The main purpose of this channel is to conserve and share authentic recordings of all kinds of traditional music, and to increase awareness and historical understanding. To support this goal, simply subscribe to this channel and explore what it has to offer. Below are several videos I have already uploaded which feature Jean Ritchie and Appalachian music: Jean Ritchie singing "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender" and "The Cuckoo" (1986): ua-cam.com/video/SCbNTbJKqMI/v-deo.html Jean Ritchie and her sister Edna singing “Four Marys” (1966): ua-cam.com/video/TMBqoeCTcQE/v-deo.html A video about the preservation of old British ballads in the Appalachian Mountains, featuring many Jean Ritchie recordings: ua-cam.com/video/mUGoWwGKwSA/v-deo.html A video which explains where the Appalachian music style comes from: ua-cam.com/video/WRIkXGlttyg/v-deo.html A playlist of rare Jean Ritchie recordings that I uploaded on my second channel: ua-cam.com/video/CWoX7JSkrX4/v-deo.html
I had the extreme privilege of knowing this dear woman. She was always kind, and quiet until she began to sing and tell the stories of her family and life in the mountains. I got to carry her 100+ year old lap dulcimer onto the stage at Kentucky Music Weekend just before her set.
Shady Grove must derive from "Matty Grove", a ballad probably originating in Northern England. Fairport Convention did a version of it with the great Sandy Denny singing. Worth checking out :)
I just found this channel and I'm overjoyed to have done so! I want to learn about these old tunes and how to sing and play them on the dulcimer and guitar and your channel is an incredible resource. Thank you!
Did anyone else tense up or flinch when he reached out and played her dulcimer's open strings @3:30? Maybe it's just me, but an instrument is both delicate materially and precious personally. One should always ask before touching a musician's instrument and be emotionally prepared to be denied permission. All that being said, these two individuals probably navigated all that before filming and I'm just being hypersensitive 😅
I got a little flustered trying to find out what Jean used her fret her dulcimer and ended up on this video after kinda giving up and figuring, "idk, some kind of stick" but she explains it in this video. Turkey feather and a bamboo stick, pretty sure she's playing it with the double melody string too.
Joan Baez and now Josh Turner (Josh Turner Guitar), so these great songs will still be sung and recorded long after today’s pop music is completely forgotten.
Love the video! But Could I suggest you make the writing on the side a bit easier to read? Finding it personally quite difficult to do so with the movement in the background
I assume the Germans brought the "dulcimer" when they came to Southern Appalachia via Virginia. The oldest known dulcimer maker I found was a German decedent in Kentucky in the 1800s. Dutch aren't Norwegians for one, and the dulcimer isn't popular in Pennsylvania like it is in eastern Kentucky and Tennessee.
That's probably correct, but the German and Norwegian dulcimers are related and the video I found of the Norwegian dulcimer was better than any I could find of the German dulcimer!
@The Folk Revival Project yeah it seems as though the Langeleik is still a popular folk instrument in Scandinavia. Interestingly, I haven't seen any native Germans play the dulcimer, and I also have never heard of a Dutch dulcimer or any historical reference to dulcimers in Pennsylvania. If you look at a map of Europe, the Dutch and Germans share a border, so it's likely they shared musical interests and styles over centuries. Norway is a little to far away to have the same influence as Germany on the Netherlands and furthermore, most of the Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century after the development of the Appalachian Dulcimer. In my opinion, the knowledge of dulcimer was likely brought to southern Appalachian via German immigrants. Btw I have a dulcimer that was pasted down from my grandfather to my father to me so the orgins of this instrument are dear to me. The older generations seem to have no memory of where or how the dulcimer got here.
