If you liked my documentary and you want to see the next major music documentary I made, this one on Earl Scruggs, I know you will enjoy. Bluegrass. Country. Mountain. History. The best of Appalachia - th-cam.com/video/OlneqC0mVsk/w-d-xo.html
Clay Lunsford is the great nephew of Bascom here in Union Grove, NC, and President of the North Carolina Thumb Pickers. He and I perform over 100 shows a year, and the Lunsford Family has a Gospel Quartet celebrating 55 years in Union Grove known as "The Gospel Voices." We play a lot at Biltmore, Dollywood, Churches, and more.
I am a graduate of Appalachian Studies and History from Appalachian State. Great video of Bascom. Some old footage you will see Clay playing guitar with Bascome around 17 years old.
My grandparents played bluegrass and my granddad wrote the songs and my childhood was rich in music and heritage of the Frontier Mountain men with families love their music and I never forgot my family and the TENNESSEE BLUEGRASS MUSIC!
My great grandmother was a Lunsford. She was Sarah Lundsford, but called Zorra. She married Maynard David Whaley. They had several children: twins Willy and Lily, but Willy died as a babe. Della and Marshall. Lily was my grandmother. I think Bascom was my grandmother's nephew. I'm not positive, but it sure looks like it. That means he'd have been my mother's first cousin and my first cousin once removed. Sure does make me proud. I have to say I love that music with all my heart! ❤
I wonder if we're any relation, I unfortunately am not close with my Lunsford side of the family, My great grandfather was named Jacob and named my grandfather Clarence
Wow regular family reunion here 😂 I share the last name of Stanley I remember my Grandpa and he was a huge bluegrass fan even played the banjo a little bit even though he always denied any sort of relation he would joke around about it
@@jimiplayscobo5877 When I was working on my husband's family history, I discovered that nearly all the Scot-Irish on the east coast, especially in the Virginia-West Virginia area, are actually Scots. They were Covenanters from Scotland who'd been persecuted and escaped to Ireland, where they lived for 2-3 generations, but never married into the surrounding Irish population. This was in the 1600s. The reality is, over the multitude of centuries long before the 1600s, the Scots and the Irish had moved back and forth between the two countries, but the Vikings had also colonized both countries around 1000 AD. The Vikings were sometimes just the Swedes, sometimes the Norse, sometimes both, and sometimes included the Danish/Jutes as well. ALL of these peoples ~ Celts, Scandinavians, etc. were descendants of the royal tribes of Israel, if you go far enough back in history. The royalty exception were the Danites/Canaanites among them ~ they were a minor percentage of those populations, and were considered to be a criminal population. For more information on that see Genesis 49 and Amos 8:14. These criminals are the international banking cabal today, who are in the process of being purged from the Earth so the righteous tribes of Israel will once again rule the Earth. I hope this doesn't muddle things up for you, but at the very least, you should look up the history of the Covenanters of Scotland and follow those who escaped to Ireland. I think that persecution began in the mid to late 1500s. May The Father richly bless you and yours in your search for the truth.
They weren't poor money doesn't make you rich family and friends do helping each other and being independent growing and raising your own that's what makes you rich.❤
Born and raised Appalachian, Blue Ridge Boy. I smell my summers at my granmothers, outside in the fields listening to my grand uncle's Call Out and play fiddle. Thank you.
I lived in the mountains of south east Kentucky in the late 60s. I play guitar and knew many old songs, being a Carter Family, Doc Watson and Blue Grass fan. I’d sing some of the old timey songs and some of the old folks would remember the event that the song had been written about. When I was there there were still dirt roads and tiny stores all over. Still shuckin and bean stringin parties and music being sung and played. It was perhaps the best time of my life filled with the finest People and culture and music. I am very blessed to have had this gift! For this I will always be Grateful! Kind Thanks and Many Blessings! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania
BLOODY FANTASTIC!!! I have shown this to my millennial adult children to remind them that life is not all about how popular you are on social media, it's about living a real-life with passion and enthusiasm regardless of your circumstance.
@Buce-ku9vx it's an Aussie Thang. Cousin was born and raised in Perth, and his use of "Bloody hell, mate!" is akin to me saying, "Oh, S#@t man!" here in the States
When you're poor, the one thing the government can't take from you is your singing voice. I've walked many lonely roads with only my singing to keep me sane.
As someone whos grown up in west central scotland theres a sense of something so familiar watching this that i just cant put my finger on. A strange sense of nostalgia i cant link to what it actually is , very overpowering but yet so distant in thought .
Their bagpipes got ruined on the trip over. These were scots Irish. The banjos became their bagpipes. The resonance. These people come from your blood. It’s why you feel it like you do. Cheers from east coast America.
Be proud of who u are, I'm a coal miners daughter. From the hills of west Virginia, love god serve him be kind to others , go to church pray everyday an he will take care of u,
I’m from West Yorkshire. I’ve never been to West Virginia but I’ve found myself ten thousand miles from home in recent years. Country roads take me hone indeed.
One of the best years of my life was woodworking and cutting timber frames in a barn shop, listening to bluegrass and gospel music while working. Beautiful music and poetic words.
The Dance bit at the 45, 46, 47 minute mark. I've watched this so many times. The pure joy of this. The exuberance, the pride, the energy, the human beauty and the timelessness of it. Sometimes we can almost believe we've achieved perfection. As to the Appalachian part of Americana. When I was 19 I took sharp right turn from rock & roll and started investigating roots music. I never really turned away again. As a young man, early twenties, I picked up Thomas Wolfe's Of Time and the River (then Look Homeward Angel, The Web and the Rock, and finally You Can't Go Home Again.) That was just a glimmering sneak peak into the culture of Appalachia (in particular, the Carolinas) from Wolfe. But the music. That is where so much of the magic lies. The rich hotbed, the motherlodes radiating out in every direction. Thank you Mr. Hoffman, for the work you've done.
I've noticed this a lot: There were a lot of great old microphones back in the old days from the forties onward that picked up sound beautifully and faithfully, from varied distances.
We can thank the Germans for the Best microphones and for the tape machines which captured things incredibly well. Much better than what we used before the war.
