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Rough Old-Time Mountain Man Was A Great Fiddle Player Back In 1965 

David Hoffman
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The time was 1965 and I was making my first documentary for television. I got sent to the mountains of North Carolina. Asheville. Buncombe County. Madison County. Wilkes County.
I was on the road following and filming the great collector of music Bascom Lamar Lunsford. He was taking me to film his best of the best, the folks he was going to choose to perform at his Mountain Dance and Folk FestivalIn Asheville, North Carolina, the first festival of that type in the USA.
I was 23 years old and making my first television special. I did my best following Bascom for six weeks of recording. The finished film ran on national primeitime television in 1966 and showed Americans for the first time, what these people were like, not just their wonderful musicianship, but their storytelling and poetry and dance and culture.
One day Bascom took me to Jesse "Lost John" Ray, who he said folks in that region called their greatest fiddler. I presented this clip on my channel before and many commentators debated whether or not he was. So I decided to make this video to explain why Bascom thought Lost John was so great.
After all these years, I still remember my experience as though it was yesterday and have a deep affection and admiration for the people of the mountains of North Carolina. They treated me beautifully and gave me the opportunity to record wonderful 16mm film.
I wish that I still had the outtakes but back in those days, I was too dumb to realize that I should keep them and didn't have the room in my small Queens New York apartment.
I loved mountain music - bluegrass music - country music back then, and I still do today. Especially when played by "real folks" like Lost John.
Some commentators surprisingly have felt that I am putting down this culture which is the polar opposite of how I feel and what I am saying with his clip. Their culture was the most rich culture I have ever personally witnessed and I feel very fortunate that I was with these people when I was just 23 years old.
Some commentators have asked what happened to Lost John and the others in my film. Unfortunately in most cases, I do not know.
Bascom Lamar Lunsford died several years after the film was made but he got the chance to see the very positive reviews on national television and to see his Asheville North Carolina mountain music and dance Festival grow even more popular.
I visited the great banjo picker singer Obray Ramsey after Bascom had passed on to ask him about Bascom in his last days and you can find that by searching his name on my RU-vid channel. My 1965 film had increased Obray's underground popularity and he told me that he was pleased to have been a part of it. He also was one of the most charming storyteller singer banjo pickers I encountered in my long career filming different cultures.
I would like to thank those advertisers who have supported this video. Search any if they interest you. North Carolina Appalachian bluegrass. North Carolina bluegrass. Appalachian bluegrass music. folk music in America. fiddle. bluegrass music Asheville NC. bluegrass music Asheville. Live music Winston Salem NC. music in Brevard NV. bluegrass music. Biltmore estate Asheville. Biltmore house Asheville. Folk Center Asheville. North Carolina Asheville Arboretum. Bascom. Fiddler's convention.
If this clip has meaning for you, I would appreciate your supporting my effort by clicking the Super Thanks button below the video screen. I have more clips to share and your support gets me closer to having the time to share them.
Thank you
David Hoffman filmmaker

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13 ноя 2020

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Комментарии : 3 тыс.   
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker 2 года назад
Here is the movie from which that scene came. Many incredible scenes in it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kgHgLgR9WNc.html David Hoffman filmmaker
@petwog
@petwog 2 года назад
This almost brings me to tears…..
@dorenjames1739
@dorenjames1739 Год назад
I love the music, the nostalgic home scenes, and friendly, happy people!
@bluegrasshack3810
@bluegrasshack3810 Год назад
Breakin’ Up Winter is old-time all the time, demonstrating the roots of what we know today as bluegrass music. Pick away!
@bluegrasshack3810
@bluegrasshack3810 Год назад
5/13/23: Thank you, David. Come to Breakin’ Up Winter in March 2024. Pick away!
@torianholt2752
@torianholt2752 10 месяцев назад
Great Doc David, weirdly I’m decended from a very famous Cowboy by the name of Earl Bascom…out West
@oljimeagle6779
@oljimeagle6779 3 года назад
I'm a delivery driver in Virginia, and I have to say, that child gave better directions than anyone I've ever asked in that region.
