Origins: Music of Appalachia

Subject: RE: Origins: Music of Appalachia
From: Janie
Date: 07 Nov 14 - 05:33 PM

No apology needed, Brian, at least not to this hillbilly. I love the old ballads and am glad they were collected. I am descended on both sides of my family from German, Welsh, and Scots-Irish who headed west quickly and were in the Appalachian mountains and plateau areas of what are now Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia pre-revolution, and in most cases, by about the time of the French-and-Indian War. My grandfather, by the time I was born, sang only unaccompanied and only hymns, due to his religious beliefs, but he sang those hymns very much in the same style as those old, unaccompanied ballads.

The musical tradition, and the ethnic heritage of the Appalachians, however, is much richer than ballads that can be traced back to Child, or were collected by Sharp and his ilk. Not much interest or appreciation of the fullness of the heritage music of the central and southern Appalachians on Mudcat beyond those old and early collected ballads.

I understand that and no website can be all things to all people. I also understand that Sharp was focused on the English/UK folk revival and his interest, and therefore what he focused his collection on, were the songs and musical styles he came across in the isolated hills and hollers (or coves, for the NC folks:>) of the region that clearly traced back to the UK.

But that ain't the whole story and there are times when I wish there was an appreciation (or at least interest) in the diversity of Appalachian folk music, older and newer, than there is here on Mudcat.

Subject: RE: Origins: Music of Appalachia
From: Janie
Date: 07 Nov 14 - 06:30 PM

Vandalia Gathering offers a very eclectic appreciation of the diversity and the change over time of trad. music, in all it's permeations, in the Central Appalachians. Nothing static about folk music.

Mountain Music of WV

Subject: RE: Origins: Music of Appalachia
From: tenn_jim
Date: 07 Nov 14 - 10:39 PM

I, for one, have played (or attempted to perform) many of the old ballads and gospel songs of the Appalachian people for nigh on to 70+ years with little thought to the stories behind those songs. I did notice fairly early in my life that lyrics changed but melodies seem to remain somewhat similar. But I just dismissed it as insignificant. Now as I look back on the past years, I can see how each set of lyrics told a unique story and the melody was just a convenience to allow the story to be told musically.   Take for example, the song "In The Pines"-and Where Did You Sleep... As sung be different ethnic people, different lyrics. As janie said, the music of the region is diverse and rich in historical and ethnic character.

Subject: RE: Origins: Music of Appalachia
From: tenn_jim
Date: 08 Nov 14 - 06:57 AM

Bela Lam recorded for Okeh in the 20s. One song he recorded with his Greene County Singers was a tune - May, Dearest May.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bVsN-vP01w

Does anyone know the origin of this song?

Thanks