Or walking along roads and going to each other's houses and having parties. We sang when we were around the house doing dishes or out in the cornfield. Growing up we just used music all the time without realizing it. RITCHIE: We never realized how important it was until we scattered and got away from each other and began to hear other kinds of music. Could you talk about that and growing up with music? NEA: I know that music has always been important to the Ritchie family. But I never thought I would be considered. I've worked in the field all my life and I've written many many letters of recommendation for other people. RITCHIE: When Barry Bergey told me the news, I just sat silent for a while. NEA: What was your reaction when you found out? NEA: I want to congratulate you on your award. By sharing her music as well as her commitment and strong ties to her Appalachian home with audiences around the nation and around the world, Jean Ritchie has come to define and embody the dual concepts of ambassador and steward of tradition. She also became known as an insightful songwriter, penning such classics as Blue Diamond Mines, Black Waters, and The L & N Don't Stop Here Anymore, about life in eastern Kentucky coal country. Her many recordings and appearances at major folk festivals, including the early Newport Folk Festivals, cultivated a revival of interest in Appalachian music and culture.
In 1955, her first book, Singing Family of the Cumberlands, was hailed as an American classic. By 1952, she was traveling on a Fulbright Fellowship to trace and document the roots of her heritage in the British Isles.
During this time, Alan Lomax encountered her, recorded her songs and lap dulcimer playing for the Library of Congress, and arranged her first formal concert at Columbia University. Her first job was with the Henry Street Settlement on New York's Lower East Side, where she taught Kentucky songs, ballads, and singing games to children.
The youngest of 14 children, she studied at Viper High School and Cumberland College, before going on to the University of Kentucky where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in social work. She was born into a singing family in Viper, Kentucky, in the Cumberland Mountains of the eastern part of the state. Jean Ritchie, the recipient of the Bess Lomax Hawes National Heritage Fellowship, is a significant musician and songwriter, as well as a cultural activist and chronicler of her home region.
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