@roryross3878
@roryross3878 3 года назад
Does GPS give you trouble?
@oljimeagle6779
@oljimeagle6779 3 года назад
Haha... Man there is a region between VA and West VA.. Where the roads don't have names that show up on GPS.. Or your phone and GPS lose signal... Like when you get past Buffalo Gap headed west over the Blue Ridge Mountains.. God's Country
@Ohnyet
@Ohnyet 3 года назад
@@oljimeagle6779 Here in PA, we got more roads than names.
@oljimeagle6779
@oljimeagle6779 3 года назад
@@Ohnyet I love that tri-state area.. (Maryland, Delaware,Pennsylvania)Lived in Fair Hill Md. and Id drive over into PA and let myself get lost in the country. Any place where there are more horses than people is a good place to be.That whole area is something special in the spring and early summer.
@loughmelvinmalamutes1124
@loughmelvinmalamutes1124 3 года назад
Machete Yo *x* keep her lit sir🤠
@XBKLYN
@XBKLYN 3 года назад
This film makes me realize how much I miss America while living in America.
@lindahandley5267
@lindahandley5267 3 года назад
That is so sad but so true. Makes me want to cry. I'm afraid we'll never see that wonderful America again.
@Daniel_Goddard
@Daniel_Goddard 3 года назад
Same every western country the corporations won. The way neighbours came together looked after one another, broke bread and formed a community a village is definition of socialism the heartless corporations are capatalism in a nutshell. Free yourselves
@Nobodynewduh
@Nobodynewduh 3 года назад
You got that right brother. Much of our culture of independence is lost. I'm just a millennial and even I long for a freedom that seems to have vanished from the ether of the US.
@XBKLYN
@XBKLYN 3 года назад
@@Nobodynewduh For sure....and younger folks from your generation are getting screwed-royale by corporates and so called "gig" work which amounts to indentured slavery. I feel for the youngsters trying to navigate through whatever the hell this place has turned in to.
@harvdog5669
@harvdog5669 3 года назад
Yep that's right the good old days, simpler times people don't even realize just how life is good, when you have family friends and your freedom you have everything you need. Here I am an American been denied social security when I've already put in for it, I have benefits coming but they're being jerks, the United States government is preventing me from having a plain simple cabin, and the size of that cabin will be a 16x20, a single room with four or five windows, possibly two doors. One small wood burning stove with an oven, one small bed, a composting toilet, 6 ft kitchen counter, a root cellar to keep food in, no electricity, a couple of solar panels , my banjo, my acoustic guitar, a nice comfy chair, a small radio, my bibles, no t.v. needed. A propane burner stove, a propane freezer if I want one, a 3000 gallon water tank to be filled from time to time, a 3X3 shower in the corner, a 10 gallon propane water heater, three or four windows, in a rocking chair for picking on the front porch and drinking lemonade. Now that's really not a lot to ask to be able to live a simple life, as an older retired man, and a godly Man at that, the United States government is denying lots of people a nice comfortable way to live just because of their stupid so-called rules, and all it is is about money all they want is money money it's always about money with the government, and that's local government too that's state federal and local government, if they're not getting a mighty dollar from you, you're not allowed to live a simple life, I guess they figure you're cheating that the utility companies out of utilities if you live without it, just like people live for many hundreds of thousands of years on this here Earth. I just want to live a simple life and have those people leave me alone and let me live. I worked and earned for my social security. There's no reason for it. It's a clerical error they say, meanwhile I have to try to survive in a tiny little camper in my truck with no money coming in while I try to save to do what I need to do to live a simple life, meanwhile I have to figure out everything on my own. Well you know what I have to say about that, the same as what a lot of other people would say but I have to draw back to the Lord on this one, because I'm just going to have to trust in the Lord, no matter what happens no matter what I have to do the Lord is with me. Here I am just trying to pick myself up keep myself above ground level be obedient to the Lord and live a simple life, I have a halfway decent truck, I have a halfway decent small RV, I have one acre of treed property that's real nice that's paid for, when the government of the United States gets done with me it's a good possibility that I might have to sell my property give them all the