Photography – Ellen Stekert

Folklorist and singer Ellen Stekert unveils rare, behind-the-scenes photographs from the 1964 Newport Folk Festival

By Christopher Bahn on Saturday, March 14, 2026

Ellen Stekert, distinguished folksinger, folklorist, and Professor Emerita, has announced the first public release of her private photographic archive. Now available for purchase, the debut collection features evocative, candid prints from the historic 1964 Newport Folk Festival, captured from Stekert’s unique vantage point as a backstage insider.

Prints are available now at: https://ellenstekert.darkroom.com/collections/1964-newport-folk-festival.

While many remember 1964 as the year before Bob Dylan “went electric,” Stekert experienced the festival as a companion and documentarian for legendary Kentucky singer Sarah Ogan Gunning. Armed with a Leica M2 and backstage access, Stekert captured intimate moments of folk royalty that have remained unseen for over sixty years.

The collection includes striking, unposed portraits of:

Bob Dylan: Caught in quiet moments backstage and at a topical song workshop.
Mississippi John Hurt & Elizabeth Cotten: A joyful candid moment that mirrors a famous shot by photojournalist Dave Gahr.
Doc Watson: A rare, atmospheric interior shot of the guitar legend resting with his mother.
Sarah Ogan Gunning: Powerful images of the “Southern Mountain Oracle” during her first-ever airplane trip and festival performance.
And many other icons including Pete Seeger, Malvina Reynolds, Peter Yarrow, Hedy West, and Theo Bikel.

“I had no theme in mind but to capture the Festival Sarah and I saw,” says Stekert. “The camera served as a record and a check on my impressions. I am honored that these amateur shots, born out of friendship and fieldwork, can now be shared with those who love this music and its history.”

This release marks the beginning of a larger archival project. In the coming months, Stekert will release further photographs documenting her multi-decade career at the heart of the American folk revival.

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!

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!”