Almeda Riddle (AR) 1898-1986 informant Wolf
[Granny Riddle, as she was later called, kept learning songs at least until the 1970s when she was still being recorded by John Wolf. A number of her songs were learned from books and printed materials including her fine version of "Braes o' Yarrow," which should not be considered traditional.
R. Matteson 2015]
Almeda Fraye James (nee Riddle) was born November 21, 1898 in Cleburne, Arkansas. Her father Jonas L. James married Martha F Wilkerson December 6, 1891. Almeda was married October 3, 1917 to Hester Price Riddle. She died in June 1986 - Heber Springs, Cleburne, Arkansas. Some of Almeda's siblings were: Clarinda (Clara) James 1894 – ?; Verda R James, 1902 – ?; and Erma A. James 1907 – ?.
Some of her memories and songs are recorded in Abrahams, "A Singer and her Songs," 1970. From an online bio:
Her father Jonas L. James was a fiddler, a singer, and a teacher of shaped-note singing. The church she attended throughout her life used unaccompanied singing and this practice reinforced her use of traditional unaccompanied style as a ballad singer. Almeda was "discovered" by John Quincy Wolfe, a professor at Arkansas (now Lyon) College who brought her to the attention of Alan Lomax, John Lomax's son. Alan had, by this time, taken up the work his father had begun and was the best known collector of American traditional music. Usually called Granny Riddle, Almeda traveled to such places as Harvard and the Newport Folk Festival to sing, and she left behind an extensive body of recorded traditional songs. More than eighty field recordings of Almeda Riddle can be heard, along with scores by other Arkansas singers, on the website "The John Quincy Wolfe Collection: Ozark Folksongs."