Every nation needs its 'Bascom Lamar Lunsfords'. How else can unique corners of history be so stubbornly, doggedly and obsessionally recorded and archived? Only by driven, inspired enthusiasts like him? _Thanks from the UK_
Sometime I think about all the things we’ll never see or hear because nobody was there to collect it for posterity, and it makes my appreciation of this kind of footage greater
Thank you for making these documentaries. My mother played the fiddle and folks gathered at different neighbor's houses on Saturday nights to play the music and that's where I learned to square dance.
Thank you William for your comment. If your resources allow, I would sure appreciate your using the THANKS button under any of my videos including the one you have commented on. It is something new that TH-cam is beta testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts. David Hoffman filmmaker
I was born and raised in Ohio with much influence of my Appalachian Grandmother from Grant Co NC and Petersburg WV. At 25 I moved to Northern KY. By the age of 55 I owned a small tobacco farm in Lewis CT Ky. I love these people who are a huge part of my genealogy. Moms family is Scotch/Irish. I'll always be proud of my roots.
17:58 Pre GPS - When life required little boys to be able to give reliable directions. "Ya go down the second road, not the first one ... " Talk about "lost arts"!!!! Also great to see Alan Lomax, Mike Seeger, Roger Sprung back in these earlier days, when they were still out presenting the folk message! Such a quality documentary! Countless hours of shooting and careful editing, when one only expected it to ultimately be aired a few times. Bascom's "single mindedness" was certainly exclusionary, but by holding a tight rein on things he carved out a respectful spot for artistic endeavors that had previously been falsely represented and mocked. Serious, somewhat scholarly, but always entertaining "folk festivals" are still with us big time!
Great observation about the young boys giving somewhat complex directions clearly, straightforwardly, and confidently (and the direction seeker understanding exactly what they said and not having to ask twice) in comparison to so many today listening to a computer voice telling them what to do while driving, having no idea of how to read a map or ask locals for directions and then remembering those directions. Talk about people purposefully turning themselves into automatons! (And turning themselves into helpless victims when the GPS lady leads them far, far astray.)
I refuse to use GPS, and modern parents should do the same thing. We learned to read a map by following along as our parents drove, & by paying attention to the sun’s position and cloud direction, or a distant lit up sky (from city lights) and star positions at night, we could usually easily tell what direction we were facing. It wasn’t so difficult to learn to navigate, especially if you’ve been somewhere once before. I believe this uses a part of our brain that must be sadly atrophied in most modern youth these days. It’s a choice of parents to either teach their children useful skills for communication, future success and survival- or else to put their children at a disadvantage, and make their futures more difficult. I know which I prefer.
When I was 13 I fell in love with Appalachian folk music thanks to a book that I had just read. From that time on I learned everything that I could about this wonderful music. Later on I became acquainted with Bascom Lamar Lunsford and his efforts to preserve the music of the Southern Mountains. Little did I know that I would marry a man whose ancestors were among the very first settlers in the mountains of Western NC! The first time our family went back to see where his family had come from it was my pleasure to introduce him and our son to the amazing music that I’d loved for so long. There’s a special quality to Appalachian folk music that isn’t found in any other type of folk music. Its primeval roots reach right into the deepest part of a person and stay there. Thank you so much for making this wonderful documentary available for all to see.🎵
Mr. David Hoffman, you really are America's Biographer. What you are preserving is greater than jewels or gold. I am proud there are still people like you who care about our citizen's enough to share your amazing documentarian spirit and talent with the world. You are much needed and loved!
Thank you for your comment. If your resources allow, I would sure appreciate your using the THANKS button under any of my videos including the one you have commented on. It is something new that TH-cam is beta testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts. David Hoffman filmmaker
Love how the guy in the awesome old American car reached to the back to open the door for them to get in. Never seen that (unless the door was broken, or with old manual locks). Such a typically southern gesture of welcome, a small thing but somehow significant. Also reminds me of reaching back to roll down the windows while driving, in my last cars without power windows. i personally miss crank down windows; yes, power windows have their good points, but they always manage to be annoying, won't stop at the right spot without fiddling with them, have to turn the car on to use them, you hit the wrong button and open the back window instead, etc. And i miss vent windows. I am glad i was born early enough to remember the rotary phone, manual windows, no cell phones, no internet. What scares me is that at the time i didnt realize i was living history, i was too busy moping about what was already gone (i was born this way i guess). And now i have to remind myself that as bad as it seems now, someday (God willing) i will look back on 2023 and tell people about how we still used gasoline cars, we had actual stores you walked into and picked out what you wanted instead of just ordering it online, and god knows what else will be gone by then. "People actually used to raise their children in their own homes, by themselves, the state didn't do that for them, and they hadn't outlawed teaching prohibited ideas yet". Probably.
This film is a treasure, and I expect it'll be an even greater treasure 100 years from now. It describes the musical and cultural history of this region by revealing the people and their music in a very real and honest way. Thanks to Bascom Lunsford and David Hoffman and all the people that shared their lives and music with us through this film.
Enjoying the film so much! My dad was a breakdown fiddler. It was a form of entertainment as well as a way to make a dollar. When he and Mom were young she said people would have square dances in their homes by rolling up the carpet. I watched them square dance many times at our little town dance hall. Likewise he passed on musical ability and love of music to us four kids. I found it awesome that Bascom wrote “Mountain Dew”.
I traveled through the Great Smoky Mountains in the early 70’s. The music and people and country were a world apart from Southern California where I was from. The smell in the evenings and on Sundays after church...of the locals cooking their dinners for their families I’ll never forget. Wonderful aromas so far away from tacos and hamburgers I grew up with in SoCal. I can only hope that some of that culture still remains today. Great video...
It does dear. It's still in those hills and most likely always will be. Its the music passed on passed down and sang with love and pride. I'm proud to be from Appalacha. I live in North Georgia. I've lived in east Tennessee and spent time in the smokeys cherokee blue ridge North Carolina and up unto Virginia and West Virginia. I've been in Turkey Creek North Carolina and places around like Telico, Tn and Hanging Dog, NC.
I now live in the western NC mountains. And the culture here is rich, deep and old. It's something to be proud of, not ashamed of. EDIT: Asheville is stunning. The Berkeley of the east, pretty much. 😁
That's my favorite area! The Nantahala National Forest! And the town of Franlkin and the mountain Wayah Bald! Awesome place, I'll be down that way doing some ramblin' in the next few weeks!
