Christopher Bahn

Christopher Bahn is a writer and editor in Minneapolis, and a former student of Ellen's. Visit his site at www.christopherbahn.com for more about his books and other work.

Ellen’s photography of the 1964 Newport Folk Festival out now!

By Christopher Bahn on Thursday, September 18, 2025

Hi folks,

Ellen’s personal archives include hundreds of photographs of interest to fans of folk music and folklore. We are just starting to digitize, clean up, and organize this treasure trove of images, which includes material from Ellen’s folksong collecting trips, her childhood in 1940s and 1950s New York, and Ellen’s concerts and other public appearances. We will be posting many of these here on ellenstekert.com, and plan to offer some of the best of these for sale as prints and posters in the near future. (More details on that very soon!)

We thought we’d start with images taken at the historic Newport Folk Festival in 1964. Most of these have never been publicly released before now. These photos include intimate and informal behind-the-scenes images of Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Peter Yarrow, Malvina Reynolds, Mississippi John Hurt, Doc Watson, and many more. Check it out on the Photography page!

Music

Ellen releases new single, “Shugo”: A rare folk treasure unearthed from the lumbercamps of upstate New York

By Christopher Bahn on Friday, August 29, 2025

Folksinger, folklorist, and cultural historian Ellen Stekert has released her latest single, “Shugo”—a playful, rarely-heard piece of Americana with roots in vaudeville, circus songsters, and the lumbercamps of upstate New York.

“This is a nonsense song first sung to me by an old lumberjack in the 1950s named Ezra ‘Fuzzy’ Barhight,” writes Stekert. “It probably has vaudeville or music hall origins. He learned it from a song pamphlet sold at a traveling circus. Since he was a bit of a trickster, he liked the song a lot.”

<a href="https://ellenstekert.bandcamp.com/track/shugo">Shugo by Ellen Stekert</a>

Ellen worked very closely with Fuzzy during her days as a folksong collector—he was one of the two singers she wrote about for her Ph.D. thesis, and her 1958 Smithsonian Folkways album Songs of a New York Lumberjack was made up entirely of songs she learned from him. Fuzzy first played “Shugo” for Ellen when they first met in March 1956, but Ellen’s version of the song, heard above, wasn’t done for the Smithsonian sessions but was recorded about 10 years later.

The song itself describes “a man a bit strange,” delivered with humor and good-natured absurdity. Like many printed folk songs of its time, the words were set to the tune of another well-known melody, borrowing a chorus of nearly impossible-to-sing nonsense syllables. The result is a joyful chaos reminiscent of “Shule Aroo” and other playful traditions in folk music.

Stekert recalls how the song’s spirited nonsense always became a highlight of her concerts:

“In the spirit of the song as humorous nonsense, I often encouraged a concert audience to sing along on it—a request that usually brought on a good deal of laughter.”

With “Shugo,” Stekert once again bridges the gap between history and performance, reviving a song that traveled from circus pamphlets to lumbercamps, and now into the hands of a new generation of listeners.

“Shugo” is available now on all major streaming platforms and Bandcamp.

Credits

Released August 22, 2025
Guitar, Vocals: Ellen Stekert
Informant: Ezra “Fuzzy” Barhight
Producer: Ross Wylde
Production Assistant: Bates Detwiler
Editorial & Publicity Manager: Christopher Bahn

Music

New release: Ellen sings Malvina Reynolds’ “On the Rim of the World”

By Christopher Bahn on Wednesday, July 30, 2025

We’re happy to announce a newly remastered single from Ellen’s personal archives: “On the Rim of the World,” a powerful and poignant song by legendary songwriter Malvina Reynolds.

<a href="https://ellenstekert.bandcamp.com/album/on-the-rim-of-the-world">On the Rim of the World by Ellen Stekert</a>

The recording, originally performed by Ellen at her home in 1980, was never intended for commercial release—distributed only among a small circle of friends. Decades later, the track has been carefully brought to new life by California singer-songwriter Ross Wylde, who used AI technology to enhance the original tape. The result is a haunting and intimate version of Reynolds’ song that feels as immediate and urgent as when it was first sung.

The single’s cover features a photo taken by Ellen herself—capturing Reynolds deep in thought and mid-song on a ferry from Vancouver to Hornby Island in 1973. The two were close during Stekert’s time as a Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley in the early ’70s, often traveling and performing together.

“On the Rim of the World” is a striking commentary on homelessness, loss, and the vulnerability of life on the margins. Written by Reynolds after the death of her husband, Bud, it is—like much of her work—both deeply personal and broadly political.

“As with most of Malvina’s songs, the song is not primarily a statement about her situation,” Stekert explains. “It is about a woman, a girl, a child without means, about homelessness and bare despair. This song is as pertinent today as when she wrote it in the 1970s.”

“On The Rim of the World” is now available on major streaming platforms and Bandcamp. This intimate recording, half a century in the making, is not just a tribute to Malvina Reynolds—it is a testament to the endurance of folk music as an art form that speaks across generations.

About the song

Below, Ellen tells the story of her friendship with Malvina Reynolds and her version of “On the Rim of the World”:

Malvina Reynolds was one of the overlooked treasures of the Folksong Revival days. Perhaps it was because she was from the early West Coast “Topical Song” writing days, or perhaps because she was a white-haired “grandmother” when the East Coast Revival was at its peak. Regardless, she was a magnificent performer and had a remarkable and overlooked musicality.

She captured every audience she ever had with her wit, her charm, and her remarkable insight into humanity. Her audiences roared their appreciation of her. She died at the age of 77 in 1978, but she still sings to us! She was simply a remarkable person. I spent a good deal of time with Mal during 1971-1972, when I was a Visiting Professor at U.C. Berkeley. In the summer of 1972, when she had a short tour in Canada and spent some time on Hornby Island, off Vancouver, she asked me to go with her, and so I did.

The cover photograph for “On the Rim of the World” is one I took when on the ferry from Vancouver to Hornby Island. Mal was busy writing a song (typical of her) even as the boat cut through the water, and the seagulls were busy swooping overhead. The slide that is the picture has my hasty writing on it identifying its content — that is, if you can read my printing! Although you have an introduction to “On the Rim of the World” in an accompanying recorded selection with the song, let me tell you about it briefly again: When Malvina first sang the song for me, I thought to myself that the song was both a topical song about homelessness and a song about her own life— since she had just lost her husband, Bud Reynolds. As with most of Malvina’s songs, the song is not primarily a statement about her situation; it is about a woman, a girl, a child without means, about homelessness and bare despair. This song is as pertinent today as when she wrote it in the 1970s. It is a beautiful musical statement and a poignant social comment. Malvina has been gone since 1978, but her work will last a long, long time — and if you ever have a chance to hear one of her performances, you will know why both her songs, as well as her wit and charm totally won over anyone within the sound of her voice.

—Ellen Stekert

Credits

Recorded in 1980. Photograph of Malvina Reynolds taken by Ellen Stekert in 1973 en route to Hornby Island, British Columbia.
Released July 18, 2025
Guitar, Vocals: Ellen Stekert
Composer: Malvina Reynolds
Producer: Ross Wylde
Production Assistant: Bates Detwiler
Editorial & Publicity Manager: Christopher Bahn

Interviews & Press Music

Talking with Paul Metsa on Wall of Power Radio Hour

By Christopher Bahn on Saturday, July 26, 2025

Ellen and I had a great conversation with musician and author Paul Metsa on Thursday for his radio shows in Duluth and the Twin Cities, talking about Ellen’s music and her life in the world of folksingers and folklorists, and particularly her meetings with Woody Guthrie, Reverend Gary Davis, and Alan Lomax.

Ellen’s interview will broadcast on Duluth’s Stars Over the Prairie show 10 a.m. to noon at 610AM-103.9FM or worldwide on streaming at www.kdal610.com. Then she’ll be on Paul’s Wall of Power Radio Hour in the Twin Cities on AM 950 KNTF today at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m.

