Althouse: "Rough Old-Time Mountain Folk Make The Best Music."

December 23, 2020

"Rough Old-Time Mountain Folk Make The Best Music."

60 comments:

Jason said...: I'll see your Lost John and raise you James Kelly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb1K5BCtLY8; 12/23/20, 10:44 AM
Joe Smith said...: Congratulations, you 'discovered' Bluegrass.

Hillbilly Elegy anyone?; 12/23/20, 10:45 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "you 'discovered'"

This is the soundtrack of a thousand car rides with Meade.; 12/23/20, 10:52 AM
Mattman26 said...: That was tremendous.

But hoo-boy, those teeth!; 12/23/20, 10:54 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: That was wonderful. Thanks for posting it.; 12/23/20, 10:54 AM
Mattman26 said...: Music aside, it was worth it for the scene of the kid giving directions to the house.; 12/23/20, 10:56 AM
Bob Boyd said...: I was sitting here enjoying the video, smiling, nodding my head and tapping my foot when darn if one of my front teeth didn't fall out onto my keyboard.; 12/23/20, 11:01 AM
Lyle Sanford, RMT said...: Thanks for posting! Besides the music, that way of talking very close to what I grew up with In Virginia and reminds me of childhood and lots of wonderful people/colorful characters.; 12/23/20, 11:05 AM
LYNNDH said...: Real Music.

I bet there were places in NYC he could have gone and seen Real Poverty too.; 12/23/20, 11:06 AM
Birkel said...: Never you fear.
The 27 year old policy wonks in DC know just how to fix this sort of thing.; 12/23/20, 11:09 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: The Darlings on the "Andy Griffith Show"; 12/23/20, 11:10 AM
Narr said...: "This is the soundtrack of a thousand car rides with Meade."

That reflects well on both of you ;-)

One of my history profs/colleagues, a guy from NC, played banjo for many years at what was called the Lucy Opry, for the tiny community where enthusiasts used to gather and play old-timey music on Friday nights. I only heard some recordings, unfortunately.

Truly, that was a great very first Althouse peek of the day. I'm tempted to go do my errands while I'm still high from that.

Narr
Yes, I think I will; 12/23/20, 11:16 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Rainbow Quest Show..... videos by Pete Seeger are also well worth watching. The one featuring Buffy St Marie is my favorite

Back when people decided to re-discover "folk" music, rural "black", "mountain" music. The roots of current music. These recordings are priceless.

We build on those who came first and who created out of their own hard lives this great music. Teeth or no teeth.

Janis Joplin was great. Big Momma Thorton...greater and first.

Don't miss Sister Rosetta Tharpe the mother of rock and roll That's All

Now I am trapped in You-Tube!; 12/23/20, 11:17 AM
Omaha1 said...: This is definitely the best kind of music for side trips on gravel roads in the middle of nowhere. My brother in law grew up in rural Tennessee and he recalls his grandmother picking a banjo on the front porch and singing gospel songs. I can't be around him too long without starting to imitate his accent.; 12/23/20, 11:24 AM
Joe Smith said...: "This is the soundtrack of a thousand car rides with Meade."

Hard to go wrong with the SiriusXM Bluegrass channel (62).

I spend far more time on Willie's Roadhouse (59)...old school Country/Western before it turned into computerized crap rock music with pickup truck lyrics.

Modern 'country' music is a crime against nature and God.; 12/23/20, 11:26 AM
Clyde said...: I like the old video clips like that. They're like time capsules, showing an era long gone but still accessible from memory. The music was the sort of thing you'd find on the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. It shows the universality of the love of music.

And there's always something new out there that you haven't heard yet, even if it might be very old. One of my favorite albums that I discovered this year was the Louvin Brothers' Satan Is Real album from 1959, which I found available via streaming music. I'd heard the Byrds' versions of "The Christian Life" (both with Gram Parsons and with Roger McGuinn on lead vocals) a few years back when I went on a Gram Parsons binge, but hadn't heard the original until this year. If you haven't heard it, then it's new to you.

The Christian Life - The Louvin Brothers; 12/23/20, 11:31 AM
Jason said...: Here's a vid I took myself.

https://www.facebook.com/1067420567/videos/10215255977287204/

Haley Richardson, then about age 16 or 17, accompanied by Alan Murray.

Bonkers.; 12/23/20, 11:44 AM
RBE said...: Love this video. More Hoffman...what a treasure. https://youtu.be/cs2j8f7H2WY; 12/23/20, 11:49 AM
J. Farmer said...: Last year, the pop singer Arianne Grande released a hit song called 7 Rings that provoked all kinds of black Twitter rage over cultural appropriation, racism, and accusations of plagiarism. Three different rappers--Princess Nokia, Two Chainz, and Soula Boy--all accused her of either outright stealing or copying their "sound." Except the sound she was accused of stealing was the Lombard rhythm.