Early German immigrants to PA had zither style instruments with them that may have evolved into the dulcimer, but the dulcimer itself does truly originate in Appalachia, whether with the Germans or with groups that adopted and adapted the parent instrument type
@seirbhíseach the dulcimer is a zither. The biggest difference with the Appalachian style is it's simpler in design and less droning strings. The German Scheitholtz is considered the forefather to the modern dulcimer. Its not entirely original. Conventional wisdom says the dulcimer came through PA but I haven't seen any historical evidence to back that up other than hear say. It appears to me that the Germans that went to Tennessee and Kentucky came through from Virginia. I haven't seen any footage or heard of anyone playing dulcimer in Pennsylvania in the 20th century. Which means it probably didn't happen in the 19th century, which would imply it never happened there.
@@connoryork6631 I can only speak for my father's family, who were originally Swiss German and came to America in the mid-1700s. They married first into the Mennonites in Pennsylvania, but moved down to Kentucky after the Whiskey Rebellion. Whether any of those emigrants played dulcimer, I don't know, but I do know that quite a few members of the family, including my great-grandfather, had dulcimers and knew how to play. So, no, not all Germans came through Virginia -- although it should be noted that the eastern part of Kentucky was, at that time, part of Virginia.
![Jean Ritchie sings "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender" and "The Cuckoo" (1986) [Rare live performance]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SCbNTbJKqMI/mqdefault.jpg)
![Jean Ritchie sings "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender" and "The Cuckoo" (1986) [Rare live performance]](/img/tr.png)
The main purpose of this channel is to conserve and share authentic recordings of all kinds of traditional music, and to increase awareness and historical understanding. To support this goal, simply subscribe to this channel and explore what it has to offer.
Below are several videos I have already uploaded which feature Jean Ritchie and Appalachian music:
Jean Ritchie singing "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender" and "The Cuckoo" (1986): ua-cam.com/video/SCbNTbJKqMI/v-deo.html
Jean Ritchie and her sister Edna singing “Four Marys” (1966):
ua-cam.com/video/TMBqoeCTcQE/v-deo.html
A video about the preservation of old British ballads in the Appalachian Mountains, featuring many Jean Ritchie recordings:
ua-cam.com/video/mUGoWwGKwSA/v-deo.html
A video which explains where the Appalachian music style comes from:
ua-cam.com/video/WRIkXGlttyg/v-deo.html
A playlist of rare Jean Ritchie recordings that I uploaded on my second channel:
ua-cam.com/video/CWoX7JSkrX4/v-deo.html
Thank you for conserving this rare video! Do you have a link to the original, unretouched version?
I had the extreme privilege of knowing this dear woman. She was always kind, and quiet until she began to sing and tell the stories of her family and life in the mountains. I got to carry her 100+ year old lap dulcimer onto the stage at Kentucky Music Weekend just before her set.
What a delightful story. Thank you for sharing!
She was from Hazard right?
I think it was somewhere small in Perry County! Maybe one of those little places around Hazard? @@kakashi392
Wow. Even Pete is flabbergasted by the strength and purity of her voice; the haunting of the old songs...
Find someone who looks at you the way Pete watches Jean's dulcimer.
When I was a teenager, I had the privilege of seeing Jean Ritchie in concert. My dad used to play her music, so this was a real treat.
Shady Grove must derive from "Matty Grove", a ballad probably originating in Northern England. Fairport Convention did a version of it with the great Sandy Denny singing. Worth checking out :)
That dulcimer is haunting!
It puts the simpler chords to shame!
Spectacular... beautiful woman... beautiful voice... BRAVO!
Oh, Jean, I love you so much.
I bought my Jean Ritchie alum Newtonmore, Spey Valley, Scotland
She was my 2nd cousin.
impeccable, especially connections with old traditions and seán-nós hehe
I just found this channel and I'm overjoyed to have done so! I want to learn about these old tunes and how to sing and play them on the dulcimer and guitar and your channel is an incredible resource. Thank you!
Absolute wonder, thank you for uploading this.
Dunno about the colourization, but this is sure precious and the sidenotes are great too!
The audio is great, though!
Precious. Thank you for uploading this to YT.
