SFC Presents: Author Talk with Kristina Gaddy

The Southern Folklife Collection and UNC University Libraries are excited to announce this forthcoming Author Talk featuring Kristina R. Gaddy, Thursday, November 16th from 7-8 EST.  This is a hybrid event which will be hosted in Pleasants Family Assembly Room at Wilson Special Collections Library here on UNC’s campus.

This in-person event is free and open to the public, no RSVP required; if you would like to join us virtually, register at go.unc.edu/gaddy.

Gaddy’s most recent book Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo’s Hidden History, of which you can read an excerpt here (On the Rich, Hidden History of the Banjo”), was named one of 2022’s Most Memorable Music Books by No Depression.  Gaddy is also the author of Flowers in the Gutter: The True Story of the Edelweiss Pirates, Teenagers Who Resisted the Nazis, and her writing has appeared in the Washington PostBaltimore Sun, and Atlas Obscura, among other publications.

We look forward to welcoming you to Wilson or online for this talk!

SFC Presents: Author Talk with Kim Ruehl – “A Singing Army: Zilphia Horton and the Highlander Folk School”

The Southern Folklife Collection and UNC University Libraries are excited to announce this forthcoming Author Talk featuring Kim Ruehl, Tuesday, April 18th from 12-1 EST.  Ruehl will be discussing her book  A Singing Army: Zilphia Horton and the Highlander FolkSchool, named one of NPR’s best books of 2021.

Register at go.unc.edu/Ruehl to join us for this free, virtual event.

You can read an excerpt from Ruehl’s book here, the first ever on Horton, in this piece on Country Queer: https://countryqueer.com/stories/article/book-excerpt-zilphia-horton-protest-song-pioneer/

Field Trip South has documented holdings and highlights from the Highlander Research and Education Center (#20361) many times over the years, and we invite you to explore these posts for some background on the center.

Early Protest Songs from the Highlander Research and Education Center

Phillip MacDonald’s Field Experience with the Highlander Research and Education Center Collection

The SFC is also proud to hold the Guy and Candie Carawan Collection (#20008).  In 1959, Guy Carawan succeeded Zilphia Horton as director of the music program at Highlander Folk School after Horton’s death in 1956, and both Guy and Candie were heavily involved in the School and Center.    Here are a couple of posts about their collection.

Documenting the origins of SNCC in the Guy and Candie Carawan Collection

In tribute to Guy Carawan

We look forward to seeing you on the 18th for this presentation and discussion on this pivotal figure in the Civil Rights movement, and learning more about her organizing and educating at the Highlander Folk Schoolgo.unc.edu/Ruehl

Highlander Research and Education Center Collection (20361) Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The collection includes acetate and transcription discs documenting the struggle for justice through political and social activism. Recordings of folk music, protest songs, labor songs, and African American religious songs were a large part of this movement and appear here. Acetate discs in the Highlander Collection consist of radio programs, recorded songs, and voices of leaders from the civil rights movement, including Esau Jenkins, Septima Clark, Rosa Parks, Myles Horton, and Zilphia Horton. Electrical transcription discs contain a variety of radio programs on issues related to the work at the Highlander Folk School. For more information about the Highlander Research and Education Center Collection #20361, see the finding aid, http://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/20361/ Myles Horton founded the Highlander Folk School in 1932 as an adult education institution based on the principle of empowerment. Horton and other School members worked towards mobilizing labor unions in the 1930s and Citizenship Schools during the civil rights movement beginning in the late 1950s. They worked with Martin Luther King, Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Guy and Candie Carawan, Septima Clark, and Rosa Parks, among others. In 1959, the School was investigated for Communist activities and confiscation by the state of Tennessee. Soon after, its buildings mysteriously burned to the ground. The Highlander Folk School was re-chartered in 1971 as the Highlander Research and Education Center near Knoxville, Tenn. Copyright Notice Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Introducing the Ray Alden Collection (70115)

The preliminary finding aid for the Ray Alden Collection (70115) is now available to view! It currently includes all analog audiovisual recordings. Photographs, papers and born digital materials are still being arranged and described.

Illustrated and collaged covers for 7" reel-to-reel tapes. Includes pictures of Bessie Jones, Byard Ray, Obray Ramsey and Doc Watson.
Alden’s decorative covers for reel-to-reel tapes. Photo by Aleah Howell.

The Ray Alden Collection includes over 800 analog field recordings, studio recordings and video recordings as well as papers, documentation, photographs and born-digital materials including over 500 CDs and DVDs. The recordings feature primarily white old-time musicians, with a heavy presence of the Round Peak region of North Carolina and Galax, Virginia from the 1960s through the early 2000s. It also includes many recordings and documentation of younger generation old-time and bluegrass musicians from the 1970s through the early 2000s including the Horseflies, the Plank Road String Band, the Chicken Chokers, The Red Mules, the Agents of Terra, Bruce Molsky, Breakfast Special and the Johnson Mountain Boys. As a part of the larger New York folk music community, Alden became involved with the Seegers’ Great Hudson River Revival festival and recorded many of the live performances from the traditional music stage at the festival.  These recordings feature a wide range of musical styles including blues, bluegrass, cajun, gospel, klezmer, son, old-time and more. Also included in this collection are recordings of live performances at New York City folk venues such as Izzy Young’s Folklore Center, Bernie Klay’s McBurney YMCA series and Loy Beaver’s home concerts. Other festivals appearing in the collection include the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Brandywine Mountain Music Convention, Galax Old Fiddlers Convention, Union Grove and the Berryville Bluegrass Festival.

