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Kentucky Mother Goose: Songs and Stories from My Childhood by
Jean Ritchie's Kentucky Mother Goose is a collection of songs, rhymes and stories recalled by Jean from her own childhood. The youngest of 14 children in a singing family from Viper, Kentucky, she grew up surrounded by the ballads, hymns, play-party songs, singing games and dulcimer tunes that comprised the Ritchie Family repertoire. Her 1955 book, Singing Family of the Cumberlands , portrays the rich musical life of the Ritchies: Jean's mother, Abigail; her father, Balis, who taught her the dulcimer; "Uncle Jason" a prolific collector of "big ballads" and songs; and her older siblings. Now in her 90s, Jean has returned to the earliest recollections of her songs, and the stories that surround them. In the foreword for Susan Brumfield's Hot Peas and Barley-O: Children's Songs and Games from Scotland , Jean wrote, "The next thing I'm inspired to do is to recollect and write down all my memories of our childhood songs and games. Perhaps all of you will do the same." That was the first step toward this collaboration on Jean Ritchie's Kentucky Mother Goose . The anthology contains transcriptions of the songs sung by Jean on the enclosed CD, annotations and notes on the songs, and related stories. The recordings include Jean singing for famed collector Alan Lomax in the 1940s and '50s and for Brumfield in the 2000s. Richly illustrated with family photos from Jean's childhood, and photos by her husband, photographer and filmmaker George Pickow, this book is a fascinating window into the musical beginnings of a true American treasure.
ISBN: 9781495007880Publication Date: 2015-10-01
Appalachian Folk Tales by
Folk Tales delighted and instructed children five hundred years ago. We believe that they can still delight and inform the children of today. Some tales were "collected by a pioneering folklorist, Leonard W. Roberts, who gathered a great body of tales mostly from the Appalachian third of Kentucky ... Several others are from James Taylor Adams, who collected tales from his family and neighbors for the Virginia Writers Project ... These tales are included ... [from the James Taylor Adams collection] of the John Cook Wyllie Library of the University of Virginia's College at Wise."--Page 7-8. Contents: Ezell and the black-speckled gizzard stone / by Aileen Kilgore Henderson -- Raglif Jaglif Tetartlif Pole / by Leonard W. Roberts -- The three gold nuts / by James Taylor Adams -- Ashpet's dreams / by Brenda Gough -- Little Esmond / by Patty Reese -- Nail soup / by Bob Rennick -- The boy who wanted gold / by James Taylor Adams -- Cheese and quackers / by Anne Shelby -- Mutsmeg / by Loyal Jones -- Robin Hood, mountain man / by James Taylor Adams -- Jack goes a-hunting / by Loyal Jones -- Through thick and thin / by James Taylor Adams.
Publication Date: 2010