money because we know what we think of them they're bad people I might have to lose my truck lose my trailer lose my blankets lose all my personal goods lose my musical instruments all because of the government and they made a technical error in their office, while I sit by idly trying to figure out what to do next next and survive for who knows how long a year two years I just thought I'd speak out about this matter, I figure at least this way somebody else knew, it's kind of nice to let other people know how nice the government is I'm raking you over the coals and spitting yeah out. It would be real nice if everybody joined together in a group called A.F. N.G. THAT NAME is Americans for new government, join all Americans that are fun loving freedom fighters Patriots to stand up against the federal government local and state governments, we need change, we need government to stay out of our business, okay pay taxes fine, but not be over taxed and stay out of our house, and don't tell us how to raise children, give parents control over their children once again. America needs to wake up, I'm not the only one there are other people out there, and I figured that this is one way to let other people know how I feel about this garbage or should I say wrong doing, I'm tired of all the wrongdoing in this country, what I'm trying to say is I think we all need to do our part until the good Lord comes back for us, Jesus is coming for his children. I'll do what I can or things that I have to do to survive I don't have no problem with that this makes me a little angry how the government does what they do, they want to ask you questions why this and why that, but when they have a mistake that they made on their part, they won't even apologize to you, and if you don't fight for what belongs to you they'll just keep it, they won't give it to you you have to ask for it or fight for it, meanwhile if you do owe them something one way or the other, by gosh you're guilty and they want it right now, what's yours is theirs, and what's theirs is theirs. But what I say is the Earth and everything in it belongs to God, and the government's going to have to answer to God In The end. Y'all have a good day and I hope you don't have to go through anything like I'm going through. God bless all the poor people God bless all his children, father God turn all the evil people and all the sinfulness away from the devil and have them all turn to you Lord in the name of Jesus I pray amen.
@timmykookoo
@timmykookoo 3 года назад
"We didn't know we were poor till the government came along and told us so."
@catwrangler7907
@catwrangler7907 3 года назад
Gave you health care so the women didn't die in child labour. But let's not care about the truth let's storm the capital and kill a cop. Qanon maga
@autumntaco8722
@autumntaco8722 3 года назад
@@catwrangler7907 What the hell's that fiasco got to do with mountain folk, you prejudiced moron? Don't act obtuse, the quote is meant to say you can be money poor and rich in spirit. Hateful folk like you are why this country is so divided. Shut your trap and enjoy the music for a spell.
@timmykookoo
@timmykookoo 3 года назад
@@catwrangler7907 Ironic thing is, bringing more children into this shit show of a world seems more amoral than your kids dying of natural causes like they did for all of history until the last 100 years. The last 100 years also happens to be exactly when the exponential curve of the world turning into a shit show really took off...
@drwhatson
@drwhatson 3 года назад
@@catwrangler7907 You call *that* "storming the Capitol"?? There were easily enough people there to tear the building down brick by brick had they wanted to! "Insurrection" my A**. It was hardly the storming of the Bastille! No fires started. No mass destruction of property (unlike the many Antifa/BLM riots.) NO "cop was killed", only an unarmed young woman shot in the face by a "security guard" who got off scott free. The dead cop you mention so casually actually died of natural causes the next day (from a stroke, his family have said.) NO firearms were found on any of the people arrested (often unneccesarily) by the Capitol police, according to the Chief of Police himself. You really need to stop believing your lying, Marxist MSM and parotting their lies.
@sir0nion
@sir0nion 3 года назад
This Cat Wrangler fella seems to be a victim of tribal thinking. He came to hate on what he believes are his enemies. I don't know about you guys, but I'm here to enjoy the music.
@realityquotient7699
@realityquotient7699 3 года назад
This is America. It's still around, though you wouldn't know it from today's media. Trust me, it's still around...alive, kicking, and vital...it's just like it always was; humble, head down, and getting on with life.