On the one hand, I imagine Lunsford to have been a belligerent, demanding and hedonistic old codger, but on the other hand, one so determined, capable and dedicated to his life's passions - traditional dance and music and the social narrative embracing the Appalachian ways, for the love of human spirit.
This stimulated a memory of one evening I spent in northern Ontario at a historical reenactment with a number of Metis from Manitoba. Most of the encampment was English speaking and the French speaking Metis were off by themselves. I'm not fluent in French, but for reenactments I had learned some old 18th and 19th century French Canadian tunes. They were singing and playing among themselves by the fire when I joined in with some verses they had forgotten and some they had never heard. There was an instant bond formed by singing and playing together. Like long lost friends, we sang and danced clear through the night until morning. Music, especially long memory music, binds one generation to another and it is truly a shame that we are losing that tradition.
I'm a Appalachian and have always been. Moved around a lot as a kid and saw a good piece of the US. I never seemed to fit in too well. Then we moved back next to the Ohio river in the foot hills and I fit right in. Your story reminded me of a story from my Mawmaw( Grandma). My family hails from eastern Kentucky in the mountains, and one day or weekend a year the whole family would go clean up the old cemetery and put flowers and such. Have a good big meal and the part she really remembered and wished was still around was after supper the family would sing gospel music on the pouch for awhile.
Love this documentary , I really enjoyed how this man talked to the old timers. he didn't talk down to them he talked what was important and understanding what there doing
I am from the Nethetlands and i feel a big connection with these people and music. I find it unbelieveble that a lot of these mountain people can play so nice. I would i had some of that...😁😁
Great film of a great man and totally obscured reality (if not obliterated). Makes me want to go out there and find some people enjoying life without their I-pad. Thank you.
Thank you for this piece of American history !This music is beautiful and the people so engaging and real!Brings memories of My Mothers family that immigrated from Ireland to West Virginia,Blue grass mountain music came with them and was a part of life.Thank you Mr Lunsford for keeping it Alive!
They are my people my moms grands & her great grands. I've researched but never knew they were so blessed with the musical gift. I have granddaughter so gifted and can pick up just about any instrument and in no time will play it.
It is interesting to see the threads of this through out my life. From square dancing and desegregation to traditional Irish dancing and poverty and music. Memories abound. I am thankful today I found this video and watched it in it entirety.
Thankyou for this wonderful story..when l first saw this man on another video l thought he must've had an exciting life and now l know he sure did.. incredible ❤️
A wonderful film Mr Hoffman. You recorded a time capsule of tradition, exposed and adored by the pubic for its richness. Nova scotia and New Brunswick Canada has similar pockets of cultures which have survived the torment of time and change. Preserving what we take for granted is probably the most heart felt gift you can give to a nation. Thank You.
What an interesting story of this man & the result of his early interest & later influence on things we take for granted today; cheers to him & to everyone keeping these traditions alive & well!👍🇺🇸
A lot of the influence of Appalachia music is tied to Ireland. 💗 My family on both sides are from Appalachia and there is so much Irish and Native American.
@@TheZumph You do know that English is also spoken in Ireland, right genius? I did not say Gaelic. 🤦♀️ The southern accent of the mountains is tied to the high population of Irish in the Appalachias.
Lord, I wish I was younger and healthier in order to go back to the mountains of Virginia where I was born! But since that is impossible I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing this documentary and wish you and yours the best of a future life!
As a person born and raised in the Carolina's I really can appreciate this content ...thank you Mr Hoffman...oh yeah I took some banjo lessons 😂😂blue Grass
Pure, natural, and innocent living and beautiful folk. I wish I could be there with them! It all reminds me of my childhood. We were taught square dancing in the 7th grade as part of our physical education. I often visited an uncle and aunt who played music similar to the Appalachian folk. My uncle was blind and he played the mandolin and accordion with sweet perfection! Their voices were such a sweet melody that accompanied their beautiful music. Sigh... good times. Thank you so much for these videos, Mr. Hoffman. It’s such a beautiful breath of fresh air and a big relief to see videos more than worth my time amidst all the horrible nonsense on TH-cam.❤️
So many old tunes that without his amazing recall and dogged preserving we would likely never have known. A great big thanks. Similar to Alan Lomax but without a tape recorder. As important to the music as the Monroe bros. He wasn’t lookin’ for a payoff.
I met him in the in 60s at in his festival in Ashville NC I went down for a number be of years. I played guitar. I have his autograph and program of the mountain cloging
This Hendersonville, NC native & current resident of Asheville thanks you profoundly once again, David. My people are steeped in this music & culture, all the way back. My ancestors on every side literally settled the area, and we are part Cherokee (like everyone around here lol). Thank you for showing us in a dignified & accurate light. I've loved Bascom & his music, a core in our local culture as well as a historical icon, since childhood. Your work is awesome in ways I can't describe.
Oh and in case it's helpful if you want to think about ancestry or whatever, the families I know of in my tree are Gibbs & Nelsons from the Spartanburg Hwy & Greenville Hwy part of Hendersonville - my great-grandfather Theodore Gibbs and his first wife, my grandmother's mother Dolly Nelson (they lived a few houses down on Nelson Lane from the RJ Reynolds family & used to get to swim in their pool with the Reynolds children 😄) were written in a volume of Frank Fitzimmons' book series, Banks Of The Oklawaha, according to their love story. He took her out of church as was typical here, and they walked/hitchiked to Greenville to marry I believe! We have another similar story on the other side of my family. I have also one branch of Corns, the one who supposedly a wild circuit riding preacher started Hendersonville when Main Street was made of mud. And Jarretts, which are prolific around the area. I actually live one street away from Jarrett Street in Asheville where the old Jarrett house is, and has been remodeled years ago by a very nice lovely family from Florida (2013?). I got to see it when the thick wires were still running along the ceilings exposed, for the old electricity... and some of the little fixtures and things were in the kitchen, as they were a well-off family back in the day. And the whole house was full of tons of pigeons roosting (2012?)! 😄 It's right behind the house I live in now. My poor Jarrett great-grandmother on my mother's side lost both of her parents as a child, and wound up in an orphanage at the top of Jeter Mountain in Hendersonville, where I used to babysit for two well-off transplant families in the 80s. My dad had an A-frame about a mile up CC Camp Road there (where my great grandfather from the other side of my family worked for the Civil Corps, near Holmes State Forest. We used to jog through that park at Holmes & attended crab creek Baptist Church at the beginning and bottom of Jeter Mountain Road.) Near Edney's Lake where Mr Edney did the massive Christmas lights back in the '60s & '70s for the children to drive around through! Anyway I could tell more little memories lol, but I thought you might enjoy reminiscing if you like reading stuff like that. Reply me anything you want, I would love to read it 😁
It's dangerous to tell your family history in a small town because you never know who liked who, who may have angered/crossed/hurt who, which of your ancestors might have acted terrible during their lifetimes even though they were noble & courageous in amazing ways.. who in your ancestry acted crazy, who saved somebody's life & fed them during The Great Depression (like my father's father's family did)... who might have had a few too many as wild Irishmen... so I tell all this with no judgment on anybody for anything and hope and not to receive any - no matter what my talented, shining, amazing & very human ancestors may have truly been like! LOL!