Folklore Center Folk Festival brochure, Breakfast Special, Tommy Jarrell, Kyle Creed
Folklore Center schedule

Ray Alden grew up in an Italian-American household in New York City and was introduced to the banjo through Pete Seeger and the Weavers. Seeing Tommy Jarrell, Fred Cockerham and Oscar Jenkins perform and jam at a show at Loy Beaver’s house in 1967 piqued his interest in older styles of playing, and especially the Round Peak styles. The following year, Alden took his first field recording trip to the Union Grove fiddlers convention, and later to visit old-time musicians Fred Cockerham, Tommy Jarrell and Kyle Creed. That was the beginning of 40 years of field recording and music making. From 1968 to 2009, Alden recorded old-time musicians including Tommy Jarrell, Kyle Creed, Fred Cockerham, Earnest East, Rafe Brady, the Shelor family, the Kimble Family and Clyde Davenport. He also developed a unique banjo style, often sitting in with the musicians he recorded. He became a part of the younger generation of old-time musicians including Brad and Linda Leftwich, Bruce Molsky, Carol Elizabeth Jones, Gary Harrison, Paul Brown, James Leva, Jim Miller, Judy Hyman, Tara Nevins and others. Alden put the same time and care into documenting his peers as he did the older musicians. Many of these recordings resulted in the 1984 album “The Young Fogies”. When he wasn’t playing music or on a field recording trip, Alden taught high school math, designed speakers and painted mathematical-inspired pieces of art.

Original album artwork by Ray Alden for "the Young Fogies"
Original album artwork by Ray Alden for “The Young Fogies”.

Alden started the Field Recorders’ Collective in 2004 as an avenue for collectors such as himself to release recordings, make them accessible to younger generations of players and provide royalty payments to the families of the musicians. The Field Recorders’ Collective has released hundreds of recordings and continues to be an important resource for the old-time music community. This collection includes many of the original recordings that have been released by the FRC.

Recent Field Recorders Collective releases
Recent Field Recorders’ Collective releases

Since Alden’s passing in 2009, the Field Recorders’ Collective has remained strong, with multiple new releases every year. It is an important resource within the old-time music community, providing access to previously unheard recordings. It is unique in its community-centered approach and its emphasis on community knowledge and learning.  Some of the releases from the last few years feature music from Galax fiddler Luther Davis, Gaspésie fiddler Yvon Mimeault, West Virginia banjo player Walter Hensley, and Texas fiddler Teodar Jackson. The website includes articles and album notes related to releases and options to purchase digital copies or the physical CDs and DVDs. You can also stream or download the FRC catalog on bandcamp.  You can follow the FRC on instagram, twitter, facebook, and YouTube for updates on new releases and related videos, photos and audio clips.

Diane Alden pointing out a flyer for Fred Cockerham performance at the Ranch House Back Room in Chapel Hill, NC
Diane Alden pointing out a flyer during the collection pick up. Photo by Steve Weiss.

Some highlights from processing the collection, from a fiddler’s perspective.

 

SFC Presents: Author Talk with Deke Dickerson – “Sixteen Tons: The Merle Travis Story”

Promotional graphic for book talk with picture of author Deke Dickerson above a picture of performer Merle Travis

The Southern Folklife Collection and UNC University Libraries are thrilled to bring you this Author Talk featuring Deke Dickerson, this coming Wednesday, February 15, from 12-1 PM EST.  This virtual presentation and discussion is free to attend, and you can register in advance at go.unc.edu/Dickerson.  Dickerson will be presenting on his book Sixteen Tons: The Merle Travis Story.

The Library recently shared some fantastic photos of Merle Travis from the Russell D. Barnard Country Music Magazine Photograph Collection (#20484).  There are a few more from this collection on the Library’s Facebook page.

Here are a even more from the Barnard Collection:

a young Merle Travis with guitar. Russell D. Barnard Country Music Photograph Collection, #20484
Merle Travis (second from right) with Clayton McMichen and his Georgia Wildcats. Russell D. Barnard Country Music Photograph Collection, #20484
Merle Travis (far right) with the Drifting Pioneers. Russell D. Barnard Country Music Photograph Collection, #20484
Three men standing in costume
Merle Travis (left), with Hank Penny (center, in Grandpa Jones’ stage outfit) and Joe Maphis (right). Russell D. Barnard Country Music Photograph Collection, #20484

In addition to the Barnard Collection, the Ed Kahn Collection (#20360) holds a number of Travis related images and correspondence.

Inscribed and autographed photo of Merle Travis to Ed Kahn. “To Ed — Our friendship is even older than this picture — and that dates way back — Your Buddy…” Ed Kahn Collection, 1930-1999 (#20360)
Merle Travis with guitar. Ed Kahn Collection, 1930-1999 (#20360)

Kahn himself shows up around Travis in the Archie Green Collection (#20002), mentioned in this interview transcript.  There is a trove of Merle Travis related items in Green’s papers for the research of his book Only A Miner.

(click to enlarge) Merle Travis interview transcript with Archie Green and Ed Kahn. Archie Green Collection (#20002)

There are also some holdings in Green’s archive around the release of Travis’ Folk Songs album, the first record released on the new Capitol Americana label.

Green had many pieces on Travis’ signature song, and the source for the title of Dickerson’s book, “Sixteen Tons.”

Here is a piece Travis wrote for the United Mine Workers Journal about his composing of the song, reprinted in the Sing Out! journal.

(click to enlarge)

The cover of the issue of United Mine Workers Journal where the article first appeared:

We look forward to having you join us Wednesday the 15th for this event with Deke Dickerson to learn more about the Merle Travis’ life and career, and hope you are inspired to explore our collections for even more Travis treasures.  Registration at go.unc.edu/Dickerson.