@bustaplz
@bustaplz 2 года назад
And deeply anti-vax. Stop idolizing inbreeding and lack of education.
@godstrashman
@godstrashman 2 года назад
@@bustaplz I think Id take no education before whatever turned you into such an awful person
@huntermcneely7596
@huntermcneely7596 2 года назад
@@bustaplz say you watch too much news, without telling me you watch too much news.
@randymagnum8721
@randymagnum8721 2 года назад
@@bustaplz Idiot...they haven't heard of covid, let alone covid vaccine. WTFU
@J_Alrighty
@J_Alrighty 2 года назад
unfortunately they have been nearly annihalated by an opioid epidemic :(
@notengobocaydebogritar9669
@notengobocaydebogritar9669 3 года назад
My grandmother grew up on a farm in North Dakota during the depression. She told me once, "We were dirt poor but we didn't know it. We had what we needed, family, friends and our freedom."
@loganmohler737
@loganmohler737 3 года назад
Thats beautiful
@AussieBrit
@AussieBrit 3 года назад
That's what I tell my millennial, young adult children. I tell them not to get involved in the social media scrum because, at the end of the day, nobody cares about you as your family and friends do. I also tell them that they have the freedom to choose to engage or not, which is a privilege that is unprecedented in history. It's not a perfect analogy but, I hope you see what I mean.
@HBC423
@HBC423 3 года назад
I didn’t know there were people in North Dakota back then
@skyjammer
@skyjammer 3 года назад
So true....gives me chills to think about that statement in the context of today’s world
@njgl2010
@njgl2010 3 года назад
Ain't that amazing? We take so much for granted nowadays.
@deanshore2058
@deanshore2058 3 года назад
Lost John and his wife Lucille rented a house on Bootleg Alley from my grandparents in Cooleemee, NC during the mid to late 1970's. It was a small mill house but definitely an improvement from the living conditions they had when you filmed him. I would visit my cousins who lived across the street and remember listening to him play on his front porch. I do remember him being a very humble and kind man. I think he won every fiddle convention he ever entered. He was an incredible musician.
@manchu6005
@manchu6005 3 года назад
Such great memories made just from music and the circle of people you come into contact with. Thanks for the virtual visit.
@bearpawz_
@bearpawz_ 3 года назад
That is too awesome Dean! 😊🎵
@honeyfungus4774
@honeyfungus4774 3 года назад
Glad to hear that his circumstances improved.
@cruisepaige
@cruisepaige 3 года назад
Cool, thanks for sharing!
@tanyaryan4648
@tanyaryan4648 3 года назад
Wow, I'm taken aback by their talent and beautiful music. Inspiring, I'm lost for words. Thanks so much for sharing.
@Kreb99
@Kreb99 2 года назад
City folks judge too quickly. I grew up in Chicago, but I have been in Tennessee for over 40 years. I am a Harley biker, and I ride the back roads and I am a back roads Pastor,. Let me tell you, these country folk are beautiful, hard working, God loving people, and what you see as poverty for many of them is just enough of what God has given them to be happy.
@hamilt55467
@hamilt55467 4 месяца назад
Oh so it was decided by God, God decides fate. Same for children that have raped, God decided that?
@squigwart
@squigwart 2 месяца назад
@@hamilt55467 stop baiting on a fiddle video lil bro
@sicsempertyrannis4613
@sicsempertyrannis4613 25 дней назад
@@hamilt55467 left wing secularist spotted… G-d gave us rules to live by and rural folk don’t need the world. They just need enough to be happy, most importantly food, family, and friends
@cadencel1582
@cadencel1582 3 года назад
The little boy's directions are right out of a Mark Twain novel
@gratefulila9980
@gratefulila9980 3 года назад
That's just how we talk round North Carolina ma'am.
@mntlblok
@mntlblok 3 года назад
Exactly. Was just thinking of the Jumping Frog. :-)
@johndodson8464
@johndodson8464 3 года назад
🤣 Just two hollars past that dead cat
@linterpretemehariste9081
@linterpretemehariste9081 2 года назад
Novel? He told them exactly, where to go and it worked! This boy knew his county!
