Songs/stories in VA hill dialect?

Subject: Songs/stories in VA hill dialect?
From: Shula
Date: 29 Mar 99 - 02:01 AM

Dear folks,

I want to ask a favour. In the very kind thread which asked after me, I posted a response in an approximation of the Virginia hill dialect I recall from the folk who lived on or near my grandfather's place in the Blue Ridge, between Hot Springs and Covington. He could speak this dialect -- though it was not his habitual form of speech -- and often told stories in it, though his songs were drawn from a wider range and, generally, older sources. (Many were variants of English,Scottish and Irish folksongs that had found their way to the new world with colonists from the British Isles, e.g. [the many versions of] Barbara Allen.)

The favour is this: does anyone know any songs or stories from this part of the country, especially in dialect? My childhood memories are of "snips and snatches." I would love to flesh them out. (Before the scholars point out the volumes, "Traditional Ballads of Virginia" and "More T. B. o. V." Let me say that those were collected from that "wider range" to which I alluded earlier, and written under the auspices of the same Va. Folklore Society to which my grandfather devoted so much of his time and effort. (In fact, the family always insisted that without "Mr. Ben's" assistance, the author, Mr. Davis, wouldn't have known where to go or whom to ask for the material for his books.) It is material specifically in the local patois, for which I am currently searching.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Shula

P.S. Aside to Joe O.: when I showed you my copy of "M.B.o.V." I neglected to show you that it had originally been a presentation copy from one of the editors to Burl Ives (!!!), my childhood "favourite" folksinger, which tickled me no end when I discovered it. Of course, he mustn't have thought much of it to part with it, I suppose. Oh, and BTW, I just read a quote about Mr. Ives: Carl Sandburg called him "The mightiest ballad singer of this or any other century." I guess my childish preference had a bit more weight behind it than my own paltry puerile opinion, eh?

Subject: RE: Songs/stories in VA hill dialect?
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 29 Mar 99 - 02:48 AM

Shula: You probably are familiar with the books that Richard Chase published of tales from the Southern Mountains, namely Jack Tales and Grandfather Tales. Memory tells me they were both published by Houghton Miflin. Betty Smith's new study of Jane Hicks Gentry includes everal Jack tales and others. I know this one is available from Amazon books.

I recorded an album (now available as a "custom" cassette) of Richard Chase telling three Jack tales to a group of kids in a one-room schoolhouse in the mountains of east Tennessee. Chase was a collector, of course, and not a native of the mountains, so his dialect is assumed. On the other hand, I recorded a number of Jack tales from Frank Proffitt's brother-in-law, Ray Hicks, on Beech Mountain, North Carolina, back in 1962. I released four of Ray's tales, told in his very strong, natural mountain dialect, on an LP and have now re-issued it as a cassette. Ray Hicks has since become quite well-known for his tale-telling, has been featured in National Geographic, goes to the Jonesboro Storytelling Festival, etc., but my recording was done before his tellings became (to my mind) unfortunately self-conscious. I think these recordings may be the sort of thing you are looking for.

Take a look at Folk-Legacy

Sandy

Subject: RE: Songs/stories in VA hill dialect?
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 29 Mar 99 - 02:52 AM

Darn it, Joe, I've done it again! I forgot the "/i" after Jane Hicks Gentry! If you look at this thread, I'd sure appreciate the application of your magic correctional cookie.

Sandy, cyberklutz.

Subject: RE: Songs/stories in VA hill dialect?
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 29 Mar 99 - 02:58 AM

Actually, Joe, it seems to have been after the title of Chase's book Grandfather Tales. The only italics after that were supposed to be for Jane Hicks Gentry. Welcome home, lad. I've sure missed you!

Super klutz.

Subject: RE: Songs/stories in VA hill dialect?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Mar 99 - 03:15 AM

Your wish is my command, Sandy. the missing "i" has been added.
funny you should mention the Richard Chase books. I told Shula about them when I was at her house last week. I have The Jack Tales. I found Grandfather Tales on the counter of a used book store last year, but it had already been spoken for. Darn. I hate it when that happens. Amazon says they're both still in print, but I like it better when I find 'em used and at bargain prices.
Dover has reissued a Richard Chase book called American Folk Tales and Songs, which is a very nice collection.
Shula read me a passage from "Brer Rabbit" last week, and I must say she does a very credible job of the dialect.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Songs/stories in VA hill dialect?
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 29 Mar 99 - 03:21 AM

Miracles within fifteen minutes time! Joe, you are really something else! I hear you had some good song sessions down in the nation's capitol, too. Sorry I couldn't get there.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Songs/stories in VA hill dialect?
From: Shula
Date: 29 Mar 99 - 03:45 AM

Dear Sandy and Joe,

Yes, I am interested in the Jack Tales and Grandfather Tales, which I intend to look into presently. Thank you both for reccommending them. ( And thanks for the [faint] praise, Joe, regarding Uncle Remus; I'll try to be better prepared when next we meet.) The thing of it is, however, that the dialects in these works are akin, but not identical to, the one with which I am familiar from childhood.

It is a common perception by those outside an area to hear the similarities rather than the differences in various accents from that area. For example, I can differentiate a Boston accent from a Maine accent, but beyond that, I would have to defer to a student of New England regional dialects.

However, I can tell a great deal more about the subtle differences between dialects from my own region. (My mother once boasted to a "Yankee" acquaintance who claimed that "all Southern accents sound alike," that she could tell by a Virginian's speech, not only whether he had been reared in town or country, tidewater or piedmont, but his locale and level of education, how long his family had resided in the state, and their approximate income back three generations.)

I keep hoping to turn up source material specific to the dialect of the long-time denizens of the Virginia Blue Ridge, even though I know this is a very narrow search, and the prospects rather dim. But many thanks for trying.

Sincerely,

Shula

Subject: RE: Songs/stories in VA hill dialect?
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 29 Mar 99 - 05:23 PM

Shula: I knew when I posted the above that you were looking for the softer speech of the Virginia Blue Ridge, not that of the North Carolina Blue Ridge where I did most of my collecting (just a bit south of the Virginia/Carolina border in Wautauga County). However, I did record one album from Virginia for Folkways before I started Folk-Legacy, namely: Horton Barker of Chilhowie, Virginia, the great blind ballad singer who had sung at those White Top festivals back in the 30s. You might want to give it a listen. Tony Seeger at the Smithsonian is keeping all of those old Folkways albums available either as cassettes or as "custom" CDs.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Songs/stories in VA hill dialect?
From: Shula
Date: 29 Mar 99 - 10:36 PM

Dear Sandy,

Jes' th' ticket, yessiree-bobtail! Rahght plum tickl't! But, na-uh, see heah, young fellah, -- 'zackly how's a bah-deh s'postuh git t' *heah* this chahmin bit uh hist'ry's awl Ah wawnuh know? Thankee kinely, how-s'm-evah, fuh th' sniffuh.

Yor-uhz truleh,

Miz Shula

Subject: RE: Songs/stories in VA hill dialect?
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 30 Mar 99 - 12:34 AM

Shula: If you can't get a copy via your local library, I'd suggest going straight to the Smithsonian/Folkways web site and checking it out. You'll see the Horton Barker record on one of Rick Fielding's long lists in that other thread about "folk favorites." He says he goes back to it often as one of his favorite traditional albums. That makes me feel right proud!

Sandy