Program 2

Program 2: Diversity in Appalachian Music (CS 102)
Description: In this hour we explore the Black and Women's presence and influence in Appalachian Music.

 

PART 1 Women In Appalachian Music
Track List: 1) ‘Pliney Jane’ performed by Grandpa Jones and Ramona Jones 2) ‘Wake Up Susan’ performed by Ramona Jones 3) “I Will Follow Thee” performed by Wade and Julia Mainer 4) ‘Jonah’ performed by Julia Mainer 5) “When Flowers Encompass Me Round” performed by Jean Ritchie” 6) “Little Margaret” or “Lady Margaret” performed by Betty Smith 7) ‘You Nearly Lose Your Mind’ The Walker Family 8) ‘Sit At Home’ performed by the Gem Sisters 9) ‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’ performed by the Gem Sisters

Julia and Wade Mainer

Intro: Sitting in the back of the Basement of Hutchins Library in Madison County Kentucky is the Berea College Sound Archives, home to 20,000 hours of non-commercial and field recordings of Appalachian music. In the back office is where I work archiving these recordings. And this is where we will explore the world of Appalachian music and discover many recordings that may have only ever before been heard by a hand full of people. This is me John King and if you are ready, let’s begin an hour tour of a musical Appalachia on this: Celebrated Sounds Of Appalachia.


As we are exploring Appalachian music we are learning of the vast diversity in it’s music and people. this hour we will be looking closer into some of the groups who have carried the musical spirit of Appalachia.

They say ‘Behind every great man is a great woman’, in Folk music there have been some great women behind great men. Often overshadowed by her husband’s fame but an amazing musician in her own right, is Ramona Jones. Most of us recognize the name Grandpa Jones as the renowned banjoist and mainstay on Hee Haw and the Grand Ole Opry, but with him every step of the way was his wife, the fiddle player Ramona Jones. The two met in the 1940s while performing for local radio stations in Nashville tennessee, married and joined the grand Ol’ Opry in 1946. Ramona was the first female lead fiddle on the show and still performs at the Grand Ol’ Opry today. we’ll listen to Ramona play a fiddle tune in Berea in 1986 but first let’s listen to Grandpa and Ramona sing the duet ‘Pliney Jane.’

(‘Pliney Jane’ performed by Grandpa Jones and Ramona Jones) (‘Wake Up Susan’ performed by Ramona Jones).

Another renowned banjoist is Wade Mainer, who performed for an astounding 6 decades before his death in 2011 at the age of 104. Wade got his start playing for radio stations in North Carolina, where he met his wife, Julia, in 1934. Julia was a regionally known musician who performed under the name Hillbilly Lilly at WSJS radio in Winston-Salem. The two became deeply religious and for a time stopped playing music until a church member suggested they could use music to spread the gospel truth. The two began playing and recording again in the 1970s and continued for two decades. Let’s here Wade and Julia sing the gospel song ‘I Will Follow Thee’ followed by Julia singing the powerful ‘Jonah’

(“I Will Follow Thee” performed by Wade and Julia Mainer)
(‘Jonah’ performed by Julia Mainer).

back in the 1950s coffee shops and college campuses were filled with the sounds that would soon spread nation wide as the folk revival gained momentum. a lot of the attention was directed towards one person in particular, a young woman from Viper Kentucky named Jean Ritchie. the youngest of 14 children, Ritchie moved to New York City in the 1940s with a degree in social work, and began singing old family songs and ballads. She met and began playing with Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and others, and soon became known as the Mother of Folk. Jean Ritchie now lives in Berea Kentucky, let’s listen to an unaccompanied ballad she performed in Berea in 1986.

(“When Flowers Encompass Me Round” performed by Jean Ritchie”).

Another well respected woman in Appalachian music is Betty Smith, and educator and folk historian born Madison County North Carolina. In this recording she retells a story of Historian Bascom Lamar Lunsford and sings the ballad “Little Margaret.”

(“Little Margaret” or “Lady Margaret” performed by Betty Smith).

We can’t talk about Women in Appalachian music without talking about country music. Ever since the big bang of country music in Bristol Tennessee in 1926 Women have always held a prominent role in country music here in the mountains. The Walker Family from Summer Shade Kentucky played country tunes for nearly 40 years in this area. This next song, ‘You Nearly Lose Your Mind’ was performed by Nell and Ima Gene Walker at Berea College’s Celebration of Traditional Music in 1982.

(‘You Nearly Lose Your Mind’ The Walker Family).

Another Female Duet team, The Gem Sisters, also performed that year at Celebration. let’s hear two songs from their performance, the first, ‘Sit At Home’, a song from the musical Poplin Family followed by the gospel song “Give Me Just A lIttle More Time”.

(‘Sit At Home’ performed by the Gem Sisters)
(‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’ performed by the Gem Sisters). 

PART 2 Black History in Appalachian Music

10) ‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’ performed by the Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers 11) ‘John The Revelator’ performed by Sparky Rucker and Ed Cabbell 12) ‘The Sun Will Never Go Down’ song and lecture by Ed Cabbell 13) ‘Sick and Down Blues’ performed by Nat Reese 14) Hold On To God’s Unchanging Hand’ performed by Hosea Hudson 15) ‘Amazing Grace’ performed by The Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers

(‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’ performed by the Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers)

Wait a minute! what was that? has my life changed forever? you may be asking yourself, well yes it has, because you have just been introduced to the wonderful sounds of the Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers, who were also singing ‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’ ...and now it’s time to hear some great songs from the black Appalachian traditions. Black musicians, storytellers, and historians have always played a strong role in Appalachian culture; Ed Cabbell and Sparky Rucker have spent their lives preserving this culture. Ed Cabbell was also the first African American to receive a master’s degree in Appalachian studies and has spent the last 3 decades researching black life in the Mountains. First we’ll hear Sparky Rucker and Ed Cabbell sing ‘John The Revelator’ followed by a brief lecture and song by Cabbell.

Sparky and Rhonda Rucker

(‘John The Revelator’ performed by Sparky Rucker and Ed Cabbell)

(‘The Sun Will Never Go Down’ song and lecture by Ed Cabbell)

Another musician that came out of the West Virginia coal camp area was Nat Reese. Reese was born in 1924 in Virginia and at the age of 4 moved to West Virginia with his family so his father could find work in the coal mines. Reese grew up in the coal camps and for a time he worked as a coal miner but then thought ‘i don’t think i want to do that anymore’ and he set off to earn his way as a musician.

(‘Sick and Down Blues’ performed by Nat Reese)

Hosea Hudson was born in 1898 in Wilkes County Georgia and worked as a union activist in Birmingham Alabama in the 1920s and 30s. in in 1979 he retold some of the stories and songs of that time.

(Hold On To God’s Unchanging Hand’ performed by Hosea Hudson).

We have heard some amazing stories this hour, I hope you’ll join me next time for even more, until then let’s out with The Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers doing a shape note version of Amazing Grace.

(‘Amazing Grace’ performed by The Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers)

Resources:
Spottswood, Dick. Banjo on the Mountain: Wade Mainer's First Hundred Years. University Press of Mississippi.

Jones, Louis M. "Grandpa" with Charles K. Wolfe. Everybody's Grandpa: Fifty Years Behind The Mike. University of Tennessee Press. 1984.