@gregboppel2511
@gregboppel2511 2 года назад
Thought it was a little Girl...
@PF-Fly
@PF-Fly 3 года назад
I love that you captured an example of the dying art of “Appalachian Direction Giving”. I’m from West Virginia and that kid’s directions were a thing of beauty. The key to mastering it is subtle distractions. You start with the right directions but then slide in several insignificant land marks and 2-3 ways not to go, before getting back on track. You repeat this process 2-3 times times before finally saying, “And that should get you to the right spot” The true masters of the art will even slide in a random story about the time Frank’s cattle got out and caused a 6 car traffic jam. or about the drama between Anne and Sarah at the bake sale last week. That kid made me smile ear to ear, as did the rest of the movie. Thank you for sharing!
@ChansonOrpheline
@ChansonOrpheline 3 года назад
That happens in rural Pennsylvania too!
@fenderstratguy
@fenderstratguy 3 года назад
Always insert one or two colloquialisms that no outsider could possibly know ("Take a left turn as soon as you pass Ed Furnley's place") or ("Cross over the bridge that used to be painted silver"). Then, at the very end, add a shocker that will make him forget everything else you said ("look for the house with the dead cow in the driveway; it's right after that") ("then keep your eyes open for the yard where the naked girl's chained up"). -Ideas copped from the MAD Magazine Gas Station Attendant Primer
@CellarDoorWhispers
@CellarDoorWhispers 3 года назад
As a fellow Appalachian this is how I still give directions and how I heard them growing up. I've lived in the same small town almost my entire 33 years of life and I still don't know most of the street names but I can tell you how to get there and where not to go lol.
@BoopShooBee
@BoopShooBee 3 года назад
Grew up in ND and I still navigate by landmarks. Spent several years in rural Ireland and lived on a road with no name. I asked why they didn't put addresses on houses. The answer was "We wouldn't want to be doing that now.". Thing is it made perfect sense to me.
@j-jamm4969
@j-jamm4969 3 года назад
A true art
@roadking0073
@roadking0073 3 года назад
And the Devil bowed his head cos' he knowed that he'd been beat and laid that Golden Fiddle on the ground at Lost John's feet!
@marcussmith9804
@marcussmith9804 3 года назад
Best comment.
@tmviracocha178
@tmviracocha178 3 года назад
Best for sure
@allyshivers3082
@allyshivers3082 2 года назад
Right right
@patrickmahoney4090
@patrickmahoney4090 2 года назад
😒X-RING !😍✨
@als4179
@als4179 2 года назад
You won this. Sir.
@Farmer_El
@Farmer_El 2 года назад
I'm not one bit embarrassed to tell you my maternal ancestors came out of the Highlands of Scotland and went right up into the Appalachian Mountains before my grandparents went to Indiana looking for work in the 1950s. My great uncle died at 94 years of age still living in a log cabin that was built before the United States came into existence. I had a great aunt who passed away in 1998 who lived in a house with no plumbing. My ancestors had little money in Scotland, less money in the colonies and even less in the USA.
@itsgettingold
@itsgettingold 2 года назад
As my Scottish mother said when my sister asked if we were poor, "Of course we're no poor! We just don't have any money. There's a difference, lass."
@jacqueslefave4296
@jacqueslefave4296 2 года назад
Nonetheless, they led good lives and I am proud to call them fellow citizens. They are the salt of the earth, and God is no respector of persons.
@franklopresti2870
@franklopresti2870 2 года назад
THANK GOD for old-time country music!!! And, many thanks to your brave, proud, and noble Scottish ancestors, who brought their music with them across the ocean for full-blooded Italian-Americans like me to enjoy and love. YEE-HAW!!!
@jacqueslefave4296
@jacqueslefave4296 2 года назад
@@franklopresti2870 French Americans, too. 🎼🇫🇷🇺