The British musicologist Philipp Tagg has a one-hour presentation on how the Scotch snap, another name for the rhythm as found in Scottish dance music, was brought by Scottish immigrants to Appalachia and the influence it has had in the development of American music. But because it currently shows up in a lot of modern hip-hop songs, it is considered an element of "black music."

It just goes to show how dicey claims of cultural ownership can be when applied to music. The banjo is considered a stereotypical hillbilly instrument, but its origins are in Africa.; 12/23/20, 11:49 AM
Jason said...: Did somebody say "Lombard rhythm in pop music?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz4HtlbS5DI; 12/23/20, 11:55 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Played with quite a few bluegrass bands back when I was a total music biz whore.

Not much money even for the stars of that genre. I played once with Vassar Clements at a festival. He was a big name back in the day, because he played with Jerry Garcia.

To show you how ragtag that biz was, he didn’t travel to the festival with a band. I was playing with a different local act. He auditioned players for his band backstage and we winged it live.; 12/23/20, 11:56 AM
Joe Smith said...: "He auditioned players for his band backstage and we winged it live."

Good musicians can do that, especially if there is a classic nature to the music. A good musician will know the chords, when to jump in with a solo, etc.

The most impressive thing to me (and something I wish I could do) is to be able to just think of a melody or a song and play it wonderfully.

The guys and gals playing old standards on the piano at Nordstrom's may not get paid much, but I have great respect for their talent.; 12/23/20, 12:11 PM
robother said...: Pure delight. Real, sad and beautiful.

When Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. said "three generations of imbeciles are enough" everyone of these mountain folks are who he, and his eugenics experts had in mind. The power elites may have given up on literally sterilizing them (Hitler gave eugenics a bad name by '39), but the war on Hillbillies has been prosecuted by other means for the last 80 years. Take away their livelihood, make their kids move to coasts and big cities, consistently portray them in every movie and tv special as evil white racists and rapists. Hopefully they'll all kill themselves (OD or suicide) before reproducing. And its working.

Sad. But they sure gave us some great music.; 12/23/20, 12:13 PM
cf said...: I may have spoken before about the gentle Man i worked with for a couple of years, he reminds me of these fellows. A kid out of Pennsylvania with an hereditary bad teeth condition -- mostly toothless, one front tooth and the rest I averted my eyes on the detail. The effect of simply that one thing meant he could never find a job with the regular public -- at a Starbucks, for instance.

But we were doing his perfect work: overnight changes of grocery sections. we would go in and remove all the products of a section (shampoo, coffee, ice cream, canned vegetables) and rearrange/update the placement of every single item in the setup.

[My husband dreamed to reinvent us after leaving our credentialed, well-paying work of 20 years. That didn't work out for a lot of reasons, not the least of which we timed it right as President Obama {PBUH} was surging into office, and we fell flat those next miserable years while our President was beating down entrepreneurs with "you didn't build that", but every govt fatass got 2% raises (retroactive! backpaid for 2 yrs earlier). not that i am bitter.

We had to go back and work for someone else. But being adventurous those years meant our professional resumes looked goofball, and in that economy, there was always someone better than either of us to be hired.

It was stunning that all I could get was working at a mall, Nine dollars an hour. wow. lucky for me, a fellow worker told me I could make $12 an hour doing overnight reset, so I jumped. Double Digit Pay!!! anyway, back to Mr. Man...]

The thing is, besides his teeth, he was congenitally Excellent in so many ways:

* When he took products off the shelves, his hands were magic fast, and they went into the crates with a precision and care I could not fathom or reproduce.

* He could build displays and kits lickety-split, no diagrams needed, was our lead on anything complicated.

* he was hilarious, cheerful, loving and kind, had "saved" his 17-year-old brother by getting him away from home and over to Oregon.

* When we'd gather around for beers at 4:30 am to send-off a fellow worker, he'd get to riffing about cars and engines, and it was pure poetry. He'd rhapsodize about 350 engines, all kinds of numbers, turbo this and that, and i understood nothing, except that the way he spoke of them with such joy and excitement, I would lift my head and listen: it was the joyful song of a genius engineer. I love engineers.

But I can't tell you how many times at the 2:30 am break, he would go out in the parking lot for a smoke, and darn if cops wouldn't see him and need to check out his particulars. Those teeth again.

G*d bless him and all he loves wherever he is now. G*d Bless America.; 12/23/20, 12:24 PM
reader said...: I have two great great-aunts that married first cousins (father's brother's two sons). They lived in West Virginia. I wish I could find some more information on this branch of my family. Why did they marry? Was there a shortage of men/women (willing to have them) in the area during that time? Were they an unusually attractive family? ;) Or, were they desperately clinging to the little bit of property that they owned.; 12/23/20, 12:40 PM
as if.... said...: I would add these porch folks to the "first 100 names out of the phonebook" as people that I would prefer to have in the legislature....rather than the harvard faculty or other elites.; 12/23/20, 1:08 PM
Joe Smith said...: "I wish I could find some more information on this branch of my family."

