“I’ve Endured” is an autobiographical Ola Belle Reed composition, recorded by Reed during folklorist Henry Glassie’s field-recording sessions from January 1966 to June 1967 and later released by Smithsonian Folkways. The song’s title and chorus — “I’ve worked for the rich, I’ve lived with the poor; Lord, I’ve seen many a heartache, there’ll be many more; I’ve lived, loved and sorrowed, been to success’s door; I’ve endured, I’ve endured” — capture in plain language the through-line of Reed’s life.
Ola Belle Reed (1916–2002) was born in Grassy Creek, Ashe County, North Carolina, and migrated with her family to the Pennsylvania–Maryland border in the early 1930s. As a child she learned Appalachian ballads rooted in the older English and Scottish traditions from her grandmother and mother, and that older song-tradition carried directly into her own songwriting; “I’ve Endured” sits comfortably alongside the older Appalachian autobiographical-ballad tradition while being recognizably Reed’s own composition.
The song crossed into the bluegrass canon through Del McCoury and Tim O’Brien, both of whom have recorded influential versions. Reed was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1986 in recognition of her songwriting and her decades of work in the Appalachian music tradition. “I’ve Endured” remains one of her most-covered compositions and a regular feature at jam sessions where pickers want a Reed-tradition piece with strong autobiographical weight.
