And here is another spectacular mountain, country, bluegrass, old-time music experience. Earl Scruggs: His family and friends - th-cam.com/video/2Pa7o1A851o/w-d-xo.html
Actually @David Hoffman, moonshine isn't 200 proof. Usually, it ranges, with generally a proof of 100-190 being the general levels. You probably drank something around 150-180 proof, which is still plenty strong. A brand of grain alcohol, called Everclear, reaches 95 percent alcohol content, which is 190 proof. Moonshine is Much smoother than that, if prepared properly. Either way, after a few sips, it will hit your bloodstream hard, and take your breath away at first.
I always the dance video. And someone was commenting that wasn't. Yes, that was my childhood. Potatoes, corn, peas, apple and cherry trees, grape vines but they weren't meant for the eastern Kentucky soil. Yes, that is Appalachia before Oxytocin.
My family has lived in the Ozarks since the 1840's, and I can say that 'mountain music', 'bluegrass', 'old time' - whatever you want to call it - is one of the most beautiful and evocative art forms in America. Thank you, for posting this lovely tribute.
@no name Ha! I've had some 'home brew', and it liked to take my head off. But, after the first drink, it was smooth sailing. :) My father's family landed in Virginia in the late 17th cent., and worked its way west to the Ozarks and has stayed, ever since. I've lived other places, but these hills will always be 'home'.
@@MrGitpicker Oh, I love Eureka Springs! I've not been able to go for quite awhile, but some of my best times were there. Where do you play - at what venue?
I think what I love and miss most, is that these people weren't part of a band who practised every Friday night for a show or hit it big.... They were neighbours, the music is so sweet and genuine, something we're missing nowadays
Today, your neighbour will sooner kill you than bond with you like family. Humanity has de-evolved almost back to animalistic tendancies. Technolgy goes up because of the few intelligent people left. But society is decaying into levels below the hunter gatherer stages.
@@matthewgovig I stopped to change a tyre for a woman that had no jack in her car. I used my jack and my lug wrench and changed her tyre. I was only expecting a small thank you. She then held a twenty dollar bill as far as she could from her and said, "Take it, please. I don't want trouble. Just take it." I just threw the jack and wrech in my truck and said, "Your Welcome," and took off in the opposite direction, though I had to go in the direction her car was pointing. I did not want her to be any more scared than what she was. I guess this is the way you have to be today. I waited down the road at a service station for about a half hour so she could get on her way and not feel followed. I might as well have pulled up with a hunting rifle and masked and said, "Your money or your life!" She was terrified. I just wonder what would have happened if I did not stop. She had no jack.
well not quite, we often play in the kitchen and enjoy every bit of it. Greatests of friends and a splendid time laughing and grinning and picking . It's still happening.
@@matthewgovig Not all us Yankees are like that. Of course I'm getting to be one of the old timers now. However, I was raised to be grateful for hospitality & help. I grew up in a small city but most of Maine is very rural & it could be quite a distance to a neighbor in most areas. Even if you didn't particularly like a neighbor you had better get along because, you never knew when you might need their help & it could be along ways to the next neighbor. It is a shame that our technology is canceling out our humanity.
I am 36 years old and from Germany and since I was a kid I fell in love with country music, american folk music and Bluegrass. It triggers certain feelings no other music style is able to. One wish since I was a kid is to travel through the Appalachians and the rural eastern USA and "soak up" the impressions and get to know the culture. But I think these things I expect are over for decades. But I can still imagine and watch TH-cam to make a time travel.
Appalachian culture is still strong, just day to day life is more regular I guess. The region has been neglected and left in poverty for so long and most inhabitants are either poor or on drugs. There is many mansions and massive houses up on some of the mountains, but most are owned by rich folk from florida and other states and they use them as summer homes or something. So the people that actually live here dont get many pieces of the pie usually. Politics has went and screwed with a lot of people here as well. I see more stuff online about our region than I ever did growing up. And if you know where the gatherings are, you can probably find a good time anywhere. Just dont expect to walk up to someones house and see them playing the banjo. Might get shot lol.
Wow…this blew me away.The youngsters dancing in the house was amazing,the young girl in the checked dress and short hair had the most beautiful and spontaneous smile I think I’ve ever seen,wonder if she’s still with us,would love to find out.All the best from the UK 🇬🇧
I could not agree more.. her deep dimples and amazing smile has drawn me back to watch that clip 5 times in the past week! Wish i knew her name and whatever happened to her.
Though I'm from Texas and only 25 years old, this brings me back to my own childhood. I grew up with my grandfather and around all his buddies. He was born in '49 but died in 2015 at 65 years old. The best man I'll ever know. There are aspects of this culture I dearly miss. It's been tough on me because I was raised as if it was the 50's and caught it on the tail end. They're all dead now. And I haven't been lucky enough to even meet anybody my age who speaks like I do, let alone someone who enjoys our own culture. Public schools and social media have changed it for the worse. They'll likely want to put my ass in the Smithsonian by the time I'm old enough to have grandchildren. I already feel like a dinosaur. And the worst part about it is knowing my people's culture was morally superior than the one today. I'm not ashamed of it, nor am I afraid to say it. I look out at the world today and want to throw up. "Progress"... I tell ya I've never heard of a bigger oxymoron in my life. We eat shitty food, we die shitty diseases, we have shitty doctors who get shitty degrees and know fk all about curing anything. We have a shitty political system that divides people and pins them against each other, getting people to form opinions when they otherwise would have no opinion either way. a shitty press who creates stories and stereotypes, pinning people on one another, everything we consume is geared to make us utterly materialistic and self gratifying. We permanently changed the landscape, displaced and suppressed native people, dried up springs, creeks, rivers, and lakes. we pollute the earth for our lust for money and power. And we allowed our government to put a cap on the amount of representatives. We are so grossly underrepresented it's laughable. Politicians were never originally intended to be career politicians. It was something you did for the duty of your country. If you got rich doing it, you were corrupt. That hasn't changed and people would be wise to see that. But who ever said my generation was wise in a damn thing?
My husband and I butcher all our own meat , garden and can the vegetables for winter , we make sorghum, eat free range eggs . Our food is clean . We have non gmo seeds and grow organic . We have a clean water source and are in the process of hooking up solar . We all need to learn to provide for our families .
@ScotchIrishHoundsman I appreciate you writing all of this and I’m right there with you. The state of the world depresses me so and you perfectly described it. I’m 25 years old and from western Canada. This music deeply affects me even though I have literally no ties or anything that would connect me to this culture. But I think that speaks to just how transcendental this music is. I feel this way about old country/mountain/Appalachian music and also the blues that came out of the Deep South. I could just bawl thinking about the immense pain and suffering and just hard lives these people experienced that we could not even imagine-and then it all came out through this medium. It’s so beautiful. I’ve also never met anyone my age that feels this way or cares about the things I care about, so it’s comforting to know people like you do exist. Maybe we’ll cross paths one day ha ha. Godspeed.