The streaming audio of the interview can be heard at AM 950’s Wall of Power website, or for your greatest convenience, just play the file below:

Please have a listen and let us know what you think in the comments. We’d love to come back sometime—the time passed very quickly and there are so many more stories to tell.

From the Archives Music

Earliest known home recording of Reverend Gary Davis unearthed in Ellen Stekert’s archive

By Christopher Bahn on Friday, July 18, 2025

A remarkable and historic discovery has just been made in the world of American roots music: a lost 1951 tape of legendary blues and gospel guitarist Reverend Gary Davis has surfaced, believed to be the earliest known home recording of the artist. The tape was uncovered by renowned folklorist Ellen Stekert while sifting through her personal archive of field recordings and photographs — a collection spanning more than seven decades.

The earliest previously known home recordings of Reverend Davis dated to 1953 and were released by Folkways Recordings in the mid-2000s. This newly rediscovered tape predates those by two years and captures Davis at a vital moment: still a street performer in New York City, just beginning to draw the attention of young folk enthusiasts who would soon help propel him to legendary status.

“How did this tape get into my ‘archive’ of tapes that I’ve dragged through a long life of folksongs? I am not certain,” Stekert reflects, “but I think it was recorded that day in 1951… when a group of us insinuated ourselves into a sedan meant for about four fewer of us, along with Dick Hatch’s treasured recording machine. Crowded it was, and a foreshadowing of how the day would go.”

Reverend Gary Davis — then a blind street musician working the sidewalks of New York — had just returned from a day of playing when the group encountered him in the Bronx. He invited the teenagers up to his small apartment. “It was almost as small as Dick’s car,” Stekert recalls. “We piled into the living room space, moving the one large table in the middle to one wall, giving anyone coming into the room only space to crawl under or squeeze past it.

“Gary played, and played. Even though he sang mostly church songs, it made little difference to us — his playing, the ‘music,’ was right out of the traditions of street singers and blues players. He had been working all day, but he loved playing, and he was amazing. How in the world, I wondered, could one person do all that on a single guitar? How could he get that running base and also the melodies (in harmony, to boot) on the upper strings?

“To me, he was a phenomenon. His music offered glimpses of other places I realized I had to visit and understand.”

The tape, recorded by fellow student Dick Hatch, was given to Stekert a few weeks later. “He knew I wanted to listen to that day again,” she says. “I never imagined that the next time I would see Reverend Gary Davis in person would be in 1962 at the Swarthmore Folk Festival, when he and I would share a two-part concert.”

Reverend Davis would go on to be a towering influence in the folk and blues revival movements of the 1960s, inspiring artists such as Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, and Ry Cooder. But in 1951, his music was still largely unknown outside the neighborhoods he played in.

“I saw Davis mesmerize other musicians; he became a much-respected player in the early days of the Folksong Revival in NYC, but he might have been just a bit too early for the time major black musicians took to the Revival Stage. It was a very white world, those early days.

“I kept this tape with others I treasured, and escaped to another world of ‘entertainment’, complete with egos, stars, rumors, and a jargon all its own. The years of education I received in that other world, the world of academia, were hardly more profound than the education I received living through, and re-listening to, Reverend Gary Davis’ music from that one crowded day in the Bronx.”

The recording, which has been remastered by Ellen’s producer, Ross Wylde, can be heard in its entirety on the Swingin’ Pig YouTube channel. To support Ellen and her team’s work digitizing and releasing her archives, listeners are encouraged to subscribe to her Patreon, where the Davis recordings are uploaded in lossless quality.

Press Contact:
Ross Wylde
(650) 867-5830
RossWyldeMusic@gmail.com

Ellen Stekert links:
• Spotify
• Bandcamp

Interviews & Press Music Photography

More news from Down Under

By Christopher Bahn on Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Ellen and producer Ross Wylde got a very nice writeup recently from Nicola Heath of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia’s public media service, talking about Ellen’s musical career from her early days up to the Go Round Songs album and our recent archival music project. Thank you to all the folks at ABC for your continuing interest in Ellen and her work!

