We don't hear much of the Singing Ritchie Family these days and I got to wondering what they're up to.

Of course one of them achieved ultimate world-wide acclaim as the Most Beautiful and Wonderful All-Time Queen of Folk Music. (Pardon me if I was too cool and stilted in the above remark - I wouldn't want to embarrass anyone.)

We know there used to be lots of them running around singing but except for a handful of cuts on oldish records and the rare comment of a song or tune source, I know little of them. Two things brought this to mind: The lovely "Jenny Jenkins" clip cited on the YouTube thread - Seeger tries to trick the Queen but doesn't quite succeed. This is the version (although I have Lunsford doing a fair one) that I sang for my own wee daughter and later for her and her friends as an Ask/Respond game song. She still likes it. Second is that I'm finally cataloguing my books and note Songs of All Time, a small-but-good 1947 book of Appalachian stuff co-edited by Edna Ritchie of Viper, KY. Third is the Little Known 60's Singers thread.

Fourth; I'm continually impressed with the recent North Carolina effort, Madison County Project (Also visible from www.folkstreams.net www.folkstreams.net) which shows some fine current ballad singers who have inherited the tradition and whose forebears were also acknowledged by Olive Dame Campbell & Sharp. It proves that tradition is still alive and hearty.

1) Are there any Ritchie family CDs available? Or of other family individuals?

2) Whether or not they record, does the family still sing?
2a) Are there any still singing in rural Kentucky?