Thank you for shining the light on my mountain people and our music. I grew up just east of Asheville and was 12 years old when this was filmed. I remember going to the Bascomb Lamar Lunsford Folk Festivals at the old Asheville Auditorium and watching my brothers clog dancing teams. Sadly, I have 2 left feet and could never get the hang of it. But I do play a pretty mean guitar and know a lot of old timey songs! Thanks for making this old man smile and even shed a tear for days gone by...
North Georgia here. All of us southern Appalachian hillbilly descendants can remember and soak up the nostalgia here, and try to fight back the tears. This is a beautiful film...A treasure. My Grandad and all 4 of his brothers played together as a mountain music band and would cover all the old time songs. I would give any Earthly possession I have for 5 minutes of film of them playing. Thank you so much for sharing this.
That is an amazing window on life in that part of the USA. It was not easy living and the man half way through looked a broken man. Thank you for this documentary.
@@cruzcontrol1303 not only that but the dancing is ancient as well. Whatever they call it hoofing or clogging, it's roots are in Riverdance, Ceilli dance, Stepdancing, and even French Quadrille. As see a little bit of the Flamenco and some Tap dancing, too. Native Americans were always certainly doing their thing. Stumping the ground in time to the beat of drums, flutes and piping instruments. Meanwhile Aboriginal Africans, Polynesians (wherever they canoeed to), such as Hawaii, New Zealand (Māori), Asians... were doing their own kind of "stepping to the beat of their own drummers". Natives of many lands don noise-making accoutrements such as leather straps with shells or stones tied on, or, castiñets, or gourds filled with pebbles as used in the Carib and Latin lands. We still have all the old kinds of dance just modernized and done it different speeds. From these ancient dances we get clogging, square dances, hoedowns, and the Soul Train Stroll - which is way too reminiscent of the history I've researched on the "cake walk" that slaves were forced to do for the masters' entertainments, while dressed in dirty torn discarded finery and made to strut, often mimicking what they had seen of the dances at the parties - of course they did their own mimickry in private which may just have been Witnessed, and so...well, it's probably one of those chicken or the egg things. Anyway, we also have teams of black men and now women performing what is called "Stomp/Step".
@@justaguy2365 irish folk music was'nt around then.it would be scottish fiddle reel music and english or welsh clogdance. irish stepdance only started in 1894 when two irishmen got invited to a scottish ceilidth in london(ceilidths being traditional to scotland). fiddle reel music is also indigenous to scotland.(100s of these fiddle reel tunes made their way to ireland. irish music you see today only started in the late 1950s. many irish sangs are scottish or english adopted by the fledgling irish bands in the late 50s/early 60s. fiddle reel music would have reached amerikay with the earlier scots settlers. clogdance from english or welsh settlers.
Brother- This brought tears to my eyes, in a good way! I grew up a (small) town boy, but my folks were all hillbillies. Grew up in the Square Dance every Saturday night. My sister danced for Ralph Sloan & The Tennessee Travelers! AND, we even have the Scottish/Irish roots that drive the sounds of the Mountain Music....
Thank you Mr. Hoffman , You gave these folks, their art and yourself immortality. many generations to come may look back a big part of American culture and our roots..
Cried for joy while I watched this. I call it Mountain Music, a term which most people these days aren't familiar with. So pure and beautiful. And the dancing. Oh my. Did my heart good to hear and see this again.
Wonderful film & great to see that these times won't be forgotten. They've carried on in different ways & been inspired by not only the old musicians, but also videos such as this.
Say a prayer too for this culture, because of the new mining methods, many have lost their jobs and livelihoods and also had to deal with tainted water coming down from the mountains that have been blown up. This is soooo sad, say a prayer for them as they try to find a way to carry on in the world. They may have to give up their mountain hideaways and this is sooo sad. Thank you, David Hoffman, really appreciate your filming this.
I am 57 years old, I listen a lot to rock, also metal, but apart from that my heart has always been set on mountain music. I used to be mocked for it, but nowadays, here too, this music is getting the appreciation it deserves. What is it that makes a 57-year-old woman from the flatlands of the Netherlands, Europe, homesick and nostalgic when she hears this music? Enchanting. Thank you.
I'm 27 and finnish, but there's some aspect of this that is very similar to finnish folk music. The music speaks for itself, and is very pleasant to listen to. No excess bravado or unnecessary showmanship, just good music.
Long before mobile phones and Wi-Fi.... looks like much happier times . People talk to each other and sing, , now days all people do is stare at their phones and their iPads and see and hear nothing around them .... thanks for posting this 👍👍👍
This makes me so proud of my family and my ancestors going back to Scotland and Ireland and my family still in NC and SW Virginia. I'll never forget my roots, this made me the man, father, son and husband I am today.
I’ve met many bluegrass musical acquaintances that grew up right in the centre of the punk music movement here in the West (myself incl.). Don’t know what the connection is but I always found it interesting. Maybe it’s due to the constant search for something different or roots based.
Same here I grew up into punk then gradually grew into a crust punk and listen to everything in between from DSBM to hip hop and i found my self getting into old country and then into old rag timey stuff as i began to travel via freight train
My wife is a daughter of Dean Stoneman. His father Pop Stoneman and all his children played Bluegrass music. When I was first dating my future wife, I would come to pick her up and Dean and some friends would be in circle in their living room playing this wonderful music. She wanted to go but I didn't. We still live in the same town in Maryland. I loved this historic film. Thanks
I grew up in a military family, travelling from base to base. There was no music in our house, but I always admired the ability of musicians. It wasn't until I was 52 yrs old that I started to play guitar and sing... first the music I knew best (classic rock), but my tastes evolved to bluegrass, old tyme, mountain, country. Music has changed my life for the better. I would have loved to have known the talented folks in this movie. Thank you for sharing.
Gosh I grew up with a bit of music, my late dad played guitar. I remember as a small kid he was jamming with a friend who played the banjo and I was fascinated! I never learned to play anything unfortunately. But you say you started at 52, well I'll be 51 in two days, and I still have my dad's guitar. Maybe it's time to dust it off...
@@suleskos.2743: That's a nice story Shaun. It sounds like you are a basic beginner, so I will give you the same advice I give to the many people who I know who have started playing music. 1) Don't bounce around from thing to thing on the internet... you will not get anywhere with that approach 2) Find a "Guru" who is an excellent teacher, and who has a very well structured system 3) The very best beginner-teacher is Justin Sandercoe... go to his website and start with the Beginner program... it will take you 6-12 months to get thru it, and it is FREE (though I have donated plenty to Justin over the years)... www.justinguitar.com/
I was a navy brat also lived base to base but when my dad was in desert storm him and his banjo player started a band called taken by storm and I grew up with bluegrass roots in me but wasn’t till after my dad passed that I took to learning the fiddle... i will post my fathers last band he played in.. it was not that long ago
To the trained ear, some might think it a bit out of tune, but to the soul, dead on the mark! Just pure and care free music. And to think these people worked the land with their hands and then played this music on the side so to speak with those same rough calloused hands. Wonderful stuff!
