THE ROOTS OF MOUNTAIN MUSIC

From the earliest settlements to the modern era

Appalachians as Musical Melting Pot Scots-Irish and English brought old

songs, ballads and fiddle tunes Germans brought church music,

congregational singing and dulcimers African Americans brought banjo and

“call and response” work songs Gandy Dancer

Immigration Into Appalachians The Great Wagon Road brought German

and Scots-Irish from Pennsylvania (approximately along Rt. 11/I-81 corridor)

Further Immigration

Western movement from the Virginia Tidewater area brought freed African Americans and English to the mountain regions

The geography of the mountains encouraged people to stay in isolated valleys where they worked and socialized together, merging musical styles

Ballads

A ballad is a song that tells a story Ballad with Dulcimer

Although immigrants could not bring many possessions with them, they could bring their songs and stories from their homeland

Settlers made up new songs to share stories about their current lives

Ballads were not written down – they were passed by word of mouth

The Fiddle

Early settlers could only bring small instruments with them from Europe.

The fiddle came with the Ulster Irish, the Germans and the English Traditional Irish Music

They brought a vast repertoire of instrumental tunes from the British Isles and made up new ones

Many of the old tunes are played today

The Banjo

African slaves brought their rhythms and a banjo-like instrument from Africa Hambone and History of Banjo

The hollow gourd had a skin head and was played by plucking rhythmic patterns

On plantations in Coastal Virginia, slaves would play this banjo while the indentured Irish servants played fiddle - the first “dance band”

Freed slaves and indentured servants brought the fiddle/banjo combination to the mountains where it is still popular at concerts and gatherings of all kinds today.

Fiddle/banjo

Dance

Early European settlers brought the social dances from their homeland to the mountains

These included dances similar to square, circle and line dances

An early form of clogging was done by Welsh seamen who migrated to England

African settlers and Cherokee contributed solo rhythmic dancing which influenced ‘flat footing’ and ‘clogging’

Minstrel Shows

Popular in northern cities, white comics painted their faces black and played fiddle, banjo, hand drums and hambones

One of the first outside influences in mountain music was the minstrel show. . Bones Player Blackface Sand Dancer

They were a blending of Afro and Anglo American music with added comedy and skits.

The minstrel shows spread interest in the banjo and stringbands. minstrel banjo style

Religious Music

From the 1700’s religious music was sung without harmony.

There were rarely any songbooks. Songs had to have powerful melodies and

simple words so everyone could sing along. Preachers would ‘line out’ a song – singing one line which was repeated by the congregation

When printed songbooks became available, ‘shape note’ singing schools became popular

Religious Music

By the mid 1800’s itinerant song leaders and music teachers traveled through the South teaching shaped note singing.

Shaped notes were an easy way to learn songs without having to read music. A triangle, oval, rectangle and diamond represented fa, sol, la and mi. These were originally used for all 7 notes of a scale.

Songbooks were written in four part harmony. Congregations first sang the shape name to learn their part, then added the words. Sacred Harp Singing

Catalog Instruments

The Industrial Revolution, railroads and improved transportation made it easier for mountain folks to get instruments.

Autoharp, squeeze box, factory made banjos and guitars all made their way into the mountains through the Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs.

When guitars began to come into use, the music became more chordal, a change from the fiddle and banjo that played just the melodies

Parlor Music

As mountain communities developed a middle class, well-to-do women entertained with music

Delicate ‘parlor’ banjo styles were developed Classical Banjo

The new instruments, were available through catalogues and became popular to back up singing

New songs, “broadside ballads” were written in the ‘folk’ tradition to sound old. They were printed on one side and sold by minstrel and vaudeville performers.

Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny Harmony singing was added

The Guitar

The guitar was good to sing with and in the mountains, new styles were developed.

Black musicians developed the “blues”, a highly rhythmic syncopated style. Etta Baker Piedmont Blues

The guitar playing of Maybelle Carter reflects blues influences. Maybelle Carter

The guitar joined the fiddle and banjo to form a more powerful stringband.

With electricity and amplification, the guitar became a lead instrument playing melodies. Doc Watson

Medicine Shows

Medicine shows brought the minstrel music to the rural communities.

A “doctor” made and sold “medicine” to people who came to the shows

Many early performers like Uncle Dave Macon and Roy Acuff got their start in medicine shows.

Medicine Shows Uncle Dave Macon

Vaudeville

In the late 1880’s, vaudeville took over where the minstrel shows left off.

Many of the early country performers worked in vaudeville and then toured the Southern Mountains bringing “popular” songs into the backwoods. Vaudeville Animal Acts Slapstick Comedy

Radio

Radio brought outside influences into the mountains and took mountain music out to the rest of the country

The Grand Old Opry and many other live ‘barn dances’ were popular ‘hillbilly’ shows

1927-1930 were boom years for old time music. “Border Radio” in Texas had its broadcast tower

in Mexico not controlled by US rule to limit broadcast signals

“Border Radio” made stars out of the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers because they could be heard from coast to coast and north into Canada

Records

The recording industry began in 1888, but ignored rural folk music.

In 1922, a RCA talent scout traveled to Atlanta to record Fiddlin’ John Carson.

“Little Old Log Cabin” quickly sold over 10,000 copies even though the promoter thought it was “pluperfect awful”. Fiddlin' John Carson

The recording companies realized there was a market in rural mountain music.

Records

Talent scouts set up recording studios in cities throughout the South to record local musicians.

From 1922 to 1930, thousands of songs were recorded.

The first million seller was “Wreck of the Old 97” recorded in 1927 by Vernon Dalhart, a song about an actual train wreck that happened in Danville, Virginia.

Records

When the Great Depression hit in 1929, record sales sank.

When sales picked back up, music had changed.

Guitars and Hawaiian guitars were the rage. The fiddle and banjo began to be dropped

from commercial music. Country music had become more “star”

oriented with the success of Jimmie Rodgers. Jimmie Rodgers

Sources

David Holt-The Roots of Mountain Musichttp://www.davidholt.com/music/rootsmtnmsc.html

Joe Wilson – A Guide to The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail