Folklife Books

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Folk Songs of the Southern Appalchians - Jean Ritchie

Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians, originally published by Oak Publications has been re-issued by the University of Kentucky Press. It contains 81 songs, ballads, play party games, work songs, and hymns from the singing of the Ritchie family of Perry County, Kentucky, including four that are newly added for the second edition. For each song there is a brief history telling how it came into the family repertoire.

In addition to the original foreword by folklorist Alan Lomax, there is a foreword to the second edition by Ron Pen, Professor of Music and Appalachian Studies, University of Kentucky. This edition also contains an audiography and videography for those interested in obtaining recorded versions of the songs.

Singing Family of the Cumberlands - Jean Ritchie

Jean's account of growing up in her large family in the mountains of Kentucky, with some of the family songs, is now available in hardback (cloth) and paperback editions. This very special book has been in print since its first appearance in 1955, with Oxford University Press, and has been beloved by countless people of all ages since that time.

Selected Reviews:

"The remarkably gentle nature of the book seems more remarkable when one considers its locale - the stern, rugged Cumberland Mountains...Seen through the gracious prose of Jean Ritchie, however, the cruel, forbidding mountains become kindly shields against the bustling outside world." - The Saturday Review of Literature

"This book is a treasure of the stories, language and songs of Balis and Abigail Ritchie, their 14 children, and numerous kinfolks who live in and around the village of Viper Kentuc ky. The 42 songs (themselves worth the price of the book) form a pleasant assortment of English, Irish, and Scottish ballads and songs...The words and tumes for all the songs have been set down simply and with faithfulness to the folk tradition." - The New York Times Book Review

Jean Ritchie's Swapping Song Book

Jean’s Swapping Song Book brings together twenty-one songs from the Cumberland Moutains of Kentucky. Many are old songs, brought over by settlers from Scotland, Ireland, and England. Child ballads, gospel music, play party tunes, and frolic songs have been handed down by family members, with each geration adding or embellishing verses and melodies.

This new edition retains the original text, written by Ritchie, and includes her husband George Pickow’s beautiful photographs to help illustrate the stories of such songs as "Jubilee," The Old Soap Gourd," and "Ground Hog." A new foreword by Charles Wolfe shows how Ritchie’s collection of songs is "part of the rich folk poetry" that makes Appalachian culture.

The Dulcimer Book - Jean Ritchie

A clear instruction method on how to tune and play the dulcimer. Includes the words and music of 16 traditional songs such as Go Tell Aunt Rhodie, Old Joe Clark, and Pretty Polly, plus tuning instructions for six modes. Chapters on playing countermelody, fingerpicking, singing with the dulcimer, and much more. Fascinating historical notes, rare photographs, discography and bibliography are included.

Celebration of Life - Jean Ritchie (Temporarily out of print)

Jean Ritchie's collection of music and poetry, liberally illustrated with her husband George Pickow's fine photographs, offers a rare insight into the life of the mountain people. Over 75 songs, with chords for all instruments, including Blue Diamond Mines, The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore, West Virginia Mine Disaster, Black Waters, the High Hills and Mountains, Come Fare Away, The Holly Tree Carol, Still I love Him, and Now is the Cool of the Day. The 24 poems - observations penned from age fourteen to the present - combine with the songs and pictures to create a most moving representation of one life in its time and place.