@@rufuscollins5140 My Dad used to play Banjo, when he passed I mistakenly sold his Banjo. I kick myself everytime I hear a banjo player. Have a wonderful week cus!
I am professional musician and firmly believe that tuning is a specific colour and expressive tool in the music world. The film is priceless-a Gem!Thank you for uploading it !
Exactly. FEEL music with the SOUL. I love all knids of music from rap to bluegrass and I always listen with my SOUL which is why I never really cared for ANYTHING "Mainstream" . Gotta have that underground soulful vibe!
Harold Winters was my moms cousin. It was amazing to find this video and share with family. I was able to share this with his 92 year old sister before her death in 2017. Thank you!!!
What a gem of a movie! Love it. But as a sports coach / nutritionist it strikes me to see all lean bodies compared to the obesity crisis we have now! What a difference - thanks to convenience food and a not-so-active life. Time that folks get back to this intensity of dancing and physical activity of those days rather than sitting on the couch having a highly processed meal.
I may be a youngin, but having been born and raised right outside of Asheville, this music is what I grew up on. I love seeing the oldest earliest renditions. Thank you.
My father's family was the mountains in North Carolina,his father worked in the marble queries up there,supposedly the biggest around,never got to visit/know that side of family,always did like bluegrass music,playing guitar since 14,61 now,used to play metal,hard rock,fusion,funk,and slow picking acoustic guitar,now I see some influence there,appreciative...
Americana at it's absolute finest David - you captured a piece of history here in it's most genuine form - much respect. Leaves you with a longing for simpler times.
The scene in the home with the older guys playing and all the kids dancing so spontaneously just blew me away. Where or how would that ever happen nowadays? Incredible
Well, if you got enough time, try to cruise up at an old Saloon somewhere in the smokey or blue ridges on a sunday afternoon. When you find one with the horses attached outside tapping the rhythms with their hoofs, you have found the place you are looking for... ;-) You'll have a marvellous afternoon!
All the ICONS of BLUEGRASS MUSIC carried it on from there... BILL Monroe/ Lester Flatt / Earl Scruggs/ Jimmy Martin/ Ralph and Carter Stanley/ Osborne Bros/ JIM AND JESSE Mcreynolds/ Don Reno and Red Smiley/ many many more and now there is so many Bluegrass musicians that are so talented and well known❤🎶
I’m in Western North Carolina and I can tell ya there are still some damn fine Ol pickers in these hills... also I love that they opened with Ground Hog...
I just love watching how people had such close ties with each other through music, hard work and actually talked to each other. At 29:33 watching those kids dance my heard lept. There was such joy in their steps, each and everyone was laughing and having a good time , including the people watching and the band as well. We will never see the like of it again since kids can't put down the damned phone to even LOOK or talk to each other. But we have memories because you, Mr Hoffman, put them down to reel and they will be immortalized forever. God bless you :)
I was in the 5th grade when this was filmed. Our teacher brought a record of "Down Yonder" and we'd spend at least an hour clogging and/or square dancing to it. Western North Carolina.
David Hoffman - This film is a cultural and entertainment gem. You captured a precious time capsule. The combination of the self-taught music and dancing is distinctive. The house where 5 couples were clog/square dancing was surely sturdily built, as were the people. Resonates to the core.
I grew up with grandparents that lived like a lot of these good ole “hill folk” did. I remember going to their house and their being nothing there…..absolutely NOTHING, except hard work. I’ve never forgotten it, and the older I get, the more I appreciate their way of Life. Wealth wasn’t characterized by money. If you had family and a porch full of friends then you were the wealthiest person on earth. If you had the ability to make music, which everyone seemed to have back then, you had everything you needed. These ppl built America. The farmers, the builders, the miners, and they should never be looked down upon. Had they not had the great ideas that they had, and didn’t do the hard work it took to achieve their goals, we wouldn’t have the beautiful world we live in today.
Those people had/have a rough existence but they make the best of it and it seems to me they are better off then us city folks...Thanks for making that documentary for posterity.
I recently got my son into bluegrass. He wants to learn the fiddle now. Recently as we were sitting by candlelight in another power outage, I was telling him about the hard life mountain people had and I told my mom, (who was born into a coal mining camp in WV), that "bluegrass" are the saddest songs set to the happiest tunes. That right there explains a lot about "mountain" people, and being one of the kindest persons who has gone through some terrible times, my mom wholeheartedly agreed.
It's rough everywhere, not to minimize their challenges. But there is something about challenges and our upbringing, they are what shspe us, we would not have it any other way. How could we? We would not be who we are. They seem FREE happy and selfsufficient. We all deal with what God sends us.
John Doyle I was in a class in San Francisco in the 90s. We did clogging. It’s contagious and can be found in many places. btw, the instructor is American born Chinese and teacher of the Hillbilly Cloggers❗️
I'm Irish its not revival we always have it. Always done even in the Irish bars in the city centre in the old back pubs where u really know your Guinness.
P ☺️Yes, much of the music, Clogging-jig dance and folklore was brought to the Appalachia region by the Irish settlers and emigrants in the early years of our country. It’s a unique and a significant contribution to American history and music history.🍀☘️🎻🎶
Classic bluegrass, folk and country music was great because it told real stories about real life. I think I remember this film. Definitely most of the tunes. Now, I'll just turn up the music and enjoy s cigar. Thank you.
This is just incredible footage. I’ve played guitar about 25 years now but my mother’s lifelong love of dulcimer music allows me to fall in love with that section of this video. That’s deep music folks.
Thank you Luke 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
Thank you ! Brought back memories of being 8 years old and dropped off to live the summer with my Aunt and Uncle in Boone County, Ky (I was born in Ft. Knox). I would ride the mule down to the south 40 with my Uncle. He would plow tobacco all day and I'd shoot turtles with my slingshot and drink spring water from my mayonnaise jar. Then back home and Aunt Loy would wring a chicken in front of me for dinner. No indoor plumbing or water. Kentucky bluegrass music runs in your veins for your life after experiencing that. Ahhh for the simpler days. Definite hardships, but wholesome, simple, honest lives of integrity, and I'd trade today's value system (if there even is one) for what those folks had in a heart beat. I'm now 73.
The best thing about being 55 and having country roots is the fact that I knew many folks just like this. The last one died earlier this year. We spent 3 days together in 1994 with me playing in his band. I learned more from him in those 3 days than I could have learned from any music college in these United States!
This is very like Irish dancing where its always in somebody house where the girls are going to feish every weekend somewhere in Ireland. Its soo nice to see this. How wonderful these people are.
