author
Jean Thomas
b. 1881
A lively champion of Appalachian culture, this Kentucky writer and photographer spent decades collecting songs, stories, crafts, and speech from mountain communities. Her books helped bring regional traditions to a much wider audience.
1 Audiobook
Blue Ridge Country
by Jean Thomas
About the author
Born in Ashland, Kentucky, in 1881, Jean Bell Thomas became known for her deep interest in the music, crafts, and language of Appalachia. She worked as a photographer, writer, and folk festival promoter, and devoted much of her life to recording and celebrating mountain culture.
Thomas is especially associated with the American Folk Song Festival, which she founded in Kentucky in 1930. Through her books and public work, she helped preserve traditional songs and customs at a time when many people feared they might disappear.
Her writing reflects both her enthusiasm for the region and her desire to share its everyday life with readers beyond Appalachia. She lived a long life, dying in 1982, and remains remembered as an energetic popularizer of Appalachian folk traditions.