

Jean Ritchie's studio recordings emphasized authentic Appalachian folk traditions, featuring unaccompanied vocals or accompaniment on ballads passed down in her family, with releases spanning from the early folk revival era through independent labels she co-founded later in her career. These albums preserved variants of and original interpretations of mountain songs, avoiding heavy commercialization. Her live album output was limited, with notable performances captured in collaboration, such as the 1990 recording Jean Ritchie and at Folk City, documenting a joint appearance at the iconic New York venue emphasizing traditional duo interplay. The following table lists her principal solo studio albums chronologically:
TitleYearLabel
Singing the Traditional Songs of Her Mountain Family1952Tradition
Mountain Songs1954Elektra
Songs from 1959Riverside
Ballads from Her Appalachian Family Tradition1961Smithsonian Folkways
Precious Memories1962Smithsonian Folkways
None But One1977Greenhays
The Most 1992Greenhays
High Hills and Mountains1996Greenhays
These releases, drawn from verified discographies, reflect her commitment to oral tradition fidelity over stylistic innovation.

Compilations and Collaborations

Jean Ritchie participated in several collaborative recordings that highlighted her Appalachian folk traditions alongside other performers. One notable live album, Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson at Folk City, captured a 1963 performance at the venue Folk City, featuring Ritchie on dulcimer and vocals with guitarist performing traditional songs such as "Amazing Grace" and "Storms Are on the Ocean." The recording, released by , preserved the interplay of their family-derived styles before an urban audience during the folk revival. Another collaboration, Courtin's a Pleasure & Other Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians, paired Ritchie with banjoist Tom Paley and singer , compiling tracks from earlier mini-albums into a 1957 release on . This effort emphasized shared interpretations of Southern mountain tunes, reflecting the communal ethos of early folk collecting. A related live document, A Folk Concert in Town Hall (1956), included Ritchie alongside Brand and Paley, though it remains less widely reissued. Posthumous compilations have further showcased Ritchie's influence through covers by contemporaries. The 2014 double-CD Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie, released by Compass Records, features 37 tracks by performers including , Tim O'Brien, and rendering her originals and arrangements, serving as a to her legacy amid the folk community. also issued Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian Folkways (2009), compiling Ritchie's earlier solo and collaborative cuts into a emphasizing her work and balladry. These efforts underscore her role in bridging traditional sources with revival-era adaptations.

Published Works

Books on Folk Songs and Lore

Jean Ritchie authored several works documenting Appalachian folk songs and the cultural lore surrounding them, drawing directly from her family's oral traditions in the Cumberland Mountains of . These books preserve ballads, hymns, and play-party songs passed down through generations, often including contextual narratives, historical headnotes, and musical notations to aid performance and understanding. Her first major publication, Singing Family of the Cumberlands (1955), blends with , recounting the musical life of the Ritchie clan—fourteen children of Balis Ritchie, a local and —in rural Perry County. The narrative details daily life, family gatherings centered on singing, and the origins of specific songs, such as inherited from Scottish and English settlers, positioning the book as both a personal and a repository of Appalachian and lyrics. Originally published in 1955 and later reissued by the University Press of , it emphasizes the unaccompanied, communal nature of these traditions without commercial alteration. Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians as Sung by Jean Ritchie (originally compiled in 1965, with a 1997 edition by the University Press of ) compiles 81 songs from her family's repertoire, categorized into traditional ballads (including from ), lyric folksongs, play-party tunes, hymns, Native American-influenced pieces, "hant" (ghost) songs, and carols. Each entry features melodic line scores, guitar chords for accompaniment, and headnotes providing historical context and family-specific lore, supplemented by photographs and an updated audiography/videography listing Ritchie's recordings. The 1997 edition added four songs—"Loving Hannah," "Lovin' Henry," "Her Mantle So Green," and "The Reckless and Rambling Boy"—to the original 77, underscoring her role in authentic transmission rather than invention. In Jean Ritchie's Swapping Song Book (2000, University Press of Kentucky), Ritchie presents 21 selections from the region, encompassing , gospel hymns, frolic songs, and play-party tunes brought by early settlers. Accompanied by her original texts, illustrative photographs by her husband George Pickow, and explanatory stories—for instance, tales tied to like "Jubilee" and "Ground Hog"—the volume highlights the social functions of these pieces in community events, preserving cultural practices amid modernization. A foreword by folklorist Wolfe frames it as a snapshot of vanishing Appalachian heritage.