My mother is French-Canadian and grew up in Timmins, Ontario. She is 93 now and says this is much like the music she heard as a young child on a Saturday night. The kids would be sent up to the loft as the parents played music and did clog dancing. Both men and women would be smoking pipes and passing around jugs of something. So many peoples the world over tied together by this type of music - the strings of their instruments going right to the heart.
Back in the mtns were this was filmed it was called buck dancing I was raised 107 miles east of where this was filmed in buncombe county 5 miles from ga 70 miles form the tn line it was a great place to grow up and full of Scots Irish folks
@@andrewgoodbody2121 most of the folks in Western nc , north east ga and eastern tn were scots Irish decent I've always been very very proud that I'm Scots Irish
This was 5 days before I got got out of the Marine Corps of which I served nearly 3 years of my tour at Cherry Point N.C. Never been back, but I remember going to a square dancing place.. It was "Down Younder Street ". My buddy from Detroit asked this gal where the Square Dance Hall was , she said "Down Younder Street."
If our Mountain music and Bluegrass music genres were branches of the same tree, most of the roots reach 3000 miles back across the sea to where you're standing.
I love classic country been listening to it all 63 years of my life but howdy de didn't know there was anything better till I watched this video, them folks got real talents everyone of them could put Bill Monroe to shame that is in my eyes they could of
A great piece of history, culture and the roots of my ancestors! I’m from NorthEast TN, not far from the NC border, and though I’m not a fan of much bluegrass, I am proud of my heritage and roots. The older I become, at 68, the more it touches my heart to celebrate my history! Beautiful work, David! Thank you. Sharing! ♥️🙏✌️🦋👏
My Home, was born and reared on this kind of music and square dancing. Sure do miss the old times.....70, and still going.....time to get the old banjo out.
This is a great video my family comes from the Scots Irish Share cropper Family Blacksburg Virginia .... My sister continues the tradition Grandfather Who was Rutherford Hayes McDaniel ... An old time mountain fiddler ... She is over 200 songs On TH-cam And Facebook ....Gloria 265 ... She now lives in Utah is over 70 years old ... I kid her and call her the Joan Baez of Utah ... She plays all the instruments .... Primarily auto harp And dulcimer...
With all that's going on these days I would turn back the hands of time if I could and go back and spend some time with my grandparents,great food,music and fellowship
Mr. Hoffman I surely do love your videos of the people of Appalachia..I'm from Eastern Kentucky and I've watched this one and several other's of yours..thank you sir for all the hard work and passion that you put into your videos..I pray you and your family stay safe and blessed
What a fine opportunity to see your work, David Hoffman. It's like going home again. All my granny's are passed onward now but Lord what a legacy they left with their music. We still carry it on in the Holloway/Mills/Westmoreland family
thank you for putting this excellent vid on youtube i love bluegrass music ,here in doncaster United kingdom there is nothing like this, the Pits are now all gone factories shutting, the country music scene is also on a decline , as a banjo player myself i would have loved to have met these wonderful people they had it really hard back then it makes you realize what we have today
And the number of naysayers has swelled to 161 as of this writing, and a more mean-spirited lot there never did live. The people in this film are truly some of the most beautiful I ever saw-hard-working, pious, people with their feet in the soil, who could nonetheless make beautiful music. Thank you, David, for bringing this piece of America to us.
And here is another spectacular mountain, country, bluegrass, old-time music experience. Earl Scruggs: His family and friends -
th-cam.com/video/2Pa7o1A851o/w-d-xo.html
Thourougly enjoyed both videos, Scrugg's and the Mountain Special films. Both are treasures to watch! Thanks for your hard work and talent David.
Actually @David Hoffman, moonshine isn't 200 proof. Usually, it ranges, with generally a proof of 100-190 being the general levels. You probably drank something around 150-180 proof, which is still plenty strong. A brand of grain alcohol, called Everclear, reaches 95 percent alcohol content, which is 190 proof. Moonshine is Much smoother than that, if prepared properly. Either way, after a few sips, it will hit your bloodstream hard, and take your breath away at first.
5/19/23: Passed along to musicians in Arkansas! Thanks, David!
Thanks for sharing. This speaks volumes of the heart of these good and decent people.
I always the dance video. And someone was commenting that wasn't. Yes, that was my childhood. Potatoes, corn, peas, apple and cherry trees, grape vines but they weren't meant for the eastern Kentucky soil. Yes, that is Appalachia before Oxytocin.
This is one of the best American music movies I have ever seen.
Thank you.
David Hoffman filmmaker
This is a very important historical record of the United States.
This is REAL music by REAL people! There was a time when people made music just for the pure joy of it, Oh Yea!
My family has lived in the Ozarks since the 1840's, and I can say that 'mountain music', 'bluegrass', 'old time' - whatever you want to call it - is one of the most beautiful and evocative art forms in America. Thank you, for posting this lovely tribute.
@no name Ha! I've had some 'home brew', and it liked to take my head off. But, after the first drink, it was smooth sailing. :) My father's family landed in Virginia in the late 17th cent., and worked its way west to the Ozarks and has stayed, ever since. I've lived other places, but these hills will always be 'home'.
Im from Eureka Springs and play old time music for a living.
@@MrGitpicker Oh, I love Eureka Springs! I've not been able to go for quite awhile, but some of my best times were there. Where do you play - at what venue?
My family to is from the Ozarks they made their own cabin and farmed to survive. They were from the Camdenton area. Proud of my heritage too.
@@unclepacky3926 I know Camdenton, well. :)
That guy playing the harmonica in his mouth and singing at the same time is a legend
Red Parham.
David Hoffman - filmmaker
Can’t believe I just saw a guy do that!
at 34:00
Super glad I got to see this.Thank you!
They call that cigar style. Another Legend that does this wonderfully is a man named Harmonica Frank Floyd.
I think what I love and miss most, is that these people weren't part of a band who practised every Friday night for a show or hit it big.... They were neighbours, the music is so sweet and genuine, something we're missing nowadays
Today, your neighbour will sooner kill you than bond with you like family. Humanity has de-evolved almost back to animalistic tendancies. Technolgy goes up because of the few intelligent people left. But society is decaying into levels below the hunter gatherer stages.
@@matthewgovig I stopped to change a tyre for a woman that had no jack in her car. I used my jack and my lug wrench and changed her tyre. I was only expecting a small thank you. She then held a twenty dollar bill as far as she could from her and said, "Take it, please. I don't want trouble. Just take it." I just threw the jack and wrech in my truck and said, "Your Welcome," and took off in the opposite direction, though I had to go in the direction her car was pointing. I did not want her to be any more scared than what she was. I guess this is the way you have to be today. I waited down the road at a service station for about a half hour so she could get on her way and not feel followed. I might as well have pulled up with a hunting rifle and masked and said, "Your money or your life!" She was terrified. I just wonder what would have happened if I did not stop. She had no jack.
well not quite, we often play in the kitchen and enjoy every bit of it. Greatests of friends and a splendid time laughing and grinning and picking . It's still happening.