The article hints at a few of our planned future releases, which includes a lot more treasures of Ellen’s music, but much more—we’re working on digitizing a wealth of material from her archives, including tapes, photos and film not only of Ellen but other noteworthy artists like Rev. Gary Davis and Malvina Reynolds. The article begins by mentioning that Ross and Ellen first met through Ellen’s photography, when Ross bought a print of Ellen’s candid photo of Bob Dylan behind the scenes at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, which she captured in a casual backstage moment. We have some exciting news on that subject: In the very near future, we’re planning to launch a store where you can buy prints, posters, and digital images of Ellen’s photography from across the decades, which will include some great material from Newport and other concerts, as well as Ellen’s folksong collecting trips and much more. Keep an eye on this website for an upcoming announcement.

EDIT: In a previous version of this post, I wrote that Ellen had actually performed at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, which is incorrect. Ellen reminded me of this: “That’s why I got so many good photos. I was accompanying Sarah Gunning to the festival and it was she who was performing there. She had never been on a plane ride or to a big event like the Festival before, so she asked me to help her and go with her, which I did. It was far more interesting than actually performing!”

Academia Interviews & Press Music

Ellen profiled on University of Minnesota website

By Christopher Bahn on Friday, June 27, 2025

We’re pleased to share this delightful profile of Ellen and our recent archival-music project, “Ellen Stekert: The New Old Sound,” written by Terri Sutton for the University of Minnesota’s College of Liberal Arts website. The article does a great job of exploring Ellen’s history both as a musician and a university professor, and how the two sides of her career influenced each other. It was a difficult balance to maintain, which ultimately led her to choose academia full-time—although music has always stayed in her heart, which is a big reason we’re all here at ellenstekert.com.

Thank you to Terri and everyone at the U of M!

Music

“We were the song”: Ellen releases new single, “Four Strong Winds”

By Christopher Bahn on Thursday, June 26, 2025

In celebration of Pride Month, we decided to release this haunting version of the Ian Tyson classic “Four Strong Winds”. This song was recorded in the mid-1960s. Accompanying Ellen is Marge Doherty, a fellow educator and friend of Ellen’s, who also happened to be a talented singer. This recording is an artifact of LGBTQ+ history.

“Four Strong Winds” is available now on BandCamp.

<a href="https://ellenstekert.bandcamp.com/track/four-strong-winds">Four Strong Winds by Ellen Stekert</a>

About the album

Here is Ellen’s amazing essay about Marge and this recording session:

“Marge was in her early 20s when we met, blonde, fresh-looking, about 5’6”, and clearly very bright. I was in my early 30s, living in Detroit, teaching folklore at Wayne State University. She was in college in a nearby town, finishing her Master’s degree in Physical Education.

It was in the mid-1960s, and I don’t remember exactly how I met her, but I do recall she was part of a group of women physical education teachers who worked at some of the small colleges in the Detroit area. Most members of the group, including Marge, were queer. I’m sure that they knew I was hardly adverse to such relationships, but although both Marge and I knew each other’s ‘proclivities,’ we also knew that our singing somehow transcended any such relationship. As far as I was concerned, the best of our relationship was what we had in our singing… and I wouldn’t have disturbed that for the world.

I had never felt as inspired by anyone’s harmonies or musical interaction with my singing as I did with Marge. She was immensely talented and had an innate ability to predict when and where I would start and stop, syncopate, or accelerate. I never analyzed her harmonies, and I don’t think I want to. In many ways, it is like trying to explain why you love someone, and I did love Marge in our singing, although we never had the physical involvement that it seemed she was keenly afraid of.

In the social environment in which I knew her, such a relationship would have been assumed. Looking back on it, I believe that both of us were determined not to bend to ‘social pressure’ any more than we were determined not to bend to our own inclinations, which I believe we both had.