If your family tree has no branches, you might just be a redneck.

-- Jeff Foxworthy; 12/23/20, 1:09 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Jason:

P3 latencies of both the auditory and visual event-related potentials

Thanks for the link. Despite loving to listen to music and having a strong interest in music as a subject, I have almost zero ability to analyze or produce music. I have difficulty discerning rhythm, staying to a beat, and hearing pitch differences. I pretty much have to rely on pitch height, timbre, and tempo. I struggle to understand even rudimentary music theory.; 12/23/20, 1:09 PM
eddie willers said...: If poverty creates crime, no one would dare go into the Appalachians.; 12/23/20, 1:24 PM
daskol said...: Just inland from the beach towns and Long Beach Island, players mostly from NJ's pine barrens put on a really great bluegrass show most Saturdays at the Albert Music Hall. A real hoot.; 12/23/20, 1:32 PM
Joe Smith said...: "...I have almost zero ability to analyze or produce music. I have difficulty discerning rhythm, staying to a beat, and hearing pitch differences. I pretty much have to rely on pitch height, timbre, and tempo. I struggle to understand even rudimentary music theory."

So, a WASPy white guy?

No disrespect to murder hornets intended...; 12/23/20, 1:45 PM
Ann Althouse said...: “ Not a cafe posted yet, so of topic”

Either go back to the last cafe or wait. Don’t bring in other topics here.; 12/23/20, 1:56 PM
Joe Smith said...: "Either go back to the last cafe or wait. Don’t bring in other topics here."

I like 'Get off my lawn' Ann.

She's small but she's feisty : ); 12/23/20, 2:04 PM
Wilbur said...: You had to be a pretty successful act to afford your own road band back in the day. Many singers just went on with the house band at the venue booked. They knew or quickly picked the chords and keys, so it was cool.

The Louvin Brothers rule. I recommend their version of Leaning On the Everlasting Arms. Two and a half minutes of musical nirvana. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia5i_-stmAg

I greatly enjoy the music of my parents' generation: Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, The Mills Brothers. I could go on.; 12/23/20, 2:14 PM
Joe Smith said...: Bob Wills is still the king...; 12/23/20, 2:16 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Joe Henry:

So, a WASPy white guy?

No disrespect to murder hornets intended...

Haha. Me? WASPy? I can't imagine.; 12/23/20, 2:35 PM
policraticus said...: That's one county over from where my ancestors lived for 200 years until work lured my grandparents North to live among the Yankees in Delaware. In her heart, I don't think Granny ever really reconciled to it. Hearing those voices, and that music, triggered some very sweet memories. Thank you.; 12/23/20, 2:43 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Another great duo out of the hills were the Blue Sky Boys.

My preferences in this music runs to the sacred over the secular, and there are just wonderful sacred tunes out of the mountains, like this one, Harbor of Love, written by Carter Stanley, and sung by his brother, the incomparable Ralph Stanley.; 12/23/20, 2:45 PM
effinayright said...: Joe Smith said...
"...I have almost zero ability to analyze or produce music. I have difficulty discerning rhythm, staying to a beat, and hearing pitch differences. I pretty much have to rely on pitch height, timbre, and tempo. I struggle to understand even rudimentary music theory."

So, a WASPy white guy?

No disrespect to murder hornets intended...
*****************

HORSE HOCKEY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronological_list_of_English_classical_composers

A few hundred names are given, from Medieval to today. And those are just the English waspy white guys.; 12/23/20, 3:00 PM
Joe Smith said...: "HORSE HOCKEY"

Joke...lighten up Francis...; 12/23/20, 3:32 PM
Deanna said...: " it was worth it for the scene of the kid giving directions to the house. "

Yes indeed.

Also, Ken Burns' "Country Music" is definitely worth the watch to see the early days of how country is rooted in the music you shared with us here Ann.

Thank you.; 12/23/20, 3:42 PM
svlc said...: I loved that. Thanks for posting.; 12/23/20, 3:50 PM
Unknown said...: “ I have two great great-aunts that married first cousins (father's brother's two sons). They lived in West Virginia. I wish I could find some more information on this branch of my family. Why did they marry? Was there a shortage of men/women (willing to have them) in the area during that time? Were they an unusually attractive family? ;) Or, were they desperately clinging to the little bit of property that they owned.”