Indrid Cold lunch 6’’’’
@@matthewgovig Not all us Yankees are like that. Of course I'm getting to be one of the old timers now. However, I was raised to be grateful for hospitality & help. I grew up in a small city but most of Maine is very rural & it could be quite a distance to a neighbor in most areas. Even if you didn't particularly like a neighbor you had better get along because, you never knew when you might need their help & it could be along ways to the next neighbor. It is a shame that our technology is canceling out our humanity.
I am 36 years old and from Germany and since I was a kid I fell in love with country music, american folk music and Bluegrass. It triggers certain feelings no other music style is able to. One wish since I was a kid is to travel through the Appalachians and the rural eastern USA and "soak up" the impressions and get to know the culture. But I think these things I expect are over for decades. But I can still imagine and watch TH-cam to make a time travel.
Appalachian culture is still strong, just day to day life is more regular I guess. The region has been neglected and left in poverty for so long and most inhabitants are either poor or on drugs. There is many mansions and massive houses up on some of the mountains, but most are owned by rich folk from florida and other states and they use them as summer homes or something. So the people that actually live here dont get many pieces of the pie usually. Politics has went and screwed with a lot of people here as well.
I see more stuff online about our region than I ever did growing up. And if you know where the gatherings are, you can probably find a good time anywhere. Just dont expect to walk up to someones house and see them playing the banjo. Might get shot lol.
A worthwhile guide if you ever do is "A Guide To the Crooked Road" by Joe Wilson, which details the musical path through the Appalachian region.
Wow…this blew me away.The youngsters dancing in the house was amazing,the young girl in the checked dress and short hair had the most beautiful and spontaneous smile I think I’ve ever seen,wonder if she’s still with us,would love to find out.All the best from the UK 🇬🇧
Second that...she lovely, and now, immortalized..
I reckon she was about 13 or 14 then, so she'd be about 71 now.
Her smile was the first thing I noticed in that clip also. Beautiful!
I could not agree more.. her deep dimples and amazing smile has drawn me back to watch that clip 5 times in the past week! Wish i knew her name and whatever happened to her.
She made me smile. What a beautiful soul
Though I'm from Texas and only 25 years old, this brings me back to my own childhood. I grew up with my grandfather and around all his buddies. He was born in '49 but died in 2015 at 65 years old. The best man I'll ever know. There are aspects of this culture I dearly miss. It's been tough on me because I was raised as if it was the 50's and caught it on the tail end. They're all dead now. And I haven't been lucky enough to even meet anybody my age who speaks like I do, let alone someone who enjoys our own culture. Public schools and social media have changed it for the worse. They'll likely want to put my ass in the Smithsonian by the time I'm old enough to have grandchildren. I already feel like a dinosaur. And the worst part about it is knowing my people's culture was morally superior than the one today. I'm not ashamed of it, nor am I afraid to say it. I look out at the world today and want to throw up.
"Progress"... I tell ya I've never heard of a bigger oxymoron in my life. We eat shitty food, we die shitty diseases, we have shitty doctors who get shitty degrees and know fk all about curing anything. We have a shitty political system that divides people and pins them against each other, getting people to form opinions when they otherwise would have no opinion either way. a shitty press who creates stories and stereotypes, pinning people on one another, everything we consume is geared to make us utterly materialistic and self gratifying. We permanently changed the landscape, displaced and suppressed native people, dried up springs, creeks, rivers, and lakes. we pollute the earth for our lust for money and power. And we allowed our government to put a cap on the amount of representatives. We are so grossly underrepresented it's laughable. Politicians were never originally intended to be career politicians. It was something you did for the duty of your country. If you got rich doing it, you were corrupt. That hasn't changed and people would be wise to see that. But who ever said my generation was wise in a damn thing?
Try a billy strings concert.
My husband and I butcher all our own meat , garden and can the vegetables for winter , we make sorghum, eat free range eggs . Our food is clean . We have non gmo seeds and grow organic . We have a clean water source and are in the process of hooking up solar . We all need to learn to provide for our families .
@ScotchIrishHoundsman
I appreciate you writing all of this and I’m right there with you. The state of the world depresses me so and you perfectly described it.
I’m 25 years old and from western Canada. This music deeply affects me even though I have literally no ties or anything that would connect me to this culture. But I think that speaks to just how transcendental this music is. I feel this way about old country/mountain/Appalachian music and also the blues that came out of the Deep South. I could just bawl thinking about the immense pain and suffering and just hard lives these people experienced that we could not even imagine-and then it all came out through this medium. It’s so beautiful.
I’ve also never met anyone my age that feels this way or cares about the things I care about, so it’s comforting to know people like you do exist. Maybe we’ll cross paths one day ha ha. Godspeed.
Well spoken young man.
Thumbs up if at some point, all the memories rushed back and tears came...
Thank you for shining the light on my mountain people and our music. I grew up just east of Asheville and was 12 years old when this was filmed.
I remember going to the Bascomb Lamar Lunsford Folk Festivals at the old Asheville Auditorium and watching my brothers clog dancing teams. Sadly, I have 2 left feet and could never get the hang of it.
But I do play a pretty mean guitar and know a lot of old timey songs!
Thanks for making this old man smile and even shed a tear for days gone by...
Ain't we lucky we got em.....GOOD TIMES
Us younger people long for this type of culture.
Keep it alive with supporting bluegrass music festivals. The other Most important thing is God, Family, and Friends. We need to be the example.
Learn how to play the music. Keep it alive!!!!!
North Georgia here. All of us southern Appalachian hillbilly descendants can remember and soak up the nostalgia here, and try to fight back the tears. This is a beautiful film...A treasure. My Grandad and all 4 of his brothers played together as a mountain music band and would cover all the old time songs. I would give any Earthly possession I have for 5 minutes of film of them playing. Thank you so much for sharing this.
I feel like this is where I was supposed to grow up. My soul is a peace listening to this music! Absolutely wonderful film!
I hear you! This is extraordinary!
How have I never heard about Bascom Lunsford? Thank you, David.
That is an amazing window on life in that part of the USA. It was not easy living and the man half way through looked a broken man. Thank you for this documentary.
Outstanding sir, lm a sixty year old Scots man here in Glasgow Scotland and these days we know all about blue grass, or so we thought xx
When I was young all the Scots came to England with Hugh success 😅 what happened???? Every football without exception??
@@jimreid6370My Mc Murchy family arrived in North Carolina in 1820.Generations strong now
I’m so confused
@@johnpaterson2386 Why Johnnie???Are you not Scottish?
THE ScotsIrish settled this area and the Mountain Music comes from us--so it *should* strike a chord in Scotland. imo
I have heard that players from this part of the States were still playing English medieval ballads into the 1930s. Fascinating.
Thats insane, do you have anything more on it?
