This week, voices. A collection of contemporary folk singers with unique and authentic voices recorded live at Ozark Folk Center State Park.

Ballad singing is a primary form of expression in folk music. Folk ballads merge melody and story to recount events but also transport the listener to an emotional space. How well a ballad can bring the listener into that space very much depends on the singer. Less important to an effective folk singer are the rudimentary aspects of singing than is the authentic sound of their voice. The timbre and character of the singer’s voice in service to the ballad becomes the vehicle, transporting the listener into that emotional space. Ozark original and legendary folk balladeer Almeda Riddle for an example. As much as the stories Almeda relates, it’s the sound of her instantly recognizable and authentic voice that moves listeners deep into the hills and hollers of the Ozarks.

Featured on this episode are an all-star lineup of contemporary folk balladeers including: world renowned vocalist & educator Moira Smiley with the Jayme Stone Project; Ozark original & Smithsonian Folklife Festival performer Carolina Mendoza; Ozark original and Creek Rocks vocalist & multi-instrumentalist Cindy Woolf; OFC regular & prolific singer-songwriter Carolyn Carter; Ozark original vocalist & multi-instrumentalist Pam Setser with The Ozark Granny Chicks; inimitable folk singer & multi-instrumentalist Grace Stormont; and award winning Eureka Springs, AR singer-songwriter Melissa Carper with The Buffalo Gals.

In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, OHR producer Jeff Glover offers a 1973 archival recording of Ozark original singer, Aunt Ollie Gilbert, performing the traditional Ozark ballad “The Ballad of Cole Younger” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.

In his segment “Back in the Hills,” writer, professor, and historian Dr. Brooks Blevins profiles the “Voice of the Ozarks,” the legendary Ozark original balladeer Almeda Riddle. Featured is a 1957 recording of Almeda performing the traditional Ozark ballad “The Oxford Girl,” courtesy of the Lyon College Wolf Folklore Collection.