Ellen has released another new single, “Puttin’ On The Style,” revisiting a recording of the song that she made in the early 1960s. A different version of this song can also be found on her now-rare debut record, 1955’s Ozark Mountain Folk Songs, Volume One.

About the song

Ellen writes:

"Folksongs, even those as light-hearted as “Puttin' On The Style,” are not what some believe; they’re not simply rhymes with tunes for undeveloped minds. They are glimpses into the values and feelings of the people who perpetuate them. They are windows into other worlds — or mirrors with which to see ourselves. When a song ceases to mean anything, it fades away and disappears. When a song is malleable, it changes. Folksongs live and change, and in those changes are the histories of the peoples who have chosen to perpetuate them, change them, or let them die.

In 1953, I left home for my Freshman year at college in upstate New York. I had recorded my first album with Stinson Records earlier that year and among the songs on it was “Puttin' on the Style.” Having been raised in a privileged suburb of New York City, I thought I knew a great deal about the subject. I had a good deal to learn.

I left home for college believing that the woman I saw about a year ago shopping in our local A&P in a mink coat, was putting on the style. But I didn’t think that my wearing dungarees into the city to visit my grandmother was anything more than my rejecting the “dressed up” values of my mother’s family. The dress my mother preferred I would wear was putting on the style in my eyes, but I never thought of my wearing dungarees that way.

In my view, I simply didn’t want to be forced into what my mother thought was proper clothing for a young lady. I didn’t like dresses, girdles or heels and I chose to play down my femininity. In doing so, I sorely broke with propriety. That rebellion was a reverse “putting on the style.” It was meant as a negative statement to my family rather than an attempt to be accepted….although it well might have been a plea to be accepted. Whichever it was, it clearly broke group normative behavior.

“Putting on the Style” speaks of minor “outrages” of people attempting to be accepted within the society of both the narrator and what s/he sees. It doesn’t tell us about aberrant behavior at the level of a murdered-girl ballad, but it does tell us something of the limits of various kinds of behavior at the times and places it was sung.

I have not yet come across a song about wearing dungarees in an inappropriate place, but perhaps someone will write it. I wonder if it will live and change or just fade away?"

With “Puttin’ On The Style,” Ellen invites listeners to hear the song as both artifact and mirror: a relic of another era and a commentary on how we still negotiate identity, class, gender, and belonging in the way we dress and behave.

“Puttin’ On The Style” is available now on all major streaming platforms and Bandcamp.

Credits

Released November 14, 2025
Guitar, Vocals: Ellen Stekert
Producer: Ross Wylde
Production Assistant: Bates Detwiler
Editorial & Publicity Manager: Christopher Bahn

Renowned folklorist and singer Ellen Stekert has released her latest single, “The Ballad Of Frankie Silver,” a riveting contribution to the rich lineage of American murder ballads and traditional storytelling.

Stekert first encountered the song in the 1952 book The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore (here’s a link to it at the Internet Archive), where she also believes she learned the striking melody. “I fell in love with the tune’s gliding grace,” she recalls. “So much so that despite the grisly subject matter, I learned the song.”

“The Ballad of Frankie Silver” occupies a fascinating niche in folk tradition. It belongs to the “Good Night” genre—farewell confession songs typically sung from the perspective of the condemned murderer. In most cases, these ballads center on men who have killed their sweethearts, often echoing themes shared by so-called “Jealous Lover” songs. But Frankie Silver stands apart.

“It is the only Good Night about a female protagonist that I know of,” Stekert notes. “In addition, the murder description is among the most detailed and chilling I’ve heard.”

Despite scholarly curiosity, the song—like so many enduring folk narratives—refuses to answer its most haunting questions. Why did Frankie commit the crime that condemned her at only eighteen years old? Was she acting in self-defense, jealousy, or under circumstances lost to time?

“This is the hallmark of folk songs,” Stekert explains. “They draw in the listener to fill out the story. We never know why Lord Randall was poisoned by his sweetheart or why Sir Patrick Spens had to sail to his death. If any story begged for an answer, this one does.”

With her commanding voice, deep historical knowledge, and lifelong dedication to traditional music, Ellen Stekert brings the mystery of Frankie Silver vividly into the present—inviting listeners to lean closer, listen deeper, and decide for themselves.

“The Ballad Of Frankie Silver” is available now on all major streaming platforms including Bandcamp.