@@cruzcontrol1303 not only that but the dancing is ancient as well. Whatever they call it hoofing or clogging, it's roots are in Riverdance, Ceilli dance, Stepdancing, and even French Quadrille. As see a little bit of the Flamenco and some Tap dancing, too.
Native Americans were always certainly doing their thing. Stumping the ground in time to the beat of drums, flutes and piping instruments. Meanwhile Aboriginal Africans, Polynesians (wherever they canoeed to), such as Hawaii, New Zealand (Māori), Asians... were doing their own kind of "stepping to the beat of their own drummers". Natives of many lands don noise-making accoutrements such as leather straps with shells or stones tied on, or, castiñets, or gourds filled with pebbles as used in the Carib and Latin lands.
We still have all the old kinds of dance just modernized and done it different speeds. From these ancient dances we get clogging, square dances, hoedowns, and the Soul Train Stroll - which is way too reminiscent of the history I've researched on the "cake walk" that slaves were forced to do for the masters' entertainments, while dressed in dirty torn discarded finery and made to strut, often mimicking what they had seen of the dances at the parties - of course they did their own mimickry in private which may just have been Witnessed, and so...well, it's probably one of those chicken or the egg things. Anyway, we also have teams of black men and now women performing what is called "Stomp/Step".
Yep. Irish and English folk music evolved into old timey and then to bluegrass.
@@justaguy2365 irish folk music was'nt around then.it would be scottish fiddle reel music and english or welsh clogdance. irish stepdance only started in 1894 when two irishmen got invited to a scottish ceilidth in london(ceilidths being traditional to scotland). fiddle reel music is also indigenous to scotland.(100s of these fiddle reel tunes made their way to ireland. irish music you see today only started in the late 1950s. many irish sangs are scottish or english adopted by the fledgling irish bands in the late 50s/early 60s. fiddle reel music would have reached amerikay with the earlier scots settlers. clogdance from english or welsh settlers.
Beautiful film, beautiful recorded piece of history in space and time
🙏🏻👁☮️❤️☯️
Brother- This brought tears to my eyes, in a good way! I grew up a (small) town boy, but my folks were all hillbillies. Grew up in the Square Dance every Saturday night. My sister danced for Ralph Sloan & The Tennessee Travelers! AND, we even have the Scottish/Irish roots that drive the sounds of the Mountain Music....
Thank you Mr. Hoffman , You gave these folks, their art and yourself immortality. many generations to come may look back a big part of American culture and our roots..
Cried for joy while I watched this. I call it Mountain Music, a term which most people these days aren't familiar with. So pure and beautiful. And the dancing. Oh my. Did my heart good to hear and see this again.
Wonderful film & great to see that these times won't be forgotten. They've carried on in different ways & been inspired by not only the old musicians, but also videos such as this.
Eastern KY Great music.
Say a prayer too for this culture, because of the new mining methods, many have lost their jobs and livelihoods and also had to deal with tainted water coming down from the mountains that have been blown up. This is soooo sad, say a prayer for them as they try to find a way to carry on in the world. They may have to give up their mountain hideaways and this is sooo sad. Thank you, David Hoffman, really appreciate your filming this.
I am 57 years old, I listen a lot to rock, also metal, but apart from that my heart has always been set on mountain music. I used to be mocked for it, but nowadays, here too, this music is getting the appreciation it deserves. What is it that makes a 57-year-old woman from the flatlands of the Netherlands, Europe, homesick and nostalgic when she hears this music? Enchanting. Thank you.
There is a kind of purity, simplicity, honesty about this. It resonates. Simpler days.
I find myself having to send you ✌♥️🙏 from England. Hope you are good 🙂
I'm 27 and finnish, but there's some aspect of this that is very similar to finnish folk music. The music speaks for itself, and is very pleasant to listen to. No excess bravado or unnecessary showmanship, just good music.
Long before mobile phones and Wi-Fi.... looks like much happier times .
People talk to each other and sing, , now days all people do is stare at their phones and their iPads and see and hear nothing around them .... thanks for posting this 👍👍👍
You are 110% correct my friend.
This makes me so proud of my family and my ancestors going back to Scotland and Ireland and my family still in NC and SW Virginia. I'll never forget my roots, this made me the man, father, son and husband I am today.
Came here after watching Ken Burns’ Country Music. Needed more bluegrass. This is so pure.
This was the only type of music my grandmother enjoyed, now I find myself simply enthralled by the music and the people that make it.
I’m 44 and been a metal head since I was 12 but really enjoyed this. The musical skill/ability of these people is very impressive. Thanks for posting.
I know it seems it but it’s not that big a leap to take...
I’ve met many bluegrass musical acquaintances that grew up right in the centre of the punk music movement here in the West (myself incl.). Don’t know what the connection is but I always found it interesting. Maybe it’s due to the constant search for something different or roots based.
Same here I grew up into punk then gradually grew into a crust punk and listen to everything in between from DSBM to hip hop and i found my self getting into old country and then into old rag timey stuff as i began to travel via freight train
There's quite a few metal heads appreciate this genre... Have you checked out Clifton Hicks channel?
@@clungebucket23 I have, his stuff is good especially Old Leather Stocking. His version of O Death, with his unique look works so well.
My daughters, 8 and 12, love sitting down and watch your documentaries. Thank you so much
I'd take that way of life all day long over this society we have today. God bless you sir.
My wife is a daughter of Dean Stoneman. His father Pop Stoneman and all his children played Bluegrass music. When I was first dating my future wife, I would come to pick her up and Dean and some friends would be in circle in their living room playing this wonderful music. She wanted to go but I didn't.
We still live in the same town in Maryland.
I loved this historic film. Thanks
Five Little Johson Girls - one of my all time faves!!
This was a great documentary. My foot was a'tappin.
I grew up in a military family, travelling from base to base. There was no music in our house, but I always admired the ability of musicians. It wasn't until I was 52 yrs old that I started to play guitar and sing... first the music I knew best (classic rock), but my tastes evolved to bluegrass, old tyme, mountain, country. Music has changed my life for the better. I would have loved to have known the talented folks in this movie. Thank you for sharing.
Gosh I grew up with a bit of music, my late dad played guitar. I remember as a small kid he was jamming with a friend who played the banjo and I was fascinated!
I never learned to play anything unfortunately. But you say you started at 52, well I'll be 51 in two days, and I still have my dad's guitar. Maybe it's time to dust it off...
@@suleskos.2743: That's a nice story Shaun. It sounds like you are a basic beginner, so I will give you the same advice I give to the many people who I know who have started playing music. 1) Don't bounce around from thing to thing on the internet... you will not get anywhere with that approach 2) Find a "Guru" who is an excellent teacher, and who has a very well structured system 3) The very best beginner-teacher is Justin Sandercoe... go to his website and start with the Beginner program... it will take you 6-12 months to get thru it, and it is FREE (though I have donated plenty to Justin over the years)... www.justinguitar.com/
Also finding RJ Ronquillo a great teacher.
