Lily May Ledford

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Lily May Ledford was the original “banjo-pickin’girl” and the leader of the Coon Creek Girls, the first all-woman stringband on radio. Pioneers among women performers, they played their own instruments and expanded the repertoire of what was considered acceptable material for women. Ledford earned the National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Award shortly before her death in 1985, and “Gems” makes it clear that Ledford deserves a place in the canon for both her technical ability and her singular impact on the genre.