Merle Travis, right, with other musicians. Russell D. Barnard Country Music Magazine Photograph Collection (#20484)

Women of Early Blues Guitar

The Southern Folklife Collection, along with UNC Libraries, is excited to present our upcoming event, Women of Early Blues Guitar, with a very special thanks to the Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation for their support.

Join us on Wednesday, October 19th at 7PM Eastern for this evening of conversation and music, featuring Valerie Turner of the Piedmont Blūz Acoustic Duo.  This event will be virtual and is free of charge.

Register at this link to sign up for what promises to be an educational and fun program: go.unc.edu/piedmontbluz

Join the southern folklife collection for an evening of conversations and performances on Wednesday, October 19 2022. Featuring Valerie Turner and the Piedmont Bluz acoustic duo, 7 p.m.

The SFC is the home of a number of collections that contain a wealth of resources about the Piedmont Blues, a genre which is distinguished by its guitar picking style that uses the thumb to lay down the bass line (or the melody if you are doing it reverse left-handed like Elizabeth Cotten) with the player’s forefinger syncopating a melody above.

You can see and hear an example here from the Piedmont Blūz site of “Spanish Flang Dang,” from an arrangement by Cotten:

Among the many collections held by the SFC that relate to the history of the Piedmont Blues, the Folkstreams.net Collection (#20384) contains perhaps the definitive documentary on the style, Step It Up and Go, which features prominent women pickers in the style, North Carolina residents Etta Baker, Cora Phillips, and Algia Mae Hinton.  This film was produced by Glenn Hinson (#20045) and Susan Massengale (#20278), both of whose collections are held here and available for research.

The SFC also holds the collections of the two people co-credited with coining “Piedmont Blues,” folklorists Peter B. Lowry (Peter B. Lowry Collection, #20017) and Bruce Bastin (Bruce Bastin Collection, #20428), with many digitized audio examples in both collections.

The Music Maker Foundation has long supported the lives and legacies of many of these musicians, and the SFC holds the collection of the founder of the MMF, the Timothy Duffy Collection (#20044).

Other SFC collections to explore with many Piedmont Blues-related findings are the Nancy Kalow Collection (#20113), the North Carolina Folklife Institute Collection (#20210), the Kenny Dalsheimer Collection (#20320), and the Judith McWillie Videotapes Collection (#20455).

We hope you are able to join us October 19th for this program, and welcome you to explore these related collections to discover more on this subject.

Loretta Lynn, RIP

We at the SFC were very sad to hear the news of Loretta Lynn’s death on October 4th.

To celebrate and remember the Queen of Country we wanted to highlight some items throughout the Southern Folklife Collection.

Loretta Lynn on the cover of the (Louisville) Courier-Journal & Times Magazine issue, June 1973. Southern Folklife Collection Artist Name Files Collection, #30005.

You can revisit Aaron Smithers’ post from 2013, featuring excerpts from an interview Lynn gave to Jack Bernhardt in 2001, which is part of the Jack Bernhardt Papers Collection (#20061).

SFC Spotlight: Jack Bernhardt Papers

The SFC holds a number of items related to Loretta Lynn so, in memory, here is a sampling of some of the photographs throughout our collection.

From the John Edwards Memorial Foundation Collection:

Loretta Lynn and Ernest Tubb: Portrait, circa 1965. John Edwards Memorial Foundation Collection, #20001.

From the Russell D. Barnard Country Music Magazine Photograph Collection:

Loretta Lynn and Ray Charles. Russell D. Barnard Country Music Magazine Photograph Collection, #20484.
Loretta Lynn in cockpit on flight back to Nashville. Russell D. Barnard Country Music Magazine Photograph Collection, #20484.
Loretta Lynn, 1960s. Russell D. Barnard Country Music Magazine Photograph Collection, #20484.
Loretta Lynn and band. Russell D. Barnard Country Music Magazine Photograph Collection, #20484.
Loretta Lynn and band, Austin City Limits taping, 1983. Russell D. Barnard Country Music Magazine Photograph Collection, #20484.

From the Southern Folklife Collection Artist Name Files Collection:

Postcard sent to Loretta Lynn Fan Club members, 1983. Southern Folklife Collection Artist Name File Collection, #30005.
Postcard sent to Loretta Lynn Fan Club members, 1983. Southern Folklife Collection Artist Name File Collection, #30005.

Also recommended is the Loretta Lynn episode of Tyler Mahan Coe’s Cocaine & Rhinestones podcast, focusing on “The Pill.”

And for something a little different, who could forget her visit to Sesame Street for this moving duet with Count.

Rest in peace to the Coal Miner’s Daughter.

Elizabeth Cotten: Resource and Subject Guide

Elizabeth Cotten holding her guitar, Larry Ellis on the left
Elizabeth Cotten holding her guitar, Larry Ellis on the left. Photo from Mike Seeger Collection. (PF-20009/23)

With the recent announcement of Elizabeth Cotten’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I thought today would be the perfect time to release this resource guide. So much of the writing about Elizabeth Cotten is marred by misogynoir – the combination of sexism and racism. Music writers often underplay Cotten’s musical and technical skill, instead describing her as gentle and humble. Many of these writings also focus on her childhood and then skip to her musical career, avoiding discussion of the first half of her life doing housework for white families. While her style and repertoire has influenced many other musicians, she remains underappreciated and undervalued. There are not enough secondary sources about her life and music, and I hope this blog post can be a starting guide for anyone interested in researching and writing about her.

In addition to this resource, check out the the Southern Folklife Collection’s special event from 2020,”When I’m Gone: Remembering Folk Icon Elizabeth Cotten”, featuring Elizabeth Cotten’s family, Yasmin Williams and Alice Gerrard. 

