I could sit and listen to these folks talk and sing all day long. They deserve respect as good hard working people who wanted for nothing. I have always felt I was born too late because I feel like I could have learned life lessons from them. I would love to be able to play music with them all. Wonderful idea from Mr.Bascomb to do this work and it certainly wasn't for money. Great documentary and very good narrator, Bravo ! 👏
Thank you Stanley 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 RU-vid is beta testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts. David Hoffman filmmaker
Im a 41 year old traditional appalachian musician myself from Confluence, KY, no formal training but trained anyhow by my now 91 year old grandma, but well i know about 1,000 songs by heart so i must say this is your best video i have ever watched, it made me cry and i aint sure why
Why? Cuz for one time, finally you felt honored and not laughed at, I could bet. This way of David reporting on the Appalachians shows lots of respect for their abilities and that makes you feel honored, for a good reason! I share your delight!
"Properly titled" Home Grown Bluegrass Music at it's very best! This video is a Superb piece of history, Entertaining and "Real" just a complete Joy to sit back and watch (even several times) as I have ✅
I'm also from Long Island (Nice Jewish Boy) always fascinated with Americana. I made my parents send me to camp near Hendersonville in 1974. I was the only kid there from up north. I loved it. They didn't get my accent. It was right before cable TV. I heard music I never heard before, and ate food I never heard of. I also heard stories and experienced a culture that was previously unknown to me.
Yes, but did you have a good time? Did you laugh until tears came up in your eyes? Did you get up early and see the mist hanging in the coves and have a kind of spiritual experience?
@@BlueRidgeMtns100 All the above. I never saw stars like I saw camping out in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Never saw fireflies like I saw there. It was the first and last time I experienced a natural sliding pond.
@@btuesday Good! Well, come on back down and we'll fry some chicken and throw a pan of biscuits in the oven; later on we'll sit on the porch, drink coffee, and talk. If the conversation is flowing and people are laughing, some whiskey or homemade wine might be found to help hold the moment.
@@btuesday Not just Hendersonville and Hendersn County. The world has found Western N.C. and it is disappearing under highways, fast food joints, and housing. Areas that were considered so "backwoods" that you almost couldn't give away land are now covered in development.
What an absolute treasure this is...!! And so are you, Mr. David Hoffman, for having the idea so many years ago to start filming these wonderful people and the music that flows in their veins. Yes, I love the purer forms of music...real people playing real instruments...singing with real voices...and dancing to the real music....real talent. Here in North Central Arkansas, we also have a love of the "old time" folk music and there are events throughout the year that draw lots of musicians of all kinds. One town in particular, Mountain View, is known for having the biggest events, but many other towns also have events that draw a lot of "folk" talent. I think that music ( 'real' music...like this music, and not the garbage that permeates the airwaves ), is a spiritual thing...a universal language...coming from the real 'Heart & Soul' of a person. Thanks you, David Hoffman, for filming this treasure and bringing it to us...!!
Thank you so much for your client and beautifully articulated comment. I feel just as you describe and felt honored to be accepted by these folks and allowed to record the music and their speech and their gloriously respectful treatment of one another. This morning I am remembering how young and old treated each other with respect. The old folks welcomed the young ones. The young ones honored the old folks. All based on music and dance and culture. David Hoffman-filmmaker
A true musical and cultural treasure, mister Hoffman! Thank you for sharing it with the whole world. I myself unfortunately haven't visited yet the United States, but when i finally do, i sure look forward to visit North Carolina as well. All my best from Amsterdam, Holland. Stephane.
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 RU-vid is beta testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts. David Hoffman filmmaker
What a life you have had documenting my people...so glad i found you and im just beginning to watch this video...Thank you sir...just amazing,brings back memories of kin folk
Mr Hoffman, thanks so much for this video. Don't know how I've missed this one but am glad I found it. Ancestors on my moms side came in here (Blue Ridge Mountains) before the revolutionary war, hung Tories, fought at Kings mountain and every war since, my dad's side soon after. What always amazed me though was how honest and humble they were in daily life. Good people that weren't aggressive at all until you pushed them. Growing up I heard words that aren't used anymore and am finding it tough to find people who also heard those words. I was embarrassed by it in young adulthood but that changed to being very proud. Im north of the area you videoed in but it was all the same. I know of some people in North Carolina and Virginia who can take you back somewhat to this time. Also, if you're interested in why Bristol Tn ISN'T the birthplace of country music message me and I'll explain. Potential to be a big story. Thanks for the video, I loved it.
This is so wonderful. I'm a Minnesotan who spent one lovely year living in Asheville. Lunsford's music is one of my great memories of that time, but I didn't know that much about him. He's one of those great American musical mavericks like Charles Ives or Harry Partch.
I can't believe this only has only 12.000 views. I watched the Ken Burns documentary on Country Music. It didn't have any footage like this. It talked about papa Joe Carter going through the NC countryside looking for songs. It is remarkable to see David documenting Lamar doing that. David, your films are priceless.
@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker I enjoyed it, indeed. Admittedly Burns could only scratch the surface. I have been enjoying the attention that you have been paying to Earl Scruggs. I like the blues and I recently attended a bluegrass festival so I am interested in learning more.
16:27 Im from Alabama and would have got lost after the "green house" trying to remember those directions. I would have been "Could yall get one of them sticks and draw me a map in the dirt?"
30:00 "Your Honor, is it illegal to make whisky like this?" [Judge takes a few sips] "Not at all. In fact, if you can make whisky that good it'd be a crime not to, I tell you what."
Right he was, good judgement! Cheers Pal! (but with moderation... ;-)) BTW: The state generally is not hostile to whiskey, only what they want is that you deposit a demand for a licence first and that you declare the yearly amount of gallons and pay your taxes on that punctually. What they are concerned about is not the whiskey for itself, it's that they want their part of the gains in form of taxes, that's the whole mistery behind, for the state (doesn't really make a difference if it is KY, TN, NC, WV, or so, you can take whatever state you want, it's only about paying the due taxes) it's all about money... ;-)
Somehow I love this expression: "He was a true american excentric rooted in the hills of Appalachia". Well some may take this for an insult, but in my eyes it's a compliment!
Absolutely fantastic piece. Mr. Hoffman, what gave you the foresight to document this on film? Just look cute at all that would have been had you not done this. THANK YOU!
Does anyone know the actual name of the fiddler (lost John) at the 7 min mark? I’d love to find anything else on him. I’ve seen his picture on a cover with George Pegram, but not sure who he is.
why is it that everytime i watch one of your videos i feel like america sucks now. we are all just staring into phones and watching netflix, even in the hollers. how can we bring realness back?
Without current technology would you know about this stuff? I doubt it unless you grew up in Western North Carolina or East Tennessee or a few sections of Kentucky.
Howdy David! What's that instrument that the (probably) wife of Jesse Ray is playing ? Is it something similar to what bavarians call a "Hackbrettl"? What is that instrument exactly?
Great video! Im curious? Does anyone know who the singer is inthe very begining? The one who is shooting the gun? Is that Bascom? And what song is he singing?
I think the best is Will Lyman who is on many PBS documentaries. I have heard this voice many times also. He done a lot of them on the Iraq War, 9/11 stories, etc. and is very good. I can't remember his name though...🤔
I agree with that last form of dancing being a bastardization. Form can be useful for building up your dancing vocabulary, but what I saw was structured beyond the point of there being any of the dancers' interpretation of the music flowing through their bodies. No creativity, no soul; only dancing by the numbers.