I was a navy brat also lived base to base but when my dad was in desert storm him and his banjo player started a band called taken by storm and I grew up with bluegrass roots in me but wasn’t till after my dad passed that I took to learning the fiddle... i will post my fathers last band he played in.. it was not that long ago
th-cam.com/video/gzYAvoyoip8/w-d-xo.html
Im a fiddle player and I hope one day I can play half as good as these folks.
To the trained ear, some might think it a bit out of tune, but to the soul, dead on the mark! Just pure and care free music. And to think these people worked the land with their hands and then played this music on the side so to speak with those same rough calloused hands. Wonderful stuff!
I wish I knew how to play a banjo and I sure would love to have a jug of that corn liquor
@@rufuscollins5140 😁✨😹⚡️👍❗️
@@rufuscollins5140 My Dad used to play Banjo, when he passed I mistakenly sold his Banjo. I kick myself everytime I hear a banjo player. Have a wonderful week cus!
I am professional musician and firmly believe that tuning is a specific colour and expressive tool in the music world.
The film is priceless-a Gem!Thank you for uploading it !
Exactly. FEEL music with the SOUL. I love all knids of music from rap to bluegrass and I always listen with my SOUL which is why I never really cared for ANYTHING "Mainstream" . Gotta have that underground soulful vibe!
So hard to watch this without waxing poetic and nostalgic. This is not part of my family story but their pride makes me wish it were.
Mr. Hoffman, you are a National Treasure. 💖Thank You for sharing your life's work with us.
Lived in the beautiful NC mountains for 30 years now! Talent everywhere that only a handful will ever discover...
Harold Winters was my moms cousin. It was amazing to find this video and share with family. I was able to share this with his 92 year old sister before her death in 2017. Thank you!!!
I loved reading your comment im very happy for you
That's fantastic, so pleased for you.
Very special folks.
✌♥️🇬🇧
What a gem of a movie! Love it. But as a sports coach / nutritionist it strikes me to see all lean bodies compared to the obesity crisis we have now! What a difference - thanks to convenience food and a not-so-active life. Time that folks get back to this intensity of dancing and physical activity of those days rather than sitting on the couch having a highly processed meal.
I may be a youngin, but having been born and raised right outside of Asheville, this music is what I grew up on. I love seeing the oldest earliest renditions. Thank you.
My father's family was the mountains in North Carolina,his father worked in the marble queries up there,supposedly the biggest around,never got to visit/know that side of family,always did like bluegrass music,playing guitar since 14,61 now,used to play metal,hard rock,fusion,funk,and slow picking acoustic guitar,now I see some influence there,appreciative...
The people of mountain play from heart to heart. They are feeding your soul.🙏🏻 Thanks a lot
You can't help but move when you hear mountain music.
Americana at it's absolute finest David - you captured a piece of history here in it's most genuine form - much respect. Leaves you with a longing for simpler times.
20 minutes in and I've GOT to find some recording of Margaret Winters. What a voice. What a face!
The scene in the home with the older guys playing and all the kids dancing so spontaneously just blew me away. Where or how would that ever happen nowadays? Incredible
Seriously? Appalachia is alive and well just like this still.
Well, if you got enough time, try to cruise up at an old Saloon somewhere in the smokey or blue ridges on a sunday afternoon. When you find one with the horses attached outside tapping the rhythms with their hoofs, you have found the place you are looking for... ;-)
You'll have a marvellous afternoon!
All the ICONS of BLUEGRASS MUSIC carried it on from there... BILL Monroe/ Lester Flatt / Earl Scruggs/ Jimmy Martin/ Ralph and Carter Stanley/ Osborne Bros/ JIM AND JESSE Mcreynolds/ Don Reno and Red Smiley/ many many more and now there is so many Bluegrass musicians that are so talented and well known❤🎶
I’m in Western North Carolina and I can tell ya there are still some damn fine Ol pickers in these hills... also I love that they opened with Ground Hog...
You should make your own film of them!
All I can say is WOW, what a treasure!
I just love watching how people had such close ties with each other through music, hard work and actually talked to each other. At 29:33 watching those kids dance my heard lept. There was such joy in their steps, each and everyone was laughing and having a good time , including the people watching and the band as well. We will never see the like of it again since kids can't put down the damned phone to even LOOK or talk to each other. But we have memories because you, Mr Hoffman, put them down to reel and they will be immortalized forever. God bless you :)
I was in the 5th grade when this was filmed. Our teacher brought a record of "Down Yonder" and we'd spend at least an hour clogging and/or square dancing to it.
Western North Carolina.
loved this, was dancing with them..i feel the spirit
That group dance was incredible. What a workout.
David Hoffman - This film is a cultural and entertainment gem. You captured a precious time capsule. The combination of the self-taught music and dancing is distinctive. The house where 5 couples were clog/square dancing was surely sturdily built, as were the people. Resonates to the core.
I lived in Kentucky and Arkansas and everyone I met for the most part were bluegrass musicians....
Ulster Scot myself from Northern Ireland and i belong to these folk!
The Lord hasn't abandoned us, I love this music
The most beautiful music ever made I love these people they are my people
Absolutely love the square dancing think it’s the best I’ve seen
Makes me know what a sweet blessing it is to be a musician. This is what we do when we get started .. never wanna quit!
This reminds me of my mother's people in Kentucky, back in the day. I do miss them.
This uncle playing the harmonica without using his hands is a miracle! Prizeworthy!
Hope he's doing well!
I live in the Mountains of Southern WV, I grew up on that type of Music and I play Bluegrass myself which has its roots in the old Mountain Folk Music
This is real life in the mountains back when life was good
I grew up with grandparents that lived like a lot of these good ole “hill folk” did. I remember going to their house and their being nothing there…..absolutely NOTHING, except hard work. I’ve never forgotten it, and the older I get, the more I appreciate their way of Life. Wealth wasn’t characterized by money. If you had family and a porch full of friends then you were the wealthiest person on earth. If you had the ability to make music, which everyone seemed to have back then, you had everything you needed. These ppl built America. The farmers, the builders, the miners, and they should never be looked down upon. Had they not had the great ideas that they had, and didn’t do the hard work it took to achieve their goals, we wouldn’t have the beautiful world we live in today.
Those people had/have a rough existence but they make the best of it and it seems to me they are better off then us city folks...Thanks for making that documentary for posterity.
I recently got my son into bluegrass. He wants to learn the fiddle now. Recently as we were sitting by candlelight in another power outage, I was telling him about the hard life mountain people had and I told my mom, (who was born into a coal mining camp in WV), that "bluegrass" are the saddest songs set to the happiest tunes. That right there explains a lot about "mountain" people, and being one of the kindest persons who has gone through some terrible times, my mom wholeheartedly agreed.