Unless otherwise noted, the following biographical details and quotes interspersed throughout this blogpost come from the album notes from Elizabeth Cotten Vol. 3: When I’m Gone. The quotes are taken from interviews with Elizabeth Cotten conducted by Alice Gerrard and Mike Seeger throughout the 1960s and 1970s. You can read the full album notes here or listen to the original interviews in the Alice Gerrard and Mike Seeger collections linked below.

Black and white photo of Elizabeth Cotten as a young woman, sitting in grass with her legs crossed and her hands behind her head.
Elizabeth Cotten (PF-20009/16). in the Mike Seeger Collection #20009, Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Elizabeth Cotten’s mother, Louisa Price Nevills was from Siler City, North Carolina and came from a farming family but she worked as a midwife and did housework. Cotten recalls that all of her uncles on her mother’s side played fiddle and her mother would sing old songs such as “The Man is Burning” and “Hallelujah T’is Done.” The name Nevills came from the enslavers of Cotten’s father’s family. Her father, George Nevills came from Chatham County, made liquor and worked in an iron mine as a dynamite settler. He died early in Elizabeth Cotten’s life and some of her fondest memories of him include braiding his hair with her sister. 

As a child, Elizabeth Cotten (born 1893 in Chapel Hill, N.C.) always loved music and was especially drawn to organ and piano. She recounts a man who lived nearby her childhood home who played guitar:

“He let the children come when he’d have this music, and dance in his yard…That’s where I learned how to dance, waltz and two-step, do the cakewalk, Frisco… buck dance. And I just danced my little head off…  My brothers were there and we’d all dance together, my sister, me, and my brother… In the band they had some kind of horns, the drum, and this big, old guitar – double bass thing.”

Since the banjo and guitar were the instruments around, those were the instruments she taught herself to play. She would stay up all night practicing. Cotten went to school until 4th grade and generally liked it but eventually had to start making her own money, earning $0.75 per month which she saved up to buy her own guitar. 

After Elizabeth Cotten was baptized at around 14 years old, the church told her she couldn’t play the “worldly songs” she had been playing on guitar. She explains,“I didn’t stop all at once ‘cause I couldn’t. I loved my guitar too good. And then it weren’t too long ‘til I got married and that helped me to stop because then I started housekeeping”. When she was 15, she married Frank Cotten and had her only child at age 16. During this time she still lived with her mother and sister while her husband worked in New York as a chauffeur. She moved between Chapel Hill, New York and D.C. primarily doing housework for white families. When her daughter got married, she divorced Frank. In interviews with Alice Gerrard, she talks about how hard domestic work was:

“I worked awfully hard there because she liked you to wash her floors and things on your knees. And she had plenty of floors for you to wash… had me crawlin’ on my knees savin’ her boards in her house– and the house is there yet. She says, “Elizabeth, you put your detergent in this bucket, [and] this is the bucket of clean water…” and I, fool, did exactly what she said. I would wash the floor, wipe it up with that rag, put that in the bucket, then over here I’d take my clean water and wipe and rinse my cloth in that. And I’d do that from her attic all the way downstairs…”

Elizabeth Cotten didn’t start working as a musician until the late 1950s, when she was in her sixties. While continuing to do house work, she recorded her first album in 1957 with the help of Mike Seeger. There are many retellings of how Elizabeth Cotten met the Seeger family which you can read about in other publications. By the time she was in her seventies, she had a solo career, performing at the top folk venues and folk festivals. She became most well known for her composition “Freight Train”, which she wrote as a tween in Chapel Hill. Cotten didn’t receive any royalties or credit for the song until a lawsuit that still only gave her one third credit (you can hear her family talk about this in an interview from the McCabe Guitar Shop Collection). When she was in her eighties, she was still working as a musician and won a Grammy for Best Ethnic and Traditional Recording in 1984 at age 91. That same year she was named as a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow. She is a 2022 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

“I love to feel independent, I do… I feel good. I’m proud of myself. I didn’t know I could do all these things that I’m starting and the more I think about it the more I think I can do it.” 

Archival collections with significant amounts of materials related to Elizabeth Cotten:

Mike Seeger Collection, 1923-2013 (20009)

Given the close connection with the Seeger family, the Mike Seeger collection holds many recordings of Elizabeth Cotten playing in both formal and informal settings, as well as a handful of photos. Recordings include live shows, practice tapes, and interviews. The Smithsonian Folkways LPs and CDs also come from this collection. 

Two clips from SFC Audio Cassette FS-20009/12936

St. Louis Blues, Elizabeth Cotten with Mary Jefferson singing. January, 1979. 

Rueben’s Train, Elizabeth Cotten with unidentified singer. January, 1979.

Alice Gerrard Collection, circa 1872-2009 (20006)

Alice Gerrard considered Elizabeth Cotten a friend in addition to having toured with her and interviewed her. Gerrard’s collection includes recorded interviews, informal recorded music and several photographs. The conversational interviews between Cotten and Gerrard are particularly moving, talking about childbirth, domestic house work and dealing with racist encounters.

