Short bio: Ellen Stekert, professor and musician, has been recognized as one of the pioneering scholars in the field of folklore studies. She is professor emerita of English and American Studies at the University of Minnesota, and was the first Minnesota State Folklorist in 1976. Ellen is noteworthy not only as a folksong collector, but as a performer herself, having recorded four albums of folk in the 1950s and performing frequently for many years. More recently, she released two new collections of music, Go Around Songs, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, as well as a remastered edition of her 1956 record Ballads of Careless Love. Now in her 90s, Ellen plans to continue sharing much more from her archive of historic music and photography.
For more about Ellen’s life and academic career, a longer bio is available on the About Ellen Stekert page of this website. For more about her music, including streaming audio of both her recent albums and her 1950s work, please visit the Music & Performing page. For more information, to request music for review, or to contact Ellen for an interview, please visit the Contact Us page. To see previous articles and press about Ellen, visit the Press & Publicity page.
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