Such a fascinating history that was revealed to me in this seminal documentary on music so rich and profound and beloved by its participants. What joy at creating music!
Thank you for your comment. If your resources allow, I would sure appreciate your using the THANKS button under any of my videos including the one you have commented on. It is something new that TH-cam is beta testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts. David Hoffman filmmaker
I’ve always loved this music. My grandmother was born Sevier Coumty, TN in 1907. She left and lived all over the country during the depression but she had taken a lot of criticism for being a hillbilly. It bothered her but she never changed in the 40 years I knew her. I always thought it a shame people could be foolish. She taught me a lot. I’ve never heard anything but good about the mountain people we came from and we could use a little today in the culture we live among.
I grew up in the northern Adirondack mountains of New York and we had our own variety of mountain music. I was born in 1968 and remember the old timers (people in their 80’s) playing banjo and guitars, much like this. This is an important historical document. Thanks for preserving it!
I'm so grateful you produced all this I've said it many times unbelievable foresight. Actually what our country was founded on of the people of that music
This music makes me cry every time I hear it, my heart is full. Beautiful...... feel like my heart has always been there......... I've only traced to SW KY ........ This music is a treasure ....... Grandma lived in a train thingy ......Mom visited... confusing history since then ..
Joan my beloved wife born and raised in Bryson City North Carolina lived among these people Heard all of this music many many many talented singers instrument players dancers throughout the Appalacians .....incredible
A lyrical look at an amazing man, time and music! Thank you so much for sharing this. My parents were from Albemarle County, Va and were active singers and dancers of all types of mountain music. This film is very close to my heart.
What an interesting.. enlightening.. video... Good to see traditions kept alive.. What a rich, splendid life this gentleman had.... even when not having a fortune... he was wealthy on experience and his contribution to his cause (mountain music) was immense..!
If you liked my documentary and you want to see the next major music documentary I made, this one on Earl Scruggs, I know you will enjoy. Bluegrass. Country. Mountain. History. The best of Appalachia - th-cam.com/video/OlneqC0mVsk/w-d-xo.html
Clay Lunsford is the great nephew of Bascom here in Union Grove, NC, and President of the North Carolina Thumb Pickers. He and I perform over 100 shows a year, and the Lunsford Family has a Gospel Quartet celebrating 55 years in Union Grove known as "The Gospel Voices." We play a lot at Biltmore, Dollywood, Churches, and more.
I am a graduate of Appalachian Studies and History from Appalachian State. Great video of Bascom. Some old footage you will see Clay playing guitar with Bascome around 17 years old.
I have been lucky enough to meet Flatt & Scruggs...oh...I grew up with..."Get along home ...Cindy...Cindy..."
Good luk
My grandparents played bluegrass and my granddad wrote the songs and my childhood was rich in music and heritage of the Frontier Mountain men with families love their music and I never forgot my family and the TENNESSEE BLUEGRASS MUSIC!
I'm from the Appalachians. Yall better best believe. That this music has not died out.
love this! sat here for an hour with a damn smile on my face.
Amazing music, it's real and genuine, people oriented.
My great grandmother was a Lunsford. She was Sarah Lundsford, but called Zorra. She married Maynard David Whaley. They had several children: twins Willy and Lily, but Willy died as a babe. Della and Marshall. Lily was my grandmother. I think Bascom was my grandmother's nephew. I'm not positive, but it sure looks like it. That means he'd have been my mother's first cousin and my first cousin once removed. Sure does make me proud. I have to say I love that music with all my heart! ❤
Well according to the midwits on here that makes you Scots Irish... except for the English surnames
I went to school at Madison with a few Lunsfords. I'm a Ledford.
I wonder if we're any relation, I unfortunately am not close with my Lunsford side of the family, My great grandfather was named Jacob and named my grandfather Clarence
My great grandmother was also a Lundford.
Wow regular family reunion here 😂 I share the last name of Stanley I remember my Grandpa and he was a huge bluegrass fan even played the banjo a little bit even though he always denied any sort of relation he would joke around about it
Fantastic Heritage. Do not let it get lost to humankind ! Greetings from Mexico
Bunch of random folks in living rooms and porches making amazing music just because. This is a treasure. Thanks for putting this on the internet
Typical German custom.
@@fuerstinhun98 Irish Scotts East Coast is the same.
@@jimiplayscobo5877 When I was working on my husband's family history, I discovered that nearly all the Scot-Irish on the east coast, especially in the Virginia-West Virginia area, are actually Scots. They were Covenanters from Scotland who'd been persecuted and escaped to Ireland, where they lived for 2-3 generations, but never married into the surrounding Irish population. This was in the 1600s.
The reality is, over the multitude of centuries long before the 1600s, the Scots and the Irish had moved back and forth between the two countries, but the Vikings had also colonized both countries around 1000 AD. The Vikings were sometimes just the Swedes, sometimes the Norse, sometimes both, and sometimes included the Danish/Jutes as well. ALL of these peoples ~ Celts, Scandinavians, etc. were descendants of the royal tribes of Israel, if you go far enough back in history.