“You could watch a person the way the act, and that makes you uncomfortable. Sometimes the act might not be towards you, but if you’re the only one there you watch their actions. I’ve been in many a place and they ask you to eat, for an instance. And the way they ask and the way they do you say, “no thank you.” You might be hungry… It’s different with you. You’re white. And I’m Black. That gives me a different feeling. That makes me kind of watch them where you wouldn’t, see? It makes you watch people and know what they say and see if you think they mean it or not, you know? I know I’m Black, see, and the old way back times, the way white people treated Negroes… I heard my mama talk about it… And I think that growed up in the Black people by hearin’ about it through their parents or maybe their godmothers or their godfathers, whoever raise them. And it makes them have that little drawback kind of feelin’ that maybe you wouldn’t think about, see?  And that makes me sometimes sit – and I say nothin’, and they don’t know what I’m thinkin’. I’m thinkin’ deep… and I’m not sayin’ anything. And listening to what they say. And you can near about know which way to go – know whether to run or sit…” (6)

McCabe’s Guitar Shop Collection, 1967-2013 (20511)

McCabe’s Guitar Shop has hosted many legendary musicians, including Elizabeth Cotten. In this collection, you can watch a 7-part interview with Cotten and her family in 1984 conducted by Nancy Covey. The interview goes into Peter Paul and Mary taking credit for Elizabeth Cotten’s song “Freight Train.” You can also listen to recordings of Elizabeth Cotten performing at McCabe’s Guitar Shop throughout the 1970s and 1980s. 

North Carolina Folklore Broadcast Collection, 1976 (20105)

This collection contains several recordings from the North Carolina Folklife Festival (pre-curser to the Festival of the Eno) that Elizabeth Cotten performed at in 1976. 

Stefan Grossman Collection (20578)

Although this is a collection level finding aid, the collection does contain multiple items related to Elizabeth Cotten including videos of multiple performances by Elizabeth Cotten solo, with Mike Seeger and a guitar workshop with Elizabeth Cotten and John Fahey. Published versions of these are available through the UNC libraries (listed below). 

black and white photo of Elizabeth Cotten performing in a tent with her guitar.
Elizabeth Cotten performing. Photo by Steve Kruger in Baltimore, MD, 1972. From the Mike Seeger collection #20009, pf0018_0003.

Archival collections with more limited items related to Elizabeth Cotten:  

Highlander Research & Education Center’s Audiovisual materials, 1937-2008 (20361) 

The Highlander Research & Education Center comes with a long history of civil rights activism and education. This collection includes one video of Elizabeth Cotten performing.  

Pete Kuykendall Collection (20546)

Through the Kuykendall Collection finding aid, you watch Elizabeth Cotten perform on Pete Seeger’s TV show “Rainbow Quest” from the 1960s. This video is available for streaming on the UNC campus. A published version is available in the video resources below. Some clips are also available on YouTube. 

Sing Out! Collection, 1937-2014 (20550)

This collection includes a recording of a gospel workshop with Elizabeth Cotten, Janette Carter, Lily May Ledford and Ola Belle Reed in 1980. 

Paul Brown Collection, 1950-1999 (20382)

Paul Brown’s collection includes the “Libba Cotten Special”  episode of his NPR show “Across the Blue Ridge”  with recordings and interviews about her life and music.

Dick Waterman Collection, 1960-2003 (20533)

This collection contains several photographs of Elizabeth Cotten at festivals and venues suchs as Club 47 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Newport Folk Festival. 

Bill C. Malone Collection, 1950s-2016 (20315)

Music historian Bill C. Malone’s collection includes one recording from the Oklahoma State University Festival in 1972.

Gary Kenton Collection, 1971-1989 (20321)

This collection includes an audio recording of an undated telephone interview with Elizabeth Cotten by music journalist Gary Kenton. 

Alan Kanter Collection, 1972-2009 (20549)

Audio engineer Alan Kanter’s collection includes a recording of Elizabeth Cotten at the San Diego Folk Festival in 1977.

North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources Films, 1951- 1988 (20448)

This collection includes a 30-minute documentary titled Got to tell it: A tribute to Mahalia Jackson from 1983 about Mahalia Jackson and Elizabeth Cotten directed by Studs Terkel. 

Greenhill Family/FLi Artists/ Folklore Productions Collection, 1947- 2014 (20542)

This collection includes some photographs of Elizabeth Cotten and a recording of a live performance in 1978. 

Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project, 1965-1989 (20004) 

The SFCRP organized tours throughout the south with both Black and white musicians. Elizabeth Cotten participated in some of these tours and this collection includes her artist file with correspondences and publicity about her involvement with the project.

DK Wilgus Papers, 1883-1996 (20003)

This collection includes an artist file containing clippings and other items related to Elizabeth Cotten collected by folklorist DK Wilgus. 

“You know the tune and you just learn it. Just keep the tune in your mind and just keep on workin’ with it ‘til you get something. The way I do, I play it to my own sound, the way I think it sounds. If I’m playing a song and if I don’t quite know it, you could finish it off with some kind of sound. I just do it according to my sound… you just get a sound. You just put the sounds together and what sounds alright you just go on with it. And all of them little things you heard me playin’, that’s the way I got it. I don’t know nothing about no notes, I can’t read music. You just get a song and know it and just keep fooling around with it ‘til you get it to sound like you want it to sound. And whether it’s right or wrong I just go on with it if it sounds to suit me… I tried hard to play, I’m telling you. I worked for what I’ve got, I really did work for it.”

Archival collections and items without finding aids: 

National Public Radio Collection, 1975-1984

This collection includes interviews for profiles about various folk musicians, including Elizabeth Cotten. 

NC folklife festival and Alan Jabbour Folklife Section Collections (1974, 1976, 1978)

These recordings are from the NC folklife festivals in 1974, 1976, and 1978 that Elizabeth Cotten performed at.  

Folklife festival 1974:

https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb2454337 https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb2454111 

Folklife festival 1976:

https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb2454083 

Folklife festival 1978 :

https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb2454121 https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb2454295 

Elizabeth Cotten (right) and Bessie Jones (left) at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife in 1969. From the Alice Gerrard Collection #20006, pf0076_0003.

Request copies at Wilson Library

Wilson Library FAQ page

Commercial video recordings in the library catalog: 

Cotten, Elizabeth, and Mike Seeger. Mike Seeger & Elizabeth Cotten. Sparta, NJ: Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop, 1991.

