AFS Past President Ellen Stekert Releases Her First Album Since 1958

Folklorist, professor and musician Ellen Stekert—an influential yet often unsung figure of the 1960s folk revival—is releasing her first independent album, Go Around Songs, Vol. 1, today on March 28, 2025. It will be streaming on all platforms. At 89 years old, Stekert is finally bringing her archival recordings to the public, marking a milestone moment in folk music history.

Stekert, a contemporary of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Dave Van Ronk, recorded four albums of folk in the 1950s and continuing to perform frequently for many years. She eventually chose to pursue academia instead of becoming a touring performer and taught for many years at the University of Minnesota, where she is professor emerita of English and American Studies. She was also the first Minnesota State Folklorist in 1976. Stekert served as President of the American Folklore Society (AFS) in 1976–77, and on its executive board from 1969 to 1978. In 1984–89, she was also part of AFS’ Centennial Coordinating Council.

The road to Go Around Songs began in 2020 when Stekert, after retiring at the University of Minnesota, started digitizing her vast archive of recordings.

“Until I started to do my own
digitizing, frankly, I didn’t think I was a good singer”, Stekert recalls. “It was like meeting yourself walking
down the street. I do think I had a really good voice. And I just like to use it. I love to sing; I knew I could
give something to people that way.”

The final push came in 2024 when she met 25-year-old folk musician and producer Ross Wylde through an unexpected encounter on eBay. Wylde, a longtime admirer of her work, was thrilled to discover that Stekert wanted to compile an album. Using cutting-edge AI technology, Wylde remixed and mastered 10 songs recorded between 1954 and 1980, separating vocal and guitar stems from mono recordings to enhance their clarity.

“Ellen’s recorded work is the perfect candidate for this technology,” Wylde explains. “For example, some of these tracks were drowned out by the guitar due to microphone placement, but AI has allowed us to rebalance and elevate them. It’s like science fiction.”

Go Around Songs will bring to life the music of one of the few veterans of the folk revival genre, offering a rare glimpse into an era that shaped American music history. As Stekert puts it,

“I didn’t write songs; I gave them another kind of life so that they would communicate with someone else. The song will talk for itself, but I can give it a new audience and a new life.”