The royalty exception were the Danites/Canaanites among them ~ they were a minor percentage of those populations, and were considered to be a criminal population. For more information on that see Genesis 49 and Amos 8:14. These criminals are the international banking cabal today, who are in the process of being purged from the Earth so the righteous tribes of Israel will once again rule the Earth.
I hope this doesn't muddle things up for you, but at the very least, you should look up the history of the Covenanters of Scotland and follow those who escaped to Ireland. I think that persecution began in the mid to late 1500s.
May The Father richly bless you and yours in your search for the truth.
As a German I like this oldtime Amerika much, much more than it is nowadays.
Maybe it was poor but it was so honest.
Don't let media fool ya. These folks are still there. And still going strong.
They weren't poor money doesn't make you rich family and friends do helping each other and being independent growing and raising your own that's what makes you rich.❤
okay nazi
Born and raised Appalachian, Blue Ridge Boy. I smell my summers at my granmothers, outside in the fields listening to my grand uncle's Call Out and play fiddle. Thank you.
I lived in the mountains of south east Kentucky in the late 60s. I play guitar and knew many old songs, being a Carter Family, Doc Watson and Blue Grass fan. I’d sing some of the old timey songs and some of the old folks would remember the event that the song had been written about. When I was there there were still dirt roads and tiny stores all over. Still shuckin and bean stringin parties and music being sung and played. It was perhaps the best time of my life filled with the finest People and culture and music. I am very blessed to have had this gift! For this I will always be Grateful! Kind Thanks and Many Blessings! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania
BLOODY FANTASTIC!!! I have shown this to my millennial adult children to remind them that life is not all about how popular you are on social media, it's about living a real-life with passion and enthusiasm regardless of your circumstance.
amen
Why is it "BLOODY " ?
@Buce-ku9vx it's an Aussie Thang. Cousin was born and raised in Perth, and his use of "Bloody hell, mate!" is akin to me saying, "Oh, S#@t man!" here in the States
Good advice
Great response.
When you're poor, the one thing the government can't take from you is your singing voice. I've walked many lonely roads with only my singing to keep me sane.
hallelujah friend that's me too
Then you're the RICHEST man on earth 🙏🥲... God bless you!!!
As someone whos grown up in west central scotland theres a sense of something so familiar watching this that i just cant put my finger on. A strange sense of nostalgia i cant link to what it actually is , very overpowering but yet so distant in thought .
Most of our Appalachian ancestors were Scots 😃
Their bagpipes got ruined on the trip over. These were scots Irish. The banjos became their bagpipes. The resonance. These people come from your blood. It’s why you feel it like you do. Cheers from east coast America.
Be proud of who u are, I'm a coal miners daughter. From the hills of west Virginia, love god serve him be kind to others , go to church pray everyday an he will take care of u,
Amen, miss Krystal!😁
That is a beautiful thing to say.
Any coal miners daughter has a higher IQ than any liberal college graduate. Seriously. I have a double major in shit I knew after high school.
My WV Nanny was proud of her hillbilly heritage.
I’m from West Yorkshire. I’ve never been to West Virginia but I’ve found myself ten thousand miles from home in recent years. Country roads take me hone indeed.
Wow thank you all…..I have some roots from those places….and it’s popping put in my music..
One of the best years of my life was woodworking and cutting timber frames in a barn shop, listening to bluegrass and gospel music while working. Beautiful music and poetic words.
The Dance bit at the 45, 46, 47 minute mark.
I've watched this so many times.
The pure joy of this. The exuberance, the pride, the energy, the human beauty and the timelessness of it.
Sometimes we can almost believe we've achieved perfection.
As to the Appalachian part of Americana.
When I was 19 I took sharp right turn from rock & roll and started investigating roots music. I never really turned away again. As a young man, early twenties, I picked up Thomas Wolfe's Of Time and the River (then Look Homeward Angel, The Web and the Rock, and finally You Can't Go Home Again.)
That was just a glimmering sneak peak into the culture of Appalachia (in particular, the Carolinas) from Wolfe.
But the music. That is where so much of the magic lies. The rich hotbed, the motherlodes radiating out in every direction.
Thank you Mr. Hoffman, for the work you've done.
I've noticed this a lot: There were a lot of great old microphones back in the old days from the forties onward that picked up sound beautifully and faithfully, from varied distances.
We can thank the Germans for the Best microphones and for the tape machines which captured things incredibly well. Much better than what we used before the war.
Every nation needs its 'Bascom Lamar Lunsfords'. How else can unique corners of history be so stubbornly, doggedly and obsessionally recorded and archived? Only by driven, inspired enthusiasts like him?
_Thanks from the UK_
Sometime I think about all the things we’ll never see or hear because nobody was there to collect it for posterity, and it makes my appreciation of this kind of footage greater
Thank you for making these documentaries. My mother played the fiddle and folks gathered at different neighbor's houses on Saturday nights to play the music and that's where I learned to square dance.
I believe this mountain style music will live on forever in the mountains and hills of Heaven!!!
Amen to that brother!
I reckon you're right
Amen! Trump 2024
Thank you Mr Hoffman. This made me think of the sweet gospel music and elders from my childhood that I miss so dearly. I'm almost in tears
Thank you William for your comment. If your resources allow, I would sure appreciate your using the THANKS button under any of my videos including the one you have commented on. It is something new that TH-cam is beta testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts.
David Hoffman filmmaker
I was born and raised in Ohio with much influence of my Appalachian Grandmother from Grant Co NC and Petersburg WV. At 25 I moved to Northern KY. By the age of 55 I owned a small tobacco farm in Lewis CT Ky.
I love these people who are a huge part of my genealogy. Moms family is Scotch/Irish.
I'll always be proud of my roots.
I love this! Personally I’d rather listen to some of this than a lot of the more modern music.
You wanna start listening to Gangsta Rap. Try Plan B's Mr Drug Dealer. You'll love it.
I love the blue grass and clogging
Agree 🇺🇸
Bascom's voice sounds like "Tex" Ritter....
@@sitarnut Actually he sounds more like Ol' Earl Clayton 😏
I loved seeing the Boys and girls square dancing brought back memories in grade school when we learned how to square dance
We also learned late 60s in Detroit.