Cotten, Elizabeth, Mike Seeger, and Keith Newman. Ramblin’ Mike Seeger & Elizabeth Cotten. Sparta, NJ: Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop, 1991. 

Cotten, Elizabeth, Mike Seeger, and Mark Humphrey. Elizabeth Cotten with Mike Seeger. Sparta, N.J.: Vestapol Productions, 1994. 

Cotten, Elizabeth, and John Miller. The Guitar of Elizabeth Cotten. Sparta, NJ: Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop, 2002.

Cotten, Elizabeth, and Mike Seeger. Elizabeth Cotten: In Concert, 1969, 1978 & 1980. Place of publication not identified: Vestapol Productions, 2004.

Fuller, Jesse, and Elizabeth Cotten. Jesse Fuller and Elizabeth Cotton: Masters of the Country Blues. Newton, NJ: Yazoo Video, Division of Shanachie Records Corp, 1992.

Homemade American music.” Aginsky, Yasha, Carrie Aginsky, Mike Seeger, Alice Gerrard, Tommy Jarrell, Lily M. Ledford, Roscoe Holcomb, Elizabeth Cotten, Sonny Terry, Dewey Balfa, Dopsie Rockin’, Allie Young, Nathan Abshire, Tony Balfa, Raymond E. François, Dennis McGee, Wallace Read, Canray Fontenot, Leopold François, and Robert Jardell. Four American Roots Music Films. Sparta, N.J: Vestapol Productions, 2007.
16mm film print: Folkstreams.net Collection (Film F-20384/74)
Streaming: https://www.folkstreams.net/films/homemade-american-music

Me and Stella. Directed by Geri Ashur. Place of publication not identified: Phoenix Films, 1977.

Travis, Merle, Kirk McGee, Sam McGee, Mance Lipscomb, Roscoe Holcomb, Elizabeth Cotten, Doc Watson, Merle Watson, Josh White, Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry, and Gary Davis. Legends of Traditional Fingerstyle Guitar. Sparta, N.J.: Vestapol Productions, 2003. 

Wenders, Wim, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Richard Pearce, Charles Burnett, Marc Levin, Mike Figgis, Paul Allen, Jody Allen, and Ulrich Felsberg. The Blues, a Musical Journey. New York: Sony Music Entertainment, 2003. 

Commerical audio recordings in the library catalog: 

Cotten, Elizabeth. Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes. Recorded 1957-1958. Smithsonian Folkways, vinyl LP. 

Online version: (https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb6648585

Cotten, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Cotten: Vol. 2, Shake Sugaree. Recorded 1967. Folkways Records, vinyl LP. 

Cotten, Elizabeth, and Mike Seeger. Shake Sugaree. Recorded in 1965. Re-released in 2004. Smithsonian Folkways Records, compact disc.

Online version: (https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb6647067

Cotten, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Cotten: Vol. 3, When I’m Gone. Recorded 1979. Folkways Records, vinyl LP. 

Online version: (https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb6648426

Cotten, Elizabeth. Live. Recorded in 1983. Arhoolie Records, vinyl LP.

Ledford, Lily M, Ramona Jones, Ola B. Reed, Suzanne Thomas, Elizabeth Cotten, Janette Carter, and Rose Maddox. Women of Old Time Music. REcorded in 1981. Heritage Records, vinyl LP.

New Lost City Ramblers., Seeger, P., Cotten, E., & Highwoods String Band. 20th anniversary concert. Recorded in 1986. Flying Fish, vinyl LP. 

Online version. https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb6128401

Other repositories with related materials:

American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress 

Ralph Rinzler Collection at the Smithsonian 

Tatiana Hargreaves is a first year graduate student at UNC’s School of Information and Library Science Master of Science in Library Science program. She is a lecturer of bluegrass fiddle in the music department at UNC and performs internationally with banjo player Allison de Groot. She received her BA in ethnomusicology and music performance from Hampshire College in 2017.

Ola Belle Reed: Resource and Subject Guide

Tatiana Hargreaves is a first year graduate student at UNC’s School of Information and Library Science Master of Science in Library Science program. She is a lecturer of bluegrass fiddle in the music department at UNC and performs internationally with banjo player Allison de Groot. She received her BA in ethnomusicology and music performance from Hampshire College in 2017.

Ola Belle Reed: Subject Guide

There are numerous published recordings of Ola Belle Reed and her music, but biographical material outside of album liner notes are harder to find. The book Ola Belle Reed and Southern Mountain Music on the Mason-Dixon Line (2015) by Henry Glassie, Clifford R. Murphy and Douglas Dowling Peach is the only released biography of her life. The Southern Folklife Collection holds many resources relating to Reed, including the manuscript for her unpublished autobiography “High on a Mountain”.

This blogpost can serve as a starting guide to resources about Ola Belle Reed in the Southern Folklife Collection, UNC libraries, and beyond.

Ola Belle Reed, Brandywine Mountain Music Convention, 1974. From the Alice Gerrard Collection (#20006)

Born in 1915 in Ashe County, North Carolina, Ola Belle Campbell Reed grew up in a large musical family. During the Depression, her family joined the many migrants moving from the Southern Mountains to more urban areas farther North. By the time she was a teenager, Reed was already performing with her brother in the North Carolina Ridge Runners. After marrying Bud Reed in 1949, Ola Belle, Bud and her brother Alex Campbell opened the New River Ranch music park which became a popular stop for bluegrass and country performers throughout the 1950s. Throughout the 1970s, Reed performed at many folk festivals and in 1986 was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship. She passed away in 2002 after thirteen years of illness. Reed’s prolific songwriting has endeared her to the country, bluegrass and old-time music communities where her songs are performed frequently.

