Soprano Linked to Niles and Merton Passes Away

Jacqueline Roberts, a soprano from Kentucky, has passed away at the age of 92. Known for her collaboration with composer and folk balladeer John Jacob Niles, Roberts played a significant role in bringing poetry by Trappist monk Thomas Merton to life through music. Her obituary notes that she died on March 3 in Gainesville, Florida.

Roberts was a long-time resident of Gratz Park in Lexington and had a career deeply rooted in music education. She served as a member of the faculty at Eastern Kentucky University and Asbury College, while also offering private voice lessons. However, it was her work with Niles that left an indelible mark on her career.

Their partnership began in 1967 when they first met, and it lasted for 17 years. In a 2001 article from the Herald-Leader, Roberts reflected on their connection: “We just clicked,” she said. “He liked a singer who was very expressive to tell a song’s story. And I seemed to have the kind of voice he wanted.”

The duo would rehearse twice a week at Boot Hill Farm, Niles’ home near Athens, often accompanied by an accompanist. They also performed at social gatherings hosted by Niles and his wife, Rena. For a decade, Roberts traveled with the couple across the country, performing concerts. When Niles was setting Merton’s poetry to music, he specifically envisioned Roberts’ voice.

In the year before his death in 1968, Merton visited Boot Hill and heard Roberts perform an early version of what would become the Niles-Merton Song Cycle. According to Roberts, Merton was moved to tears by her performance.

Merton later wrote about the experience, stating, “I do think John Niles has brought out a lot of what I wanted to say and made me value my own poems more ... and I burst into tears at Jackie’s singing.”

Ron Pen, director of the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music at the University of Kentucky and author of a biography on Niles, highlighted the significance of their collaboration. He told Herald-Leader columnist Tom Eblen that the art songs Niles composed were among the strongest of his life, written specifically for Roberts’ voice.

“Occasionally, throughout history, a few composers have been able to collaborate with a performer in a special way, to have the luxury of trying out material and writing for a specific voice,” Pen said. “This was one of those relationships.”

Even after Niles’ passing in 1980, Roberts continued to perform his works at colleges and other venues. In 2001, she published a memoir titled A Journey with John Jacob Niles: A Memoir of My Years with Johnnie, detailing her experiences with the composer.

Gay Reading, a longtime friend of the Niles family, described Roberts as a true artist. “Johnnie, who was picky as hell, recognized it,” Reading said. He recalled Roberts as “very charming, sweet, natural, humble, bubbly.” He also praised her husband, Helm, and their beautiful family.

Roberts, born Jacqueline Warnick, grew up in Russell and performed with the Warnick Family Band from the age of five. She studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. After marrying Helm Roberts, an architect and city planner who designed the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the couple earned master’s degrees at Miami University in Ohio.

They lived briefly in Los Angeles, where she sang with the Roger Wagner Chorale. The couple had two sons, Bruce and John, and were married for 55 years.

Reading shared a memorable story about Roberts from his time serving in the U.S. infantry in Vietnam. On his birthday, Niles and Roberts performed a concert, which was recorded by Helm and sent to him in the field.

“I’d been carrying it around in the jungle for a few days,” Reading said. “When I got back to the boat where I was stationed, I put the little reel-to-reel tape in the player I shared with the guys in my squad.”

From half a world away came Roberts’ voice, singing Niles’ “For My Brother: Reported Missing in Action, 1943” and “The Greek Women.” “I burst into tears,” he said. “It was the voice of a friend.”

A graveside service for Roberts is scheduled for 11 a.m. on June 6 at Lexington Cemetery.