As a small child in Viper, Kentucky, Jean Ritchie secretly taught herself her father's forbidden dulcimer, and when he caught her he declared her a natural born musician. This episode follows the youngest of 14 children from a family that shared an oral repertoire of more than 300 ballads, hymns and work songs, through her University of Kentucky degree in social work, her move to New York's Henry Street Settlement, and her discovery by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Alan Lomax.

The hosts discuss the gatekeeping she faced from scholar Maud Karpeles, her 1952 Fulbright trip across England, Scotland and Ireland with photographer husband George Pickow to trace the roots of her family's songs, the Barbara Allen icebreaker that opened doors in remote villages, and the dulcimer workshop she and George built under the Williamsburg Bridge that sold  ...