Jean Ritchie: Ballads from her Appalachian Family Tradition

Jean Ritchie is a national treasure, one of America's finest and best known traditional singers. She grew up in Viper, Kentucky, and is part of a large family, the famous "Singing Ritchies of Kentucky." The ballads on this recording are outstanding Appalachian versions of the "Child ballads," English and Scottish narrative songs collected and published by scholar Francis James Child in the late 19th century. The songs tell of true and lost love, jealousy, treachery, grief, death, and the supernatural. This reissue of her landmark Folkways recordings British Traditional Ballads in the Southern Mountains brings her clear, pure voice and timeless songs to new generations of listeners.

Track Listing

101	Gypsy Laddie Jean Ritchie	02:50
102	False Sir John Jean Ritchie	04:21
103	Hangman Jean Ritchie	02:00
104	Lord Bateman Jean Ritchie	06:05
105	The House Carpenter Jean Ritchie	04:22
106	Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender Jean Ritchie	05:30
107	The Merry Golden Tree Jean Ritchie	02:12
108	Old Bangum Jean Ritchie	01:56
109	Barbary Allen Jean Ritchie	05:04
110	The Unquiet Grave Jean Ritchie	04:00
111	Sweet William and Lady Margaret Jean Ritchie	06:53
112	There Lived an Old Lord Jean Ritchie	05:29
113	Cherry Tree Carol Jean Ritchie	03:48
114	Edward Jean Ritchie	02:35
115	Lord Randall Jean Ritchie	02:54
116	Little Musgrave Jean Ritchie	12:02