Ian Kirkpatrick, of Knoxville, is one of Tennessee’s most accomplished young ballad singers. In 2021, he received the Emerging Traditional Artist Award from South Arts in recognition of his work with traditional ballad singers, including Sheila Kay Adams, Carmen McCord Hicks, and Donna Ray Norton. The following year, he first participated in the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, studying with Hicks and learning the distinctive ballad repertoire her family has preserved in the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee.
Ian’s pathway as a ballad singer reflects a combination of traditional oral transmission and modern research. His ancestors settled in what is now Claiborne County, Tennessee, in the late eighteenth century, and his family has maintained a continuous tradition of unaccompanied ballad singing across generations. Ian recalls his grandmother regularly waking him by singing “Barbara Allen” while preparing the morning coffee, while his mother introduced him to Irish interpretations of traditional ballads through recordings by The Dubliners and The Pogues.
He has also learned directly from respected tradition bearers including Hicks, Adams, Norton, Joe Penland, Bobby McMillon, William Ritter, Sarah Burkey, Susan Pepper, Elizabeth LaPrelle, and many others. In addition, Ian has studied archival collections such as the Tilman Cadle Collection at East Tennessee State University and the C. P. Cambiaire Collection at Lincoln Memorial University. He uses the phrase “knee-to-stream” to describe the contemporary experience of learning ballads through online recordings and digitized archival collections.
While he values recordings and archival collections as important educational resources, Ian believes they cannot replace the personal relationship that develops when one singer teaches another. “I want this tradition to survive because it means more than ever before,” Ian explains. “To know a ballad you learned knee-to-knee and heart-to-heart is something you remember forever.”
As part of this year’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, Ian is teaching traditional ballad singing to Ellie Smith of Johnson City. Originally from Wilkes County, North Carolina, Ellie grew up immersed in bluegrass and old-time music traditions. Although sacred music and shape-note singing were part of her family’s musical life, she did not encounter the tradition of unaccompanied ballad singing until becoming involved with the Western North Carolina ballad community in Madison County. There, she was welcomed into the tradition by experienced singers, including master artist Donna Ray Norton, who became her primary early influence. Ellie has been actively studying and performing traditional ballads since March 2025.
“With this apprenticeship,” Ellie says, “I intend to continue learning traditional ballads while expanding my repertoire, my knowledge of their history, and my understanding of the people who preserved these songs. I want to spend time working with Ian because he is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to obscure songs in the tradition and their historical context. He has documented these songs thoroughly, and I believe I would benefit greatly from learning them directly from him while helping preserve the legacy of a true master of the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina ballad tradition.”
The apprenticeship will focus on developing techniques for learning, memorizing, and accurately retaining lengthy narrative ballads, many of which contain thirty or more verses. The apprentice will learn to recognize and reproduce the nuanced phrasing, ornamentation, pitch inflection, melodic variation, rhythmic flexibility, sustained tones, and expressive trills that characterize traditional unaccompanied ballad singing. Instruction will also emphasize the interpretive skills needed to convey ballad narratives with clarity, emotional depth, and dramatic expression.
