Recorded on Minstrel JD-203; Granny Riddle's Songs & Ballads.  Information as quoted from: Arkansas Stories: http://www.arkansasstories.com/folk-music-two.html

"Almeda Riddle was born in 1898, near Greer's Ferry, Arkansas and lived her entire life in that area. Her father was a fiddler, a singer, and a teacher of shaped-note singing. The church she attended throughout her life used unaccompanied singing and this practice reinforced her use of traditional unaccompanied style as a ballad singer.

"Almeda was "discovered" by John Quincy Wolfe, a professor at Arkansas (now Lyon) College who brought her to the attention of Alan Lomax, John Lomax's son. Alan had, by this time, taken up the work his father had begun and was the best known collector of American traditional music. Usually called Granny Riddle, Almeda traveled to such places as Harvard and the Newport Folk Festival to sing, and she left behind an extensive body of recorded traditional songs."

Longer Biography in Arkansas Encyclopedia

Copyright © 2001 Arkansas Stories

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