Listen Live on KKFI
Every Sunday at 2:00amAbout the Show
Pacifica Radio Archives’ “From the Vault”
Each week the Pacifica Radio Archives chooses a program "From the Vault" of broadcasts in a half-hour program.
On This week’s From The Vault we celebrate the life of Jean Ritchie an American Folk Treasure who died June 1, 2015.
Born in Viper Kentucky on December 8th, 1922, Jean was the youngest of 14 children who became known as the Singing Ritchies of Kentucky.
Jean would pack her bags and move to the big city.. New York City in 1947 as a social worker. While working she would teach traditional songs she knew to the children. Word of her music playing came to the attention of Alan Lomax, who would record her for the Library of Congress.
Jean Ritchie could sing acapella or play with the mountain dulcimer and autoharp. In the late 1950 s and early 1960’s Folk was all the rage and she performed alongside names such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk and all the Folk masters of New York and beyond.
Jean Ritchie not only popularized the Appalachian folk tradition, she also raised awareness of the hazards of strip mining and coal mining in her beloved mountains of Kentucky.
In this 1978 interview on Pacifica Station WBAI in New York City, Jean Ritchie sat down to sing and chat with Pacifica Producer Lynn Schoenfeld about Ritchie’s music, family and life in her home town.
