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Accession Number: 79
The Lily May Ledford Collection(1917-1985)
Papers, 1936-1985
0.2 linear feet
Online
Catalog
Record (BANC)
Overview
History
Series I
Series II
Series III
Series IV
Series V
Access and Use:
Provenance: This collection brings together material formerly
found in Berea College's Appalachian Center and Hutchins Library's
Appalachian Vertical Files with manuscript and photographic items
made available by Ledford's granddaughter, Cari Norris.
Preferred Citation: Lily May Ledford Collection, Berea
College Special Collections, Berea, Ky.
Overview of the Collection
The Lily May Ledford Collection consists of autobiographical writing,
press clippings, articles, and photographs documenting the career
of country music performer, Lily May Ledford (1917-1985).
Related Archives
History
Lily May Ledford grew up in eastern Kentucky's rural Powell County,
one of fourteen children. She learned ballads and hymns from her
mother and fiddle tunes and popular songs from her father. She
learned to play the fiddle, harmonica and banjo quite early, and
in her teens she began performing for community dances and entertaining
tourists that visited the scenic Red River Gorge area near her
home.
In the late 1930s she came to the attention of Kentucky radio
entrepreneur John Lair, who was working as a producer and MC for
country music programs on Chicago radio station WLS. She was well
received by WLS audiences and eventually came to work for Lair
when he started his own radio show, the Renfro Valley Barn Dance,
first in Cincinnati and later at Renfro Valley in Rockcastle County
Kentucky.
Lily May and sisters Rosie and Minnie were the key members of
the Coon Creek Girls, arguably the first all-female string band.
They were among the most popular performers on John Lair's radio
programs on Cincinnati's WLW and Louisville's WHAS, beginning in
1937 and extending into the early 1950s.
After several years of relative retirement Lily May resumed performing
in the 1960s at various folk festivals, including those in Newport,
RI; Washington, DC; and Montreal, Canada.
She was Berea College's Artist-in-Residence 1979-1980. In 1985
she was named a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts
Heritage Fellowship Award in recognition of her legacy of traditional
tunes and banjo picking techniques. Traditional songs identified
particularly with her include "Banjo Pickin' Girl," "How
Many Biscuits Can You Eat?" and "John Henry."
1 Manuscript Box
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