It is still hard to believe that Mt Airy Fiddler’s convention didn’t happen on the first weekend of June 2020. I have been to that convention more than any others over the years. I can’t remember if I have missed it since the late 1970s. So why not have a tune from that part of the region!
Today I checked out of reality as I worked on my farm on a patch of ‘new ground’ still aware of the news in the world. However, I was listening to some tunes by Galax old fiddler Luther Davis on the Galax Way LP, on which he tells stories and plays his fiddle at the age of 95 back in the early 1980s. He told me of the changes that he witnessed in the music since the 1930s and complained about how it had gotten too fast....
There are 24 hours left in our Share The Music Scholarship Campaign! And you can now double your impact and receive a gift! Your contribution will go twice as far in sharing the music this week. If you are able, please help us reach this goal! Contributions of any amount are welcome - every little bit helps students in need. Your support so far has been overwhelming and we are so close to reaching our goal of $5,000 with only 3 days to go. As a token of our appreciation, anyone who donates $25.00 or more this week will receive free admittance to a Handmade Music School Crowdcast workshop of your choice!
The Handmade Music School is asking for your help to make sure learning about traditional music and dancing of southwest Virginia are accessible to anyone interested in learning. Our "Share The Music" program provides access to traditional music lessons, classes, workshops and camps through a scholarship program. Your donations make a REAL difference to our students! If you are able, we ask you to consider a contribution that will help us meet our goal of making all of our programming accessible and available to all.
Here’s a song/tune in waltz time in honor of Mother’s Day which will be this coming Sunday. I still don’t know who wrote it but the group here performing “Sit Down and Write” is the Laurel Fork Travelers. Laurel Fork is in neighboring Carroll County, the best county in Virginia for many authentic sources of ‘real’ mountain music.
The Handmade Music School is pleased to announce the Handmade at Home online learning series. Events are streamed through Crowdcast, with payments accepted on a sliding scale basis of $1 to $100 per person. View upcoming workshops.
Here’s a tune that I consider to be one of the standard dance tunes today. It was found in the repertoire of many old-timers from the Blue Ridge area whose music I have heard who learned
Hello to everyone from my socially distant location in Floyd County. I knew there were good reasons to move to the country in the 1970’s way back when deciding just how I wanted to live. Here years later I have figured out yet another reason. Social distancing. I still get out a couple
Hello, I hope this finds you safe at home and not traveling. So this week’s tune is the Arkansas Traveler. It is a well-known tune and has been passed around like a virus mutating as it goes. It has a comical skit that has been done many times on record as a leftover
Well, I hope you are doing well in this age of COVID-19. I managed to get out on a nice hike up in the nearby Rock Castle Gorge with my buddies Hope and Charlie Thompson, and Andy Buckman last Sunday. Mindful of “social distancing” it was good to be outside and active away
The Handmade Music School is committed to the health and safety of our community and has suspended all in-person lessons and workshops until further notice. Online lessons with HMS teachers will still be available via Skype or another platform. If you are interested in arranging Skype lessons with one of our teachers, please contact andrew@handmademusicschool.com for details.
This is Floyd County’s own Dent Wimmer. A strong clawhammer banjo player who never dropped thumb. His style is full and rhythmic typical of this area where house parties and frolics with flatfoot dancing were common before WW2. He was recorded for the Old Originals project in 1973 by folklorist Tom Carter.