When Ross and I decided to put ‘Four Strong Winds’ onto streaming platforms, Ross suggested I contact Marge so she could hear it. I found her, or rather, I found her obituary. She had died years ago, quite young, having had what seems a generous and good life as a physical education instructor. But the most poignant thing I read was that she was remembered as being fond of singing and playing her guitar. She never played the guitar when I knew her, and I wondered whether she had found someone else to sing with.

In their advanced years, couples often point to songs that marked their developing relationship. Marge and I could never have done that; Marge and I were the song.”

—Ellen Stekert

The album art is a photograph that Ellen took of her classmates while on a school trip to Europe in the early 1950s. The man on the right is Jean-Claude van Itallie, a friend of Ellen’s who would later write the acclaimed play America Hurrah. The man on the left is unknown.

Lyrics

Four strong winds that blow lonely, seven seas that run high
All those things that don’t change come what may
For our good times are all gone, and I’m bound for movin’ on
I’ll look for you if I’m ever back this way

Think I’ll go out to Alberta
Weather’s good there in the fall
Got some friends that I could go to working for
Still, I wish you’d change your mind
If I ask you one more time
But we’ve been through that a hundred times or more

Four strong winds that blow lonely
Seven seas that run high
All those things that don’t change, come what may
But our good times are all gone
Then I’m bound for movin’ on
I’ll look for you if I’m ever back this way

If I get there before the snow flies
And if things are going good
You could meet me if I send you down the fare
But by then it would be winter
There ain’t much for you to do
And the winds sure can blow lonely way out there

Four strong winds that blow lonely
Seven seas that run high
All those things that don’t change, come what may
But our good times are all gone
And I’m bound for moving on
I’ll look for you if I’m ever back this way

Credits

released June 20, 2025
Guitar, Vocals: Ellen Stekert
Vocals: Marge Doherty
Composer: Ian Tyson
Producer: Ross Wylde
Production Assistant: Bates Detwiler
Editorial & Publicity Manager: Christopher Bahn

Interviews & Press Music

Of parsley, sage, and other spices

By Christopher Bahn on Thursday, June 26, 2025

Andrew Ford, who recently hosted Ellen and her producer Ross on Australian public radio’s The Music Show, has written a terrific article for the independent magazine Inside Story about “Scarborough Fair,” the folk song most famous for its interpretation by Simon & Garfunkel. He discusses many versions of the song, including the one sung by Ellen on Go Round Songs.

As Ford mentions, the song has a long, long history going back to the 17th century or even earlier. It is one of the 305 collected in Francis James Child’s groundbreaking work of folklore scholarship English and Scottish Popular Ballads, better known as The Child Ballads, where it is called “The Cambric Shirt.” Ellen also recorded a version of “Cambric Shirt” with Milt Okun in the 1950s on the album Traditional American Love Songs.

(Incidentally, while researching this post, I found two separate reviews of the album that suggest that Simon’s arrangement might have been influenced not just by Martin Carthy, which is well known, but Milt and Ellen’s version of the song as well. I don’t know how true that really is, but I’d like to think so—it’s certainly likely that he heard both of the previous versions before recording his.)

Here’s audio of both of Ellen’s versions of the song:

<a href="https://ellenstekert.bandcamp.com/album/go-around-songs-vol-1">Go Around Songs, Vol. 1 by Ellen Stekert</a>

Interviews & Press Music

Barking Dog, singing Stekert

By Christopher Bahn on Thursday, June 19, 2025

The fine folks at the folk-music radio show Barking Dog on CKUW in Winnipeg, Manitoba, have been longtime supporters of Ellen’s music and our work here on ellenstekert.com. In fact, they were the very first people to email us, barely a week after we first went online. It’s a terrific show with a wonderfully eclectic and encyclopedic sensibility. Barking Dog has been playing lots of music from Ellen’s Go Around Songs recently on the show, and even wrote about her recently in their blog’s June roundup of links. (And it’s never a bad thing to be on the same page as a great performance by Skip James.)

Thank you to host Juliana Young, producer Dylan Bodner, and everyone at CKUW and Barking Dog! We hope you’re staying safe from the forest fires up there in Manitoba.