17:58 Pre GPS - When life required little boys to be able to give reliable directions. "Ya go down the second road, not the first one ... " Talk about "lost arts"!!!! Also great to see Alan Lomax, Mike Seeger, Roger Sprung back in these earlier days, when they were still out presenting the folk message! Such a quality documentary! Countless hours of shooting and careful editing, when one only expected it to ultimately be aired a few times.
Bascom's "single mindedness" was certainly exclusionary, but by holding a tight rein on things he carved out a respectful spot for artistic endeavors that had previously been falsely represented and mocked. Serious, somewhat scholarly, but always entertaining "folk festivals" are still with us big time!
Great observation about the young boys giving somewhat complex directions clearly, straightforwardly, and confidently (and the direction seeker understanding exactly what they said and not having to ask twice) in comparison to so many today listening to a computer voice telling them what to do while driving, having no idea of how to read a map or ask locals for directions and then remembering those directions. Talk about people purposefully turning themselves into automatons! (And turning themselves into helpless victims when the GPS lady leads them far, far astray.)
I refuse to use GPS, and modern parents should do the same thing. We learned to read a map by following along as our parents drove, & by paying attention to the sun’s position and cloud direction, or a distant lit up sky (from city lights) and star positions at night, we could usually easily tell what direction we were facing.
It wasn’t so difficult to learn to navigate, especially if you’ve been somewhere once before. I believe this uses a part of our brain that must be sadly atrophied in most modern youth these days. It’s a choice of parents to either teach their children useful skills for communication, future success and survival- or else to put their children at a disadvantage, and make their futures more difficult. I know which I prefer.
As a Lunsford whose family came from the Appalachian and Ashville, this is a great documentary
Are you a Jim Lunsford relative?
@@artcflowers not sure
When I was 13 I fell in love with Appalachian folk music thanks to a book that I had just read. From that time on I learned everything that I could about this wonderful music. Later on I became acquainted with Bascom Lamar Lunsford and his efforts to preserve the music of the Southern Mountains. Little did I know that I would marry a man whose ancestors were among the very first settlers in the mountains of Western NC! The first time our family went back to see where his family had come from it was my pleasure to introduce him and our son to the amazing music that I’d loved for so long. There’s a special quality to Appalachian folk music that isn’t found in any other type of folk music. Its primeval roots reach right into the deepest part of a person and stay there. Thank you so much for making this wonderful documentary available for all to see.🎵
Thanks for all the misplaced memories , and the tears , but mostly all the memories
My grandmother was born ‘n raised in the mountains of southwest Virginia so I feel a connection to these people music and culture!
Love that young ladies smile dancing with the group!
Me to the one withe check dress love to see her now
Mr. David Hoffman, you really are America's Biographer. What you are preserving is greater than jewels or gold. I am proud there are still people like you who care about our citizen's enough to share your amazing documentarian spirit and talent with the world. You are much needed and loved!
Thank you for your comment. If your resources allow, I would sure appreciate your using the THANKS button under any of my videos including the one you have commented on. It is something new that TH-cam is beta testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts.
David Hoffman filmmaker
This is fantastic! Everyone who loves, or appreciates music should see this well-done documentary...
Agree
Love how the guy in the awesome old American car reached to the back to open the door for them to get in. Never seen that (unless the door was broken, or with old manual locks). Such a typically southern gesture of welcome, a small thing but somehow significant. Also reminds me of reaching back to roll down the windows while driving, in my last cars without power windows. i personally miss crank down windows; yes, power windows have their good points, but they always manage to be annoying, won't stop at the right spot without fiddling with them, have to turn the car on to use them, you hit the wrong button and open the back window instead, etc. And i miss vent windows. I am glad i was born early enough to remember the rotary phone, manual windows, no cell phones, no internet. What scares me is that at the time i didnt realize i was living history, i was too busy moping about what was already gone (i was born this way i guess). And now i have to remind myself that as bad as it seems now, someday (God willing) i will look back on 2023 and tell people about how we still used gasoline cars, we had actual stores you walked into and picked out what you wanted instead of just ordering it online, and god knows what else will be gone by then. "People actually used to raise their children in their own homes, by themselves, the state didn't do that for them, and they hadn't outlawed teaching prohibited ideas yet". Probably.
When I was a kid, we had a car just like that. Talk about flashbacks!
I am so glad I found this!!!
I've always loved Lunsfords's music, but this video makes me appreciate it even more.
I would be delighted to hear of all the cooking (dishes) he was given in the homes.
I love this music.
This film is a treasure, and I expect it'll be an even greater treasure 100 years from now. It describes the musical and cultural history of this region by revealing the people and their music in a very real and honest way. Thanks to Bascom Lunsford and David Hoffman and all the people that shared their lives and music with us through this film.
Amazing, thanks. Love Bascom Lamar Lunsford.
Enjoying the film so much! My dad was a breakdown fiddler. It was a form of entertainment as well as a way to make a dollar. When he and Mom were young she said people would have square dances in their homes by rolling up the carpet. I watched them square dance many times at our little town dance hall. Likewise he passed on musical ability and love of music to us four kids. I found it awesome that Bascom wrote “Mountain Dew”.
The part of clog dancing on the porch, i watch it very often👍👍
Mr. Hoffman thank you for making these available to us. This is American history many wouldn't know about without your films.
Stepping to this music kept folks healthy🌹🌹
I wish my father was still around. He'd have got a right kick out of this video. Thank you for your time Mr Hoffmann
I traveled through the Great Smoky Mountains in the early 70’s. The music and people and country were a world apart from Southern California where I was from. The smell in the evenings and on Sundays after church...of the locals cooking their dinners for their families I’ll never forget. Wonderful aromas so far away from tacos and hamburgers I grew up with in SoCal. I can only hope that some of that culture still remains today. Great video...
It does dear. It's still in those hills and most likely always will be. Its the music passed on passed down and sang with love and pride. I'm proud to be from Appalacha. I live in North Georgia. I've lived in east Tennessee and spent time in the smokeys cherokee blue ridge North Carolina and up unto Virginia and West Virginia. I've been in Turkey Creek North Carolina and places around like Telico, Tn and Hanging Dog, NC.
