16-05-2025
Ellen Stekert: a full life in folk music
Ellen Stekert, who is about to turn 90, has spent a lifetime in folk music. She got her first guitar at 13 (to assist with her rehab after contracting polio) and soon after high school she became enmeshed in the Greenwich Village folk scene, crossing paths with the likes of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Ellen released four albums of traditional songs in the 1950s and then focused her career on academia, teaching English, American and folklore studies.
There's been a resurgence of interest in Ellen's life and music, thanks in large part to singer songwriter Ross Wylde. Ross has been helping Ellen to remaster her old recordings, leading to her first release in over 60 years: Go Around Songs Vol. 1 . Both musicians are guests on The Music Show to talk about their deep love of folk music, their intergenerational friendship and how a Bob Dylan photograph for sale on eBay first brought them together.
Check out Ellen Stekert's website for photos, music and archive, and Ross Wylde's music is available on Bandcamp.
Music in this program:
Title: Tomorrow Is A Long Time
Artist: Ellen Stekert
Composer: Bob Dylan
Album: Go Around Songs, Vol. 1
Label: Independent
Title: Went To The Sea
Artist: Ellen Stekert
Composer: Tracy Powers
Album: Go Around Songs, Vol. 1
Label: Independent
Title: Dink's Song
Artist: Ellen Stekert
Composer: Traditional
Album: Ballads Of Careless Love
Label: Cornell Recording Society
Title: The Trees They Do Grow High
Artist: Ellen Stekert
Composer: Traditional
Album: Go Around Songs, Vol. 1
Label: Independent
Title: The Teetotals
Artist: The New Lost City Ramblers
Composer: Traditional
Album: The Early Years (1958-62)
Label: Smithsonian Folkways
Title: I'm Gonna Sit Down on the Banks of the River (Live in Seattle, WA)
Artist: Reverend Gary Davis
Composer: Reverend Gary Davis
Album: Let Us Get Together
Label: Sunset Blvd Records
Title: Jolly Old Sigmund Freud
Artist: Ellen Stekert
Composer: Anna Russell
Album: Go Around Songs, Vol. 1
Label: Independent
Title: I Hate The Company Bosses
Artist: Sarah Ogan Gunning
Composer: Sarah Ogan Gunning
Album: Girl of Constant Sorrow
Label: Folk-Legacy Records
Title: The Walker Outside
Artist: Ellen Stekert
Composer: Malvina Reynolds
Album: Go Around Songs, Vol. 1
Label: Independent
Title: Careful Words (Live)
Artist: Murphy Wylde
Composer: Liam Murphy, Ross Wylde
Album: Live From 9th Street Social Club
Label: Independent
Title: High Floods & Low Waters
Artist: Ellen Stekert, Jean Ritchie, Oscar Brand, Dave Sear, The New Lost City Ramblers
Composer: Woody Guthrie
Album: "Ballads Are News": Live on Camera Three
Label: Independent