Songbooks and Autobiographical Writings

Jean Ritchie's primary autobiographical work, Singing Family of the Cumberlands, published in 1955, chronicles her childhood in the rural Appalachian community of Viper, , within a large family of fourteen children born to parents Balis and Abigail Ritchie. The book details the family's self-sufficient lifestyle, marked by hardships, homemade music-making, and the oral transmission of British-derived ballads, emphasizing how singing served as both entertainment and cultural preservation amid economic isolation. Ritchie portrays her upbringing as rooted in communal and uncommercialized folk traditions, without romanticizing but highlighting resilience through song. Her songbooks compile Appalachian folk materials, often with musical notations, lyrics, and contextual notes drawn from family repertoires. A Garland of Mountain Song, issued in 1953, collects traditional tunes performed by Ritchie, focusing on and play-party songs typical of mountain culture. Jean Ritchie's Swapping Song Book, originally published in 1952, features twenty-one songs from the , including settler-imported ballads and children's tunes, presented with simple arrangements to facilitate community "swapping" or exchange of oral traditions. The Dulcimer Book (1964) provides instructional content for the Appalachian dulcimer, including tuning methods, strumming techniques, and sixteen traditional songs with lyrics, aimed at beginners seeking to replicate mountain-style playing. Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians as Sung by Jean Ritchie (1965 edition, building on earlier compilations) transcribes her versions of regional ballads, underscoring authenticity over revivalist alterations and noting variations from British origins preserved in isolated communities. These works prioritize empirical transcription of lived traditions, countering urban folk revival tendencies toward commercialization by maintaining unadorned, source-based presentations.

Overall Impact and Assessment

Awards, Honors, and Recognitions

Jean Ritchie received the Critics Circle Award in 1977 for her album None But One, recognizing her distinctive contributions to recording. In 1998, she was honored with the Folk Alliance International Lifetime Achievement Award, acknowledging her enduring influence as a performer, songwriter, and preserver of Appalachian traditions. Ritchie's work in folkloric preservation earned her the ' National Heritage Fellowship in 2002, the highest U.S. honor for traditional arts mastery, specifically under the Bess Lomax Hawes designation for folklorists and advocates. Academic institutions also recognized her legacy through honorary degrees: a from the in 1983 and a from in 1992.

Influence on Folk Traditions and Criticisms of Revival Commercialization

Jean Ritchie's preservation efforts centered on authentic Appalachian ballads passed down orally in her family, which she documented and shared through performances and recordings starting in the 1940s, thereby sustaining traditions from the region of . She played a pivotal role in reviving the , a fretted integral to mountain music, by incorporating it into her folk revival appearances from 1948 onward and releasing instructional materials that encouraged its adoption beyond isolated communities. Her 1952 debut album for featured dulcimer-accompanied songs like "Shady Grove," contributing to sales of over 300 instruments in the initial years of renewed interest and establishing the dulcimer as a symbol of Appalachian heritage in urban folk circles. Ritchie's compositions, such as "Black Waters" released in 1971, extended her influence by integrating traditional forms with commentary on strip mining's environmental impact in , drawing from firsthand observations of industrialization's effects on folkways and landscapes. This work inspired covers and adaptations by artists including , , , and during the 1960s folk boom, embedding Appalachian modalities into broader American songcraft while underscoring the causal links between cultural erosion and economic exploitation. Amid the folk revival's commercialization in the –, which saw traditional material repackaged for mass audiences via polished arrangements and urban interpretations, Ritchie advocated for unmediated transmission of songs, critiquing adaptations that prioritized market appeal over to source variants. Her performances and writings emphasized the communal, non-commercial origins of ballads—evolving through family and community practice rather than studio enhancement—positioning her as a to the era's "interpreters" who diluted rural idioms for commercial viability. By maintaining sparse and unaltered , Ritchie highlighted how revival often severed from its causal roots in agrarian life, fostering a legacy of authenticity that persisted beyond the boom's decline into less commercialized traditionalist circles.