I now live in the western NC mountains. And the culture here is rich, deep and old. It's something to be proud of, not ashamed of.
EDIT: Asheville is stunning. The Berkeley of the east, pretty much. 😁
I've been in East TN for a year now, and the region is steeped in Americana.
@@davidadams2395 Sweet! Where did you live before?
Greetings from Asheville :)
Wnc is a special place
That's my favorite area! The Nantahala National Forest! And the town of Franlkin and the mountain Wayah Bald! Awesome place, I'll be down that way doing some ramblin' in the next few weeks!
Brilliant. The doc and people in it. Heard this type music in a Glasgow pub. Thought I was home in Virginia.
Man, do I love this kind of documentary. Such incredible music. So glad this was captured and preserved. What a great share.
My favorite artist would have loved this even though she played music of many genres in her short 32 years. Love this!
On the one hand, I imagine Lunsford to have been a belligerent, demanding and hedonistic old codger, but on the other hand, one so determined, capable and dedicated to his life's passions - traditional dance and
music and the social narrative embracing the Appalachian ways, for the love of human spirit.
I've been an admirer of David's ever since I saw the dancing clip!
This stimulated a memory of one evening I spent in northern Ontario at a historical reenactment with a number of Metis from Manitoba. Most of the encampment was English speaking and the French speaking Metis were off by themselves. I'm not fluent in French, but for reenactments I had learned some old 18th and 19th century French Canadian tunes. They were singing and playing among themselves by the fire when I joined in with some verses they had forgotten and some they had never heard. There was an instant bond formed by singing and playing together. Like long lost friends, we sang and danced clear through the night until morning. Music, especially long memory music, binds one generation to another and it is truly a shame that we are losing that tradition.
I'm a Appalachian and have always been. Moved around a lot as a kid and saw a good piece of the US. I never seemed to fit in too well. Then we moved back next to the Ohio river in the foot hills and I fit right in. Your story reminded me of a story from my Mawmaw( Grandma). My family hails from eastern Kentucky in the mountains, and one day or weekend a year the whole family would go clean up the old cemetery and put flowers and such. Have a good big meal and the part she really remembered and wished was still around was after supper the family would sing gospel music on the pouch for awhile.
Love this documentary , I really enjoyed how this man talked to the old timers. he didn't talk down to them he talked what was important and understanding what there doing
I am from the Nethetlands and i feel a big connection with these people and music. I find it unbelieveble that a lot of these mountain people can play so nice.
I would i had some of that...😁😁
Great film of a great man and totally obscured reality (if not obliterated). Makes me want to go out there and find some people enjoying life without their I-pad. Thank you.
Thank you for this piece of American history !This music is beautiful and the people so engaging and real!Brings memories of My Mothers family that immigrated from Ireland to West Virginia,Blue grass mountain music came with them and was a part of life.Thank you Mr Lunsford for keeping it Alive!
They are my people my moms grands & her great grands. I've researched but never knew they were so blessed with the musical gift. I have granddaughter so gifted and can pick up just about any instrument and in no time will play it.
I have to say this has been delightful. My people my home .
Dear Mr Hoffman you have out done yourself this time, thank you I so enjoyed this🙏💞🏴
It is interesting to see the threads of this through out my life. From square dancing and desegregation to traditional Irish dancing and poverty and music. Memories abound. I am thankful today I found this video and watched it in it entirety.
Thank you David H for your good heart and work
Fills my soul to hear it.
Thankyou for this wonderful story..when l first saw this man on another video l thought he must've had an exciting life and now l know he sure did.. incredible ❤️
A wonderful film Mr Hoffman. You recorded a time capsule of tradition, exposed and adored by the pubic for its richness. Nova scotia and New Brunswick Canada has similar pockets of cultures which have survived the torment of time and change. Preserving what we take for granted is probably the most heart felt gift you can give to a nation. Thank You.
David. Just wanted to say that I hope you and your family are safe and well. We appreciate you. Be well. Stay safe. John Lomax
Thank you John.
David Hoffman - filmmaker
What a delightful history all homegrown. Thank God for this man to record and save this ancient American history.
What an interesting story of this man & the result of his early interest & later influence on things we take for granted today; cheers to him & to everyone keeping these traditions alive & well!👍🇺🇸
From 5 yrs old I grew up in the Asheville area .. in Arkansas now .. but sharing this with several of my Appalachian friends.
Thank you Merwin.
David Hoffman-filmmaker
The US is such an amazing place. I would love to travel around there 💖💖
A lot of the influence of Appalachia music is tied to Ireland. 💗 My family on both sides are from Appalachia and there is so much Irish and Native American.
Bollocks Appalachian is mostly English this guys name for a start
@@TheZumph You do know that English is also spoken in Ireland, right genius? I did not say Gaelic. 🤦♀️ The southern accent of the mountains is tied to the high population of Irish in the Appalachias.
@@EVa-fj5et 70 percent of Appalachian names are English...take your Irish revisionism elsewhere
@@TheZumph Exactly.
Wonderful. This history is deeper, with more roots than most will ever recognize. Thank you.
Lord, I wish I was younger and healthier in order to go back to the mountains of Virginia where I was born! But since that is impossible I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing this documentary and wish you and yours the best of a future life!
My great grandfather Jesse Loy was a old country fiddler who died in 1958. I got to see his fiddle before a family member gave it away.
As a person born and raised in the Carolina's I really can appreciate this content ...thank you Mr Hoffman...oh yeah I took some banjo lessons 😂😂blue Grass
I play mountain music on fiddle and banjo. My grandfather was a folksinger. So us simple people are still out here. Hu folks from Texas!
Pure, natural, and innocent living and beautiful folk. I wish I could be there with them! It all reminds me of my childhood. We were taught square dancing in the 7th grade as part of our physical education.
I often visited an uncle and aunt who played music similar to the Appalachian folk. My uncle was blind and he played the mandolin and accordion with sweet perfection! Their voices were such a sweet melody that accompanied their beautiful music. Sigh... good times.
Thank you so much for these videos, Mr. Hoffman. It’s such a beautiful breath of fresh air and a big relief to see videos more than worth my time amidst all the horrible nonsense on TH-cam.❤️
That sounds like a fantastic phys Ed class. We had contra dancing here, which is similar, but more French Canadian.
