RITCHIE, JEAN - Singing The Traditional Songs Of Her Kentucky Mountain Family
"Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of Jean Ritchie Singing The Traditional Songs Of Her Kentucky Mountain Family, originally released as a 10" in 1952. In the world of American folk music, Jean Ritchiewas a truly unique presence. Most of the younger artists of the folk revival of the '50s and '60s were middle class urbanites and liberal arts college students who helped "rediscover" the older traditional artists of the South. Though these two groups intermingled at concerts and the younger artists idolized the "true" folk artists, Jean Ritchie was an anomaly in that she fit equally in each crowd. Born in Viper, Kentucky in 1922, Jean was born into The Ritchies of Perry County, who were considered one of the two great ballad-singing families of Kentucky celebrated among folk song scholars. The youngest of 14 children, Jean had Appalachian folk music in her blood, learning dozens of songs at a very early age from her parents and siblings. By college she was a master of traditional song and it was there that she met Alan Lomax who brought her to New York where she quickly began performing and mingling with Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and the like. Though she would appear on Library of Congress compilations and various other Lomax related recordings, this 1952 release is her first proper album and you will not find a more beautiful example of traditional Appalachian dulcimer and folk singing than Jean Ritchie Singing The Traditional Songs Of Her Kentucky Mountain Family. Another essential piece of obscure Americana to have new life breathed into it by Fantôme Phonographique. 425 gram sleeve; hand-numbered sticker." - Fantome Phonographique.
After nearly a decade of false starts, multiple game plans veering off the rails, and a handful of shattered hopes and/or dreams, the odyssey is finally complete—the new Fusetron site is here.
This is the first phase of a multipart rollout that will span the next few months: the currently browsable stock includes miscellaneous new releases from the past 8+ months (we have a lot of catching up to do), plus approximately a third of our backstock. Note that we’ve reduced/slashed prices on many titles and will continue to do so in order to make room for new stock. We’ll also be expanding / tweaking / improving / debugging the site itself (for example, we still have work to do on the automated international postage system, not to mention the inevitable inventory discrepancies that come with transferring an ancient and massive database to a new system).
Over the next few months, as we take inventory, clean house, and delve into our storage, we will be uploading thousands of additional items, gradually, on a near-daily basis. This will include the majority of the LPs, as well as many titles, in all formats, once thought long-gone. Many currently “sold out” items are likely to resurface.
Finally, once our general backstock is up (probably in the next two or three months) we’ll begin making our extensive stockpile of rarities available online for the first time: tons of random out-of-print titles, "deadstock," warehouse finds, secondhand collectibles, etc., accumulated over the past few decades.
Frequent/returning customers will be getting early access to these items. Details to follow on how this will work (a priority mailing list? a 'frequent flyer'-like program?), but it will not be based on dollars spent. We want to reward those who consistently support us, especially in the discogs marketplace era (to those who show up trying to poach five copies of a one-off rarity, and nothing else, ever… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).
So—we suggest you take some time to dig through the site—even we’ve been surprised by what’s been turning up, and there’s much more to come.