References

  1. https://womenshistory.si.edu/blog/mother-folk-jean-ritchie-was-born-100-years-ago-today
  2. https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2015/06/jean-ritchie-1922-2015/
  3. https://education.ket.org/resources/mountain-born-jean-ritchie-story/
  4. https://folkways.si.edu/jean-ritchie/the-appalachian-dulcimer-an-instructional-record/music-instruction/music/album/smithsonian
  5. https://www.americanbluesscene.com/2024/02/the-folk-americana-roots-hall-of-fame-inductees-jean-ritchie/
  6. https://www.npr.org/2015/06/02/411533533/jean-ritchie-singer-known-as-the-mother-of-folk-dies-at-92
  7. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/ritchie-jean
  8. https://www.kentuckypress.com/9780813101866/singing-family-of-the-cumberlands/
  9. https://www.folkschool.org/2015/06/09/remembering-jean-ritchie/
  10. https://folkways.si.edu/jean-ritchie/ballads-from-her-appalachian-family-tradition/american-folk/music/album/smithsonian
  11. https://www.carnegiecenterlex.org/hall-of-fame/jean-ritchie/
  12. https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/jean-ritchie
  13. https://folkways.si.edu/smithsonian-folkways-remembers-jean-ritchie-1922-2015/article/smithsonian
  14. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/arts/music/jean-ritchie-who-revived-appalachian-folk-songs-dies-at-92.html
  15. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jun/03/jean-ritchie
  16. https://www.alternatemusicpress.com/features/jeanritchie.html
  17. https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/story/remembering-jean-ritchie-hobos-lullaby
  18. https://www.limusichalloffame.org/inductees/jean-ritchie/
  19. https://folkworks.org/folkworks-column-jean-ritchies-ballads/
  20. https://archive.org/details/singingfamilyofc0000ritc
  21. https://www.discogs.com/release/4195328-Jean-Ritchie-Jean-Ritchie-Singing-The-Traditional-Songs-Of-Her-Kentucky-Mountain-Family
  22. https://sandiegotroubadour.com/jean-ritchie-damsel-with-a-dulcimer/
  23. https://www.cowneck.org/jean-ritchie
  24. https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_1822742
  25. https://archive.org/details/dulcimerbook0000jean
  26. https://folkways.si.edu/field-trip-england/celtic-world/music/album/smithsonian
  27. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af016008.3
  28. https://folkworks.org/field-trip/
  29. https://folkways.si.edu/as-i-roved-out-field-trip-ireland/celtic-world/music/album/smithsonian
  30. https://bereaarchives.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/503
  31. https://aftercoal.com/music-monday-black-waters/
  32. https://appvoices.org/2015/06/02/a-remembrance-of-jean-ritchie/
  33. https://folkworks.org/jean-ritchie-the-mother-of-folk-music/
  34. https://www.ecspublishing.com/now-is-the-cool-of-the-day.html
  35. https://ket.org/muse/jean-ritchie/
  36. https://bluegrasstoday.com/jean-ritchie-remembered/
  37. https://www.katemacleod.com/jeanritchie
  38. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1pZm1Lj0wo
  39. https://dulcimerjambalaya.org/2015/06/30/a-tribute-to-jean-ritchie-mountain-dulcimer-legend/
  40. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283902778_In_Memoriam_Jean_Ritchie
  41. https://obits.columbian.com/us/obituaries/columbian/name/jean-ritchie-obituary?pid=174992477
  42. https://carnegiecenterlex.org/hall-of-fame/jean-ritchie/
  43. https://www.thestoryweb.com/ritchie/
  44. https://nkytribune.com/2015/06/silas-house-remembering-jean-ritchie-an-america-treasure-appalachian-hero/
  45. https://obits.mlive.com/us/obituaries/saginaw/name/jean-ritchie-obituary?pid=174992477
  46. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/jean-ritchie-dies/
  47. https://www.facebook.com/americanfolklifecenter/posts/were-very-sad-to-pass-on-the-news-of-the-death-of-jean-ritchie-on-monday-june-1-/10153337058444723/
  48. https://open.spotify.com/artist/7cWhIVoEYJd0oWnxULFt8s
  49. https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/jean-ritchie
  50. https://folkways.si.edu/jean-ritchie-and-doc-watson-at-folk-city/american-folk-old-time/music/album/smithsonian
  51. https://www.discogs.com/release/4762140-Jean-Ritchie-And-Doc-Watson-Jean-Ritchie-And-Doc-Watson-At-Folk-City
  52. https://www.discogs.com/release/3430640-Jean-Ritchie-Oscar-Brand-And-Tom-Paley-Courtins-A-Pleasure
  53. https://www.discogs.com/master/608044-Jean-Ritchie-And-Doc-Watson-Jean-Ritchie-And-Doc-Watson-At-Folk-City
  54. https://www.discogs.com/release/14474236-Various-Dear-Jean-Artists-Celebrate-Jean-Ritchie
  55. https://www.kentuckypress.com/9780813109275/folk-songs-of-the-southern-appalachians-as-sung-by-jean-ritchie/
  56. https://www.kentuckypress.com/9780813109732/jean-ritchies-swapping-song-book/
  57. https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/jean-ritchie/333311/
  58. https://archive.org/details/jeanritchiesswap0000ritc
  59. https://folkcraft.com/products/jean-ritchie-dulcimer-book-1302784
  60. https://books.google.com/books?id=7zF6mDo_GJgC
  61. https://www.wnyc.org/story/folk-music-revivalist-jean-ritchie-dies/
  62. https://www.arts.gov/news/press-releases/2015/statement-death-2002-nea-national-heritage-fellow-jean-ritchie
  63. https://www.ukalumni.net/jeanpickow
  64. https://libraryguides.berea.edu/honorarydegrees
  65. https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/24/archives/jean-ritchie-scans-folksong-history.html
  66. https://tcdjournalofhistories.com/vol-iv/f/politics-youth-and-commercialisation-in-the-folk-revival
  67. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/596047
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.