Lots of poverty though
Love this music! I'm from Georgia and heard a lot of it
Precious Times, Precious Folks 💞
Wonderful time capsule. Stuff like this should survive on TH-cam forever. Thanks so much for sharing.
Bascom, now that’s a name.
So many old tunes that without his amazing recall and dogged preserving we would likely never have known. A great big thanks. Similar to Alan Lomax but without a tape recorder. As important to the music as the Monroe bros. He wasn’t lookin’ for a payoff.
From Creston NC / Mountain City TN, super proud of my heritage
I met him in the in 60s at in his festival in Ashville NC I went down for a number be of years. I played guitar. I have his autograph and program of the mountain cloging
This Hendersonville, NC native & current resident of Asheville thanks you profoundly once again, David. My people are steeped in this music & culture, all the way back. My ancestors on every side literally settled the area, and we are part Cherokee (like everyone around here lol).
Thank you for showing us in a dignified & accurate light. I've loved Bascom & his music, a core in our local culture as well as a historical icon, since childhood. Your work is awesome in ways I can't describe.
Bless you miss Lorna for sharing your comment with me! I'm most gratified and blessed to read it!!
Oh and in case it's helpful if you want to think about ancestry or whatever, the families I know of in my tree are Gibbs & Nelsons from the Spartanburg Hwy & Greenville Hwy part of Hendersonville - my great-grandfather Theodore Gibbs and his first wife, my grandmother's mother Dolly Nelson (they lived a few houses down on Nelson Lane from the RJ Reynolds family & used to get to swim in their pool with the Reynolds children 😄) were written in a volume of Frank Fitzimmons' book series, Banks Of The Oklawaha, according to their love story.
He took her out of church as was typical here, and they walked/hitchiked to Greenville to marry I believe!
We have another similar story on the other side of my family.
I have also one branch of Corns, the one who supposedly a wild circuit riding preacher started Hendersonville when Main Street was made of mud. And Jarretts, which are prolific around the area.
I actually live one street away from Jarrett Street in Asheville where the old Jarrett house is, and has been remodeled years ago by a very nice lovely family from Florida (2013?). I got to see it when the thick wires were still running along the ceilings exposed, for the old electricity... and some of the little fixtures and things were in the kitchen, as they were a well-off family back in the day. And the whole house was full of tons of pigeons roosting (2012?)! 😄 It's right behind the house I live in now.
My poor Jarrett great-grandmother on my mother's side lost both of her parents as a child, and wound up in an orphanage at the top of Jeter Mountain in Hendersonville, where I used to babysit for two well-off transplant families in the 80s. My dad had an A-frame about a mile up CC Camp Road there (where my great grandfather from the other side of my family worked for the Civil Corps, near Holmes State Forest. We used to jog through that park at Holmes & attended crab creek Baptist Church at the beginning and bottom of Jeter Mountain Road.) Near Edney's Lake where Mr Edney did the massive Christmas lights back in the '60s & '70s for the children to drive around through!
Anyway I could tell more little memories lol, but I thought you might enjoy reminiscing if you like reading stuff like that.
Reply me anything you want, I would love to read it 😁
It's dangerous to tell your family history in a small town because you never know who liked who, who may have angered/crossed/hurt who, which of your ancestors might have acted terrible during their lifetimes even though they were noble & courageous in amazing ways.. who in your ancestry acted crazy, who saved somebody's life & fed them during The Great Depression (like my father's father's family did)... who might have had a few too many as wild Irishmen... so I tell all this with no judgment on anybody for anything and hope and not to receive any - no matter what my talented, shining, amazing & very human ancestors may have truly been like! LOL!
You are a real documentarian! This doc is really wonderful. Thank you for sharing so much of it here!
Such a fascinating history that was revealed to me in this seminal documentary on music so rich and profound and beloved by its participants. What joy at creating music!
Thank you for your comment. If your resources allow, I would sure appreciate your using the THANKS button under any of my videos including the one you have commented on. It is something new that TH-cam is beta testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts.
David Hoffman filmmaker
My father was from Asheville. His family lived their many many generations.
I feel at home here...Iike I've been here before. Very comforting and peaceful. I don't fit in today's society. So greatful for the recording.
we must never lose this music never
I’ve always loved this music. My grandmother was born Sevier Coumty, TN in 1907. She left and lived all over the country during the depression but she had taken a lot of criticism for being a hillbilly. It bothered her but she never changed in the 40 years I knew her. I always thought it a shame people could be foolish. She taught me a lot. I’ve never heard anything but good about the mountain people we came from and we could use a little today in the culture we live among.
My mother was a "hillbilly" and proud of it. The people where she was born referred to themselves as "hillfolk".
The true McCoy in my DNA
Loved this ❤️
Thank You 😊
💞🕊️💞
I grew up in the northern Adirondack mountains of New York and we had our own variety of mountain music. I was born in 1968 and remember the old timers (people in their 80’s) playing banjo and guitars, much like this.
This is an important historical document. Thanks for preserving it!
I'm so grateful you produced all this I've said it many times unbelievable foresight. Actually what our country was founded on of the people of that music
Thank you, David
This music makes me cry every time I hear it, my heart is full. Beautiful...... feel like my heart has always been there......... I've only traced to SW KY ........ This music is a treasure ....... Grandma lived in a train thingy ......Mom visited... confusing history since then ..
Seeing those kids clogging and stepping was so worth it! Just pure enjoyment of the moment.
Second time I’ve watched this. Thoroughly enjoyed it both times.
Mr Hoffman, thank you for this video, I love every kind of music that is part of American history.
Joan my beloved wife born and raised in Bryson City North Carolina lived among these people Heard all of this music many many many talented singers instrument players dancers throughout the Appalacians .....incredible
A lyrical look at an amazing man, time and music! Thank you so much for sharing this. My parents were from Albemarle County, Va and were active singers and dancers of all types of mountain music. This film is very close to my heart.
What an interesting.. enlightening..
video...
Good to see traditions kept alive..
What a rich, splendid life this gentleman had....
even when not having a fortune...
he was wealthy on experience and his contribution to his cause (mountain music) was immense..!