It's rough everywhere, not to minimize their challenges. But there is something about challenges and our upbringing, they are what shspe us, we would not have it any other way. How could we? We would not be who we are. They seem FREE happy and selfsufficient. We all deal with what God sends us.
I am so blessed to have seen this.
Set dancing such as shown at 30:00 has undergone a significant revival in Ireland in the last thirty years, and is really thriving .
John Doyle
I was in a class in San Francisco in the 90s. We did clogging. It’s contagious and can be found in many places. btw, the instructor is American born Chinese and teacher of the Hillbilly Cloggers❗️
I'm Irish its not revival we always have it. Always done even in the Irish bars in the city centre in the old back pubs where u really know your Guinness.
P ☺️Yes, much of the music, Clogging-jig dance and folklore was brought to the Appalachia region by the Irish settlers and emigrants in the early years of our country. It’s a unique and a significant contribution to American history and music history.🍀☘️🎻🎶
@@dagmarl44 Yes. And Scottish settlers.
I had a SMILE ON MY FACE The whole time 😎🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I can't believe what I've just seen.Absolutely fabulous! Wow! An experience. What talented folks.
The more, colorful, sings are amazing. I can only imagine the emotions they invoked back then.
Thanks for the journey to people's music. When music was made from people and belong to them. The feeling out of it was joy and euphoria.
Classic bluegrass, folk and country music was great because it told real stories about real life. I think I remember this film. Definitely most of the tunes. Now, I'll just turn up the music and enjoy s cigar. Thank you.
This is just incredible footage. I’ve played guitar about 25 years now but my mother’s lifelong love of dulcimer music allows me to fall in love with that section of this video. That’s deep music folks.
Thank you Luke 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 am Australian and I love this type of music.I also love Appalachian music.
Thank you ! Brought back memories of being 8 years old and dropped off to live the summer with my Aunt and Uncle in Boone County, Ky (I was born in Ft. Knox). I would ride the mule down to the south 40 with my Uncle. He would plow tobacco all day and I'd shoot turtles with my slingshot and drink spring water from my mayonnaise jar. Then back home and Aunt Loy would wring a chicken in front of me for dinner. No indoor plumbing or water. Kentucky bluegrass music runs in your veins for your life after experiencing that. Ahhh for the simpler days. Definite hardships, but wholesome, simple, honest lives of integrity, and I'd trade today's value system (if there even is one) for what those folks had in a heart beat. I'm now 73.
He own any slaves??
Bob Carwell your words are lovely, it’s really authenticity we need most.
Overwhelming part of kentucky was to poor to own a slave..
The Seer 9
Awesome homegrown joy
I was 5 years old and 1965 what a beautiful time to grow up in it's sad to see it go
The best thing about being 55 and having country roots is the fact that I knew many folks just like this. The last one died earlier this year. We spent 3 days together in 1994 with me playing in his band. I learned more from him in those 3 days than I could have learned from any music college in these United States!
I was born and raised on the West Coast, I have always been drawn to true mountain music...
This is very like Irish dancing where its always in somebody house where the girls are going to feish every weekend somewhere in Ireland. Its soo nice to see this. How wonderful these people are.
Greetings from Virginia. These people are your kinfolk.
My mother is French-Canadian and grew up in Timmins, Ontario. She is 93 now and says this is much like the music she heard as a young child on a Saturday night. The kids would be sent up to the loft as the parents played music and did clog dancing. Both men and women would be smoking pipes and passing around jugs of something. So many peoples the world over tied together by this type of music - the strings of their instruments going right to the heart.
Back in the mtns were this was filmed it was called buck dancing I was raised 107 miles east of where this was filmed in buncombe county 5 miles from ga 70 miles form the tn line it was a great place to grow up and full of Scots Irish folks
@@andrewgoodbody2121 most of the folks in Western nc , north east ga and eastern tn were scots Irish decent I've always been very very proud that I'm Scots Irish
Celtic blood
This was 5 days before I got got out of the Marine Corps of which I served nearly 3 years of my tour at Cherry Point N.C. Never been back, but I remember going to a square dancing place.. It was "Down Younder Street ". My buddy from Detroit asked this gal where the Square Dance Hall was , she said "Down Younder Street."
Hi from Ireland lovely music and friendly people thanks you
If our Mountain music and Bluegrass music genres were branches of the same tree, most of the roots reach 3000 miles back across the sea to where you're standing.
Bravo! Marvelous memories of something still singing, still beating and forever alive in our hearts.
I love classic country been listening to it all 63 years of my life but howdy de didn't know there was anything better till I watched this video, them folks got real talents everyone of them could put Bill Monroe to shame that is in my eyes they could of
Your channel has revitalized my view of TH-cam. Such great original content. Very well produced.
Hell yeah!...
new to bluegrass - this is GOLD. thank you Mr David Hoffman.
A great piece of history, culture and the roots of my ancestors! I’m from NorthEast TN, not far from the NC border, and though I’m not a fan of much bluegrass, I am proud of my heritage and roots. The older I become, at 68, the more it touches my heart to celebrate my history! Beautiful work, David! Thank you. Sharing! ♥️🙏✌️🦋👏
My Home, was born and reared on this kind of music and square dancing. Sure do miss the old times.....70, and still going.....time to get the old banjo out.
This is a great video my family comes from the Scots Irish Share cropper Family Blacksburg Virginia .... My sister continues the tradition Grandfather Who was Rutherford Hayes McDaniel ... An old time mountain fiddler ... She is over 200 songs On TH-cam And Facebook ....Gloria 265 ... She now lives in Utah is over 70 years old ... I kid her and call her the Joan Baez of Utah ... She plays all the instruments .... Primarily auto harp And dulcimer...
With all that's going on these days I would turn back the hands of time if I could and go back and spend some time with my grandparents,great food,music and fellowship
Mr. Hoffman I surely do love your videos of the people of Appalachia..I'm from Eastern Kentucky and I've watched this one and several other's of yours..thank you sir for all the hard work and passion that you put into your videos..I pray you and your family stay safe and blessed
From the NC mountains, thank you with my whole heart ❤️
Legitimate treasure.
This film is a treasure. Thank you David Hoffman
What a fine opportunity to see your work, David Hoffman. It's like going home again. All my granny's are passed onward now but Lord what a legacy they left with their music. We still carry it on in the Holloway/Mills/Westmoreland family
Still love watching this for years now!
thank you for putting this excellent vid on youtube i love bluegrass music ,here in doncaster United kingdom there is nothing like this, the Pits are now all gone factories shutting, the country music scene is also on a decline , as a banjo player myself i would have loved to have met these wonderful people they had it really hard back then it makes you realize what we have today
And the number of naysayers has swelled to 161 as of this writing, and a more mean-spirited lot there never did live. The people in this film are truly some of the most beautiful I ever saw-hard-working, pious, people with their feet in the soil, who could nonetheless make beautiful music. Thank you, David, for bringing this piece of America to us.