Collections in the Southern Folklife Collection that include Ola Belle Reed:

Ola Belle Reed Collection

This collection primarily includes audio recordings, some news clippings and the manuscript for Reed’s unpublished autobiography. The audio recordings are a mixture of live performances and more intimate interviews, conversations and home music recordings. The conversation topics range from music, religion and politics to pollution, sex education, love and more. Reed’s unpublished autobiography, “High on a Mountain” was written with the help of David Reed and Josh Dunson.

Ola Belle singing “If I Could Read My Titles Clear”

Hazel Waltman and Ola Belle Reed. From the Mike Seeger Collection (#20009).

Ola Belle singing “Old Pal of Yesterday” with her old friend Hazel Waltman

Listen to the full tape here (SFC Audio Open Reel FT-20010/9663) 

Robert D. Bethke Collection

This collection includes four open reel recordings and two videos of Reed and her family from 1972.

Alice Gerrard Collection

This collection includes audio recordings from performances and parties and photographs of Ola Belle Reed, primarily from the New River Ranch Music Park in Rising Sun, Maryland that Reed ran with her husband Bud Reed. 

On the two clips below, you can hear Ola Belle Reed in a more casual setting at a party at George Holt’s house in Durham, North Carolina on November 2nd, 1986. The recording features Ola Belle with Alice Gerrard (guitar) and Andy Cahan (fiddle). 

Wild Bill Jones

What Would You Give In Exchange For Your Soul

Listen to the full tape here (SFC Audio Cassette FS-20006/8695)

Ola Belle Reed, Brandywine Mountain Music Convention, 1974. From the Alice Gerrard Collection (#20006)

Mike Seeger Collection

This collection also includes audio recordings and photographs of Ola Belle Reed, primarily from the New River Ranch Music Park in Rising Sun, Maryland.

Standing from left: Lily May Ledford, Janette Carter, Ramona Jones, Ola Belle Reed, Rose Maddox. Seated: Elizabeth Cotten. From the Mike Seeger Collection (#20009_pf0072).

Eugene Earle Collection

The Eugene Earle collection contains several open reel recordings of Ola Belle including recordings from Sunset Park, New River Ranch and the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Ola Belle is spelled “Olabelle” in the collection. 

Pete Kuykendall Collection

Ola Belle Reed appears on two open reels in the Kuykendall collection, both at New River Ranch. SFC Audio Open Reel FT-20546/259 features Reno and Smiley with a brief appearance by Ola Belle reed and the New river Ranch Gang. SFC Audio Open Reel FT-20546/80 features the Monroe Brothers and others, including “Aunt Ola Bell”. An open reel for the Carter Stanley memorial concert also references Ola Belle’s band “The New River Boys.”

North American Traditions Collections 

This collection contains six sides of Reed’s recordings for the 1977 album Ola Belle Reed and Family, including several unissued cuts. 

William Ferris Collection

This collection includes photographs of Ola Belle Reed at Yale University in 1975-1978 and recordings from Calhoun college in 1975 and 1976. 

Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project

Correspondence, publicity, tour planning and photos related to Ola Belle Reed’s involvement with the Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project, an organization that presented integrated concerts, tours and other events with Black and white musicians in the South during the late 1960s – 1980s.    

Mary Katherine Aldin Artist Files

This collection includes an artist file for Ola Belle Reed.

Sing Out! Collection

SFC Audio Cassette FS-20550/2: Gospel Workshop, 1980 with Ola Belle Reed, Janette Carter, Elizabeth Cotten and Lily May Ledford.

Festival of the Eno 1976 (from North Carolina Folklore Broadcast collection )

Ola Belle Reed performs at the 1976 Festival of the Eno in Durham, North Carolina.

North Carolina Folklife Festival in Durham (no finding aids) 

https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb2454121 

https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb2454111 

Ola Belle Reed’s Published Recordings available via UNC Libraries 

Ledford, Lily M, Ramona Jones, Ola B. Reed, Suzanne Thomas, Elizabeth Cotten, Janette Carter, and Rose Maddox. Women of Old Time Music. Galax, Va: Heritage Records, 1981. Sound recording. (https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb1968852 )

Reed, Ola B. Ola Belle Reed. Somerville, Mass: Rounder Records, 1973. Sound recording. ( https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb3694398

Reed, Ola B. Ola Belle Reed & Family. Somerville, Ma: Rounder Records, 1977. Sound recording. ( https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb3760572 )

Reed, Ola B, Bud Reed, and Kevin Roth. All in One Evening. New York: Folkways Records, 1978. Internet resource. ( https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb6647946 )

Reed, Ola B, Bud Reed, and David Reed. My Epitaph. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways, 2001. Internet resource. ( https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb6646754

Reed, Ola B. Ola Belle Reed. Croton, N.Y.: Field Recorders’ Collective, 2005. Sound recording. (https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb7849893)

Reed, Ola B, Alex Campbell, Sonny Miller, Deacon Brumfield, and Paul Sidlick. Campbell’s Corner: The Ola Belle Reed – Alex Campbell Radio Shows. Place of publication not identified: Field Recorders’ Collective, 2009. Sound recording. (​​https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb7849907)

Reed, Ola B. Rising Sun Melodies. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways, 2010. Sound recording. (https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb8619409

Compilations with the North Carolina Ridge Runners (available via UNC libraries & special collections)

Grayson, G B, Henry Whitter, Frank Blevins, Ephraim Woodie, and Jack Reedy. Music from the Lost Provinces. Raleigh, N.C: Old Hat, 1997. Sound recording. (https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb3813077

Authentic Rare Bluegrass Cuts. London, England: JSP Records, 2008. Sound recording. (https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb7868996 )

Books about Ola Belle Reed available via UNC Libraries 

Anderson-Green, Paula H. A Hot-Bed of Musicians: Traditional Music in the Upper New River Valley-Whitetop Region. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2002. Print.

