Selected Bibliography

Books by Jean Ritchie

Apple Seeds and Soda Straws: Love Charms and Legends Written Down for Young and Old. New York: H.Z. Walck, 1965.

Celebration of Life. Port Washington, NY: Geordie Music Publishing, 1971.

The Dulcimer Book. New York: Oak Publications, 1963.

Dulcimer People. New York: Oak Publications, 1975.

Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians as Sung by Jean Ritchie. New York: Oak Publications, 1965.

From Fair to Fair. New York: H.Z. Walk, 1966.

Garland of Mountain Songs. New York: Broadcast Music, 1953.

Singing Family of the Cumberlands. New York: Oxford University Press, 1955; reprint, Oak Publications, 1963; reprint, Geordie Music Publishing, 1980; reprint, Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1988.

The Swapping Song Book. New York: Oak Publications, 1965.

Traditional Mountain Dulcimer. New York: Homespun Tapes, 1984.

Articles by Jean Ritchie

“A Dulcimer Round from Jean Ritchie.” Sing Out! 25/2 (1976): 20-21.

“Jean Ritchie’s Junaluska Keynote: Now Is the Cool of the Day.” Mountain Life and Work 46/5 (1970): 3-8.

“Living Is Collecting: Growing Up in a Southern Appalachian ‘Folk’ Family.” In An Appalachian Symposium: Essays Written in Honor of Cratis D. Williams, edited by J.W. Williamson. 188-98. Boone, NC: Appalachian State University Press, 1977.

“Yonder Comes My Beau.” Ladies Home Journal 72 (April 1955): 54, 127-29.

Other Articles and Books of Interest

Baker, Edna Ritchie. “Memories of Musical Moments.” Appalachian Heritage 5/3 (1977): 59-64.

“Folksongs for Singing: ‘Pretty Little Pink.’” Mountain Life and Work 26/3 (1950): 13-14.

“The Singing Ritchies.” Mountain Life and Work 29/3 (1953): 6-10.

Bluestein, Gene. Poplore: Folk and Pop in American Culture. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1994.

Botkin, B.A. The American Play-Party Song. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1963.

Brand, Oscar. The Ballad Mongers: Rise of the Modern Folksong. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1962.

Brewer, Mary T. “A Golden Memory.” Mountain Life and Work 40/2 (1964): 21-25.

Carter-Schwendler, Karen L. Traditional Background, Contemporary Context: The Music and Activities of Jean Ritchie to 1977. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Kentucky, 1995.

Caudill, Harry M. Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1963.

Eller, Ronald. Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1989.

Jones, Loyal. “Jean Ritchie: Twenty-Five Years After.” Appalachian Journal VIII (1981): 224-229.

The Newport Folk Festival Songbook. New York: Alfred Music Company, 1965. Introduction by Jean Ritchie.

Rosenberg, Neil V., editor. Transforming Tradition: Folk Music Revivals Examined. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993.

Smith, L. Allen. A Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers, with a Foreword by Jean Ritchie. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1983.

Whisnant, David. All That Is Native and Fine: The Politics of Culture in an American Region. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1983.

Web Resources

The Folk Music Home Page has information about many other folk and traditional musicians.

Text compiled by Karen L. Carter-Schwendler. Photo by George Pickow.

Introduction * Jean Ritchie * Timeline * Discography * Appalachian Music * Activities * Program Song List