Lily May Ledford
Encyclopedia
Lily May Ledford was an American clawhammer
banjo and fiddle player. After gaining regional radio fame in the 1940s and 1950s as head of the Coon Creek Girls
— one of the first all-female string band
s to appear on radio— Ledford went on to gain national renown as a solo artist during the American folk music revival
of the 1960s. In 1985, she was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship
.
in rural Powell County, Kentucky
in 1917. She was the seventh of fourteen children born to tenant farmer Daw White Ledford and wife Stella May Tackett. Her father taught her to play banjo at a young age, and by age 12 she had learned to play the fiddle. Lily loved the traditional dance tunes, and she often had to sneak off to play at area dances, as her mother considered this type of music to be "old drunkard songs."
In 1936, Ledford won a music competition at Mount Vernon, Kentucky
, and the following year made her radio debut on WLS
Chicago's National Barn Dance
. Shortly after this appearance, she was recruited by John Lair for his new radio program, Renfro Valley Barn Dance
, which was initially broadcast from Cincinnati
and later moved to Mount Vernon. Ledford and Lair formed the Coon Creek Girls (Lair provided the band's name, even though there was no such place as Coon Creek, as it was typical for early country music producers to give bands colorful rural-sounding names). The Coon Creek Girls originally consisted of Ledford on banjo and vocals, Ledford's sister Rosie on guitar, Evelyn Daisy Lange on bass, and Esther Violet Koehler on mandolin
. Lange and Koehler left in 1939, and were replaced by Ledford's sister, Minnie. The group performed at the White House
in 1939 for President Franklin D. Roosevelt
and his guests, King George VI
and Queen Elizabeth
. The group made regular appearances on Renfro Valley Barn Dance until disbanding in 1957.
rediscovered Ledford, and invited her to play at the Newport Folk Festival
in 1968. Delighted by the positive response she received from the folk music movement, Ledford became a regular at folk festivals across the U.S. and Canada, initially with her sisters, and then as a solo artist when her sisters were unable to join her. In 1971, she appeared at the "Man and His World Festival" in Montreal, and she played at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
in Washington, D.C.
the following year. In 1976, Ledford toured the Western U.S. and Canada with Mike Seeger
's Old-Time Music Festival. In 1979, while on tour with the Red Clay Ramblers
, Ledford recorded an album, Banjo Pickin' Girl, that was released on the Greenhays label in 1983. Around the same period, she appeared at the Mariposa Folk Festival
in Orillia
.
In the early 1980s, author Loyal Jones interviewed Ledford extensively as part of research conducted with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
, and broadcast the interviews on National Public Radio. In 1980, Berea College
published Coon Creek Girl, an autobiography Ledford had written in the late 1970s. Ledford stopped performing in 1983, when she was diagnosed with lung cancer
. Just before her death in 1985, she was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship.
and folk songs such as Darling Cory, "Jim Along Josey," and "Kitty Clyde." Her fiddle recordings include a rendition of the folk song "Cacking Hen." In the 1970s and early 1980s, Ledford played at a relatively leisurely pace, often stopping to give extensive background information about the songs she was playing.
Clawhammer
Clawhammer is a highly rhythmic banjo playing style and common component of American old-time music. The principal difference between clawhammer style and other styles is the picking direction...
banjo and fiddle player. After gaining regional radio fame in the 1940s and 1950s as head of the Coon Creek Girls
Coon Creek Girls
The Coon Creek Girls were a popular all-girl "string band" in the Appalachian style of folk music which began in the mid-1930s...
— one of the first all-female string band
String band
A string band is an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments. String bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and are among the forerunners of modern country music and bluegrass.-String bands in old-time music:...
s to appear on radio— Ledford went on to gain national renown as a solo artist during the American folk music revival
American folk music revival
The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob...
of the 1960s. In 1985, she was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship
National Heritage Fellowship
The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts...
.
Early life and career
Ledford was born along the banks of the Red RiverRed River (Kentucky)
The Red River is a tributary of the Kentucky River in east-central Kentucky in the United States. Via the Kentucky and Ohio rivers, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed....
in rural Powell County, Kentucky
Powell County, Kentucky
Powell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population is 13,237. Its county seat is Stanton. The county was formed January 7, 1852, by Kentucky Governor Lazarus W. Powell...
in 1917. She was the seventh of fourteen children born to tenant farmer Daw White Ledford and wife Stella May Tackett. Her father taught her to play banjo at a young age, and by age 12 she had learned to play the fiddle. Lily loved the traditional dance tunes, and she often had to sneak off to play at area dances, as her mother considered this type of music to be "old drunkard songs."
In 1936, Ledford won a music competition at Mount Vernon, Kentucky
Mount Vernon, Kentucky
Mount Vernon is a city in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,592 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Rockcastle County. It is located at the junction of U.S...
, and the following year made her radio debut on WLS
WLS (AM)
WLS is a Chicago clear-channel AM station on 890 kHz. It uses C-QUAM AM stereo and transmits with 50,000 watts from transmitter and towers on the south edge of Tinley Park, Illinois....