Amazing!
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing!
You're welcome. Thanks for watching!
really enjoyed this
Did anyone else tense up or flinch when he reached out and played her dulcimer's open strings @3:30? Maybe it's just me, but an instrument is both delicate materially and precious personally. One should always ask before touching a musician's instrument and be emotionally prepared to be denied permission. All that being said, these two individuals probably navigated all that before filming and I'm just being hypersensitive 😅
Since he is Pete Seeger (and his show), he is trusted.
Anyone else who isn’t an equal, as you say, shouldn’t touch.
I got a little flustered trying to find out what Jean used her fret her dulcimer and ended up on this video after kinda giving up and figuring, "idk, some kind of stick" but she explains it in this video. Turkey feather and a bamboo stick, pretty sure she's playing it with the double melody string too.
Matty Groves
Isn't that Pete Seeger???
Yes it is!
Garcia/Grisman/Rice. Nuff said.
Joan Baez and now Josh Turner (Josh Turner Guitar), so these great songs will still be sung and recorded long after today’s pop music is completely forgotten.
Love the video! But Could I suggest you make the writing on the side a bit easier to read? Finding it personally quite difficult to do so with the movement in the background
Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely take that into account when I make my next video.
What is she strumming with? A feather?🪶
i am forced to listen to this for school
Thoughts? How was the assignment?
One day it will worm its way back into your mind and you’ll find a beautiful world in this music.
I assume the Germans brought the "dulcimer" when they came to Southern Appalachia via Virginia. The oldest known dulcimer maker I found was a German decedent in Kentucky in the 1800s. Dutch aren't Norwegians for one, and the dulcimer isn't popular in Pennsylvania like it is in eastern Kentucky and Tennessee.
That's probably correct, but the German and Norwegian dulcimers are related and the video I found of the Norwegian dulcimer was better than any I could find of the German dulcimer!
@The Folk Revival Project yeah it seems as though the Langeleik is still a popular folk instrument in Scandinavia. Interestingly, I haven't seen any native Germans play the dulcimer, and I also have never heard of a Dutch dulcimer or any historical reference to dulcimers in Pennsylvania. If you look at a map of Europe, the Dutch and Germans share a border, so it's likely they shared musical interests and styles over centuries.
Norway is a little to far away to have the same influence as Germany on the Netherlands and furthermore, most of the Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century after the development of the Appalachian Dulcimer.
In my opinion, the knowledge of dulcimer was likely brought to southern Appalachian via German immigrants.
Btw I have a dulcimer that was pasted down from my grandfather to my father to me so the orgins of this instrument are dear to me. The older generations seem to have no memory of where or how the dulcimer got here.
Early German immigrants to PA had zither style instruments with them that may have evolved into the dulcimer, but the dulcimer itself does truly originate in Appalachia, whether with the Germans or with groups that adopted and adapted the parent instrument type
@seirbhíseach the dulcimer is a zither. The biggest difference with the Appalachian style is it's simpler in design and less droning strings. The German Scheitholtz is considered the forefather to the modern dulcimer. Its not entirely original.
Conventional wisdom says the dulcimer came through PA but I haven't seen any historical evidence to back that up other than hear say. It appears to me that the Germans that went to Tennessee and Kentucky came through from Virginia. I haven't seen any footage or heard of anyone playing dulcimer in Pennsylvania in the 20th century. Which means it probably didn't happen in the 19th century, which would imply it never happened there.
@@connoryork6631 I can only speak for my father's family, who were originally Swiss German and came to America in the mid-1700s. They married first into the Mennonites in Pennsylvania, but moved down to Kentucky after the Whiskey Rebellion. Whether any of those emigrants played dulcimer, I don't know, but I do know that quite a few members of the family, including my great-grandfather, had dulcimers and knew how to play. So, no, not all Germans came through Virginia -- although it should be noted that the eastern part of Kentucky was, at that time, part of Virginia.