Sometimes it meant they only had one wagon.; 12/23/20, 3:59 PM
TML said...: I went to a Bluegrass festival somewhere in WV when I was about 9. It was pretty amazing even then when I didn't really understand music. I do not recall any of the "main" events. I just remember walking with my dad and listening to all the small groups of musicians playing around campfires and outside small mobile homes and tents. This reminded me of that.; 12/23/20, 4:31 PM
Anonymous said...: I have no special musical talent-or insight- but I like a lot of it. This makes me glad to know the music of people like Norman Blake and John Prine to mix in with Lennon-McCartney, et al. Life can be so beautiful.; 12/23/20, 4:51 PM
Biff said...: Hoffman has a lot of interesting content. Worth poking around. His channel may have been the first YouTube channel I subscribed to, back in the Stone Age.; 12/23/20, 5:23 PM
boatbuilder said...: Hey DBQ very late to the thread, but thank you for the Sister Rosetta Tharp link. Great stuff!; 12/23/20, 5:37 PM
hawkeyedjb said...: My father, now 100 years old, has been listening to this all his life. So we children listened to it growing up. What a great gift, to understand a part of our culture that many people never encounter.

Dad had a fiddle that he inherited from his father. He recently gave it as a gift to a fellow who plays in a local bluegrass band. The fiddler took it to an instrument restorer who made it look like a brand-new 100 year old fiddle, if you can imagine. It plays very well. It's probably never taken part in a formal music lesson during its whole existence.; 12/23/20, 6:27 PM
JML said...: "...when he hits the rough edges of the world."

Great music and words. Thanks for sharing!; 12/23/20, 8:03 PM
JML said...: We had a guy in the Albuquerque Youth Symphony who parents were from Taiwan. He said he played two instruments - the violin, and the fiddle. He said the violin was technically a little harder for him to play, but the fiddle was pure joy.; 12/23/20, 8:08 PM
Narr said...: One of the revelations of library school was Denys Parson's Directory of Classical Themes.

If you can tell higher and lower notes you can i.d. most any theme in no time. Really remarkable, and counterintuitive (to me anyway). Probably obsolete now with all this here high-tech, but back in my day we did it the hard way.

Narr
Scots whipper-snappers indeed!; 12/23/20, 9:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Here’s to hoping Hillbilly Elegy brings about a revival of Americana. Real American culture with all its warts and genius.; 12/23/20, 11:33 PM
donald said...: Clyde, I spent damned near an entire day last week, playing and replaying the Louvin’s, Gram’s and Roger’s versions of The Christian Life. I just bought the entire Byrd’s Columbia recordings on CD for some road trips I’m about to take. I like Gram’s the best, but then I’m so totally lost into him it’s pitiful.; 12/24/20, 5:39 AM
Mr. Forward said...: ""...I have almost zero ability to analyze or produce music. I have difficulty discerning rhythm, staying to a beat, and hearing pitch differences. I pretty much have to rely on pitch height, timbre, and tempo. I struggle to understand even rudimentary music theory."

So, a WASPy white guy?"

I must have gone through a dozen harmonicas before I figured out the harmonicas weren't the problem. Given enough alcohol I can dance.; 12/24/20, 5:55 AM
tim maguire said...: Blogger Mattman26 said...Music aside, it was worth it for the scene of the kid giving directions to the house.

I thought so too, that was pretty awesome. Fiddle music must be an acquired taste because it sounded like just a lot of squeaking to me. How does anybody know he’s a great player?; 12/24/20, 6:49 AM
Merny11 said...: Thank you Ann that was wonderful ! It’s Christmas Eve and I have a million things to do, but now I just want to say the hell with it and listen to all the links commenters posted!; 12/24/20, 8:08 AM
donald said...: “I thought so too, that was pretty awesome. Fiddle music must be an acquired taste because it sounded like just a lot of squeaking to me. How does anybody know he’s a great player”?

Lol.; 12/24/20, 8:31 AM
McSavage said...: Listen to Rachel Eddy https://youtu.be/JdufdJL5NUE
It must have been the only country fiddler this guy ever heard.
Listen to Fiddling Banjo Billy https://youtu.be/92QxYa9qToY; 12/24/20, 9:44 AM
Meade said...: "This is the soundtrack of a thousand car rides with Meade."

A thousand might be a bit of exaggeration. Plus, we should probably add, what, a dozen of times when you've asked hey do you think we could have a little bluegrass?

YoungHegelian said it well at 2:45 and linked to a beautiful song. Here's the Stanley Brothers doing their timely favorite. Merry Christmas ev'r body.; 12/24/20, 9:58 AM
George Leroy Tirebiter said...: If you enjoy not only listening-to but also reading about bluegrass, I highly recommend my old friend Tommy Goldsmith's fun & detailed Earl Scruggs and Foggy Mountain Breakdown, The Making of an American Classic, which was published a year ago.

He was also the editor of the great reference "The Bluegrass Reader", a fun, must-have collection of articles on bluegrass history & the artists. I got my copy used 10+ years ago and see there's still cheap copies available online.; 12/24/20, 2:44 PM