Chicago's National Barn Dance
National Barn Dance
National Barn Dance, broadcast by WLS-AM in Chicago, Illinois starting in 1924, was one of the first American country music radio programs and a direct precursor of the Grand Ole Opry...
. Shortly after this appearance, she was recruited by John Lair for his new radio program, Renfro Valley Barn Dance
Renfro Valley Barn Dance
Renfro Valley Barn Dance was an American country music stage and radio show originally carried by WLW-AM in Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday nights. It debuted on October 9, 1937 from the Cincinnati Music Hall and moved to the Memorial Auditorium in Dayton, Ohio. It was hosted by John Lair, Red Foley,...
, which was initially broadcast from Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
and later moved to Mount Vernon. Ledford and Lair formed the Coon Creek Girls (Lair provided the band's name, even though there was no such place as Coon Creek, as it was typical for early country music producers to give bands colorful rural-sounding names). The Coon Creek Girls originally consisted of Ledford on banjo and vocals, Ledford's sister Rosie on guitar, Evelyn Daisy Lange on bass, and Esther Violet Koehler on mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
. Lange and Koehler left in 1939, and were replaced by Ledford's sister, Minnie. The group performed at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in 1939 for President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
and his guests, King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
and Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
. The group made regular appearances on Renfro Valley Barn Dance until disbanding in 1957.
Folk music revival and later career
In the 1960s, musicologist Ralph RinzlerRalph Rinzler
Ralph Rinzler was the co-founder of the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall every summer in Washington, D.C., where he worked as a curator for American art, music, and folk culture at the Smithsonian....
rediscovered Ledford, and invited her to play at the Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
in 1968. Delighted by the positive response she received from the folk music movement, Ledford became a regular at folk festivals across the U.S. and Canada, initially with her sisters, and then as a solo artist when her sisters were unable to join her. In 1971, she appeared at the "Man and His World Festival" in Montreal, and she played at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Smithsonian Folklife Festival
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, launched in 1967, is an international exhibition of living cultural heritage presented annually in the summer in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is held for two weeks around the Fourth of July holiday...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
the following year. In 1976, Ledford toured the Western U.S. and Canada with Mike Seeger
Mike Seeger
Mike Seeger was an American folk musician and folklorist. He was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, mouth harp, mandolin, dobro, jaw harp, and pan pipes. Seeger, a half-brother of Pete Seeger, produced more than 30 documentary...
's Old-Time Music Festival. In 1979, while on tour with the Red Clay Ramblers
Red Clay Ramblers
The Red Clay Ramblers are a North Carolina-based band founded in Durham, North Carolina, performing continuously since their formation in 1972. The original members include Tommy Thompson , Bill Hicks and Jim Watson...
, Ledford recorded an album, Banjo Pickin' Girl, that was released on the Greenhays label in 1983. Around the same period, she appeared at the Mariposa Folk Festival
Mariposa Folk Festival
The Mariposa Folk Festival was founded in 1961 in Orillia, Ontario. It was held in Orillia for three years before being banned because of disturbances by festival-goers. After being held in various places in Ontario for a few decades, it returned to Orillia in 2000. Ruth Jones, her husband Dr...
in Orillia
Orillia, Ontario
Orillia, pronounced ōrĭl'ēə, is a city located in Simcoe County in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe, 135 kilometres north of Toronto.Originally incorporated as a village in 1867, the history of...
.
In the early 1980s, author Loyal Jones interviewed Ledford extensively as part of research conducted with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, and broadcast the interviews on National Public Radio. In 1980, Berea College
Berea College
Berea College is a liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky , founded in 1855. Current full-time enrollment is 1,514 students...
published Coon Creek Girl, an autobiography Ledford had written in the late 1970s. Ledford stopped performing in 1983, when she was diagnosed with lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
. Just before her death in 1985, she was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship.
Repertoire
Ledford typically played a five-string banjo in the frailing, or "clawhammer" style taught to her by her father. She occasionally played the fiddle, however. Notable recordings include versions of the old world ballad Pretty PollyPretty Polly (ballad)
"Pretty Polly", "The Gosport Tragedy" or "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" is a traditional English-language folk song found in the British Isles, Canada, and the Appalachian region of North America, among other places....
and folk songs such as Darling Cory, "Jim Along Josey," and "Kitty Clyde." Her fiddle recordings include a rendition of the folk song "Cacking Hen." In the 1970s and early 1980s, Ledford played at a relatively leisurely pace, often stopping to give extensive background information about the songs she was playing.
External links
- Lily May Ledford Music and Heritage Festival — annual festival held at Kentucky's Natural Bridge State ParkNatural Bridge State Park (Kentucky)Natural Bridge State Resort Park is a Kentucky state park located in Powell and Wolfe Counties along the Middle Fork of the Red River, adjacent to the Red River Gorge Geologic Area and surrounded by the Daniel Boone National Forest. Its namesake natural bridge is the centerpiece of the park. The...
- Lily May Ledford — National Heritage Fellowship page at the National Endowment for the Arts
- Lily May Ledford Collection — archive at Berea College
- Berea College Sound Archives — contains several dozen mp3 recordings of Lily May Ledford and the Coon Creek Girls