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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZJACKSON, Aunt Molly(b Mary Magdalene Garland, 1880, Clay Co KY, d 1 Sept. '60). Singer, songwriter, guitarist and political activist. Performer of traditional mountain songs, described by Woody Guthrie as a "female Leadbelly'. Mining in Kentucky took the lives of her brother, husband and son, while another brother and her father were blinded in mining accidents; she began to chronicle these hard times in songs, working for the miner's union and recording her only commercial disc "Kentucky Miner's Wife' for Columbia '31. Between 1935-39 she recorded more than 150 of her songs for the Library of Congress. Appeared with Leadbelly and Josh White in stage show Cavalcade of American Song. She was beginning to gain some recognition from folk revivalists when she died in relative obscurity. A selection of the LoC recordings was issued on Rounder. |