Camp, Charles, and David E. Whisnant. “A Voice from Home: Southern Mountain Musicians on the Maryland-Pennsylvania Border.” Southern Exposure. 5 (1977): 2-3. Print.

Murphy, Clifford R, Henry Glassie, Douglas D. Peach, and Ola B. Reed. Ola Belle Reed and Southern Mountain Music on the Mason-Dixon Line., 2015. Print.

Fussell, Fred, Steve Kruger, and Cedric N. Chatterley. Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina: A Guide to Music Sites, Artists, and Traditions of the Mountains and Foothills., 2018. Print.

Henry, Murphy. Pretty Good for a Girl: Women in Bluegrass. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2013. Print.

Other resources related Ola Belle Reed: 

UNC electronic resources for online newspaper, magazine, journal articles and reviews 

The Ola Belle Reed Collection at University of Maryland, Baltimore County:

Ola Belle Reed collection (umbc.edu)

Jason Pate Collection (University of Maryland, Baltimore County https://library.umbc.edu/speccoll/findingaids/coll123.php)

Information about an upcoming documentary, “I’ve Endured”: The music and legacy of Ola Belle Reed can be found here: https://mdfolklife.org/ive-endured-the-music-and-legacy-of-ola-belle-reed/

This 2005 blogpost by Stephen Winick at the American Folklife Center includes a list of Ola Belle Reed related collections housed at the AFC: https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2015/09/on-ola-belle-reed/ 

To end, here is a beautifully written quote from Cathy Fink about her experiences with Ola Belle Reed:

“A visit with Ola Belle was always an amazing experience. The door was open, soup was on the stove, and an afternoon of conversation and music always left you with a full feeling. A philosopher and a philanthropist of the heart, Ola Belle was always there to help out a kid in need or a musician getting their feet on the ground…Ola Belle was ready for the world to change during the civil rights movement. Her song “Tear Down the Fences” questions why we spend energy building fences and not bridges between us. She was a feminist before that movement ever took hold, penning a powerful song, “Only the Leading Role Will Do.” But most importantly, she was an egalitarian.”

Fink, Cathy. “Last Chorus: Ola Belle Reed – 1916-2002.” Sing Out, vol. 46, no. 4, 2003, pp. 27-29.

ICYMI – Folk Legacy Series: John Lee Hooker; Hazel & Alice

Early in November, the Southern Folklife Collection wrapped up its two-part Folk Legacy Series celebrating great legacies in American vernacular music.  The series was sponsored through generous support from the Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation.

You can view the recordings of both events below, or via UNC Libraries’ YouTube page.

In “Boom Boom! The Music of John Lee Hooker,” Alvin Youngblood Hart and Bobby Rush both gave foot stomping performances to boogie along to, and then, in a lively discussion with Wayne Goins, reflected on the career and influence of Hooker.

Our first event of the fall — “Won’t You Come and Sing For Me?  The Music of Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard” — featured a set from Tatiana Hargreaves and Alison DeGroot, followed by Dudley Connell and Sally Love Connell.  The evening finished with a roundtable discussion led by Laurie Lewis, and involving Gerrard, Peter Siegel – producer of the first Hazel & Alice record — Hargreaves, DeGroot, and Connell.

Thanks to all who joined us, and stay tuned for more SFC related content and events here on Field Trip South, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Boom Boom! The Music of John Lee Hooker

The Southern Folklife Collection and the University Libraries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are happy to invite you to a virtual event featuring performances and discussion celebrating the life of iconic Mississippi blues man John Lee Hooker.  Please join us Thursday, November 4 at 7pm Eastern.  Register for this free, live event here: go.unc.edu/JohnLeeHooker

The program will feature performances by Grammy Award winners Bobby Rush and Alvin Youngblood Hart, followed by Rush and Hart in conversation with Wayne Goins, Distinguished Professor of Music and director of jazz studies at Kansas State University. Goins is author of the liner notes to Ace Records box set “John Lee Hooker: Documenting the Sensation Recordings 1948-1952.

The Southern Folklife Collection is proud to hold a number of collections that document the life and work of John Lee Hooker, including audio and video recordings, interviews, and photographs.

The Rosebud Agency Collection , founded by Mike Kappus in 1976, represented Hooker for the latter part of his career, and includes a range of items from correspondence, publicity and promotional materials, as well as audio and video recordings.

The Stefan Grossman Collection has a number of Hooker highlights, from early to late career.  Check out this video of Hooker performing in 1960, from the “John Lee Hooker – Rare Performances 1960-1984” DVD, followed by an early 90s duet with Bonnie Raitt on “I’m In The Mood,” from the DVD “John Lee Hooker & Friends 1984-1992,” on Grossman’s Vestapol label.

For another side of Hooker, explore the Jas Obrecht Collection, among which are a number of interviews the former Guitar World editor conducted with the Blues legend.

Many thanks to the Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation for their support.  We hope to see you Thursday, November 4th at 7PM Eastern, for what promises to be an informative and inspiring program.

go.unc.edu/JohnLeeHooker

John Lee Hooker: Performing in studio. Photo by Riverside Records. John Edwards Memorial Foundation Collection (#20001)
This event is the second in the Southern Folklife Collection’s two-part Folk Legacy Series celebrating great legacies in American vernacular music.  The series is sponsored through generous support from the Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation. The first event, Won’t You Come and Sing for Me? The Music of Hazel and Alice, was October 14, 2021, which you can rewatch here: Won’t You Come and Sing for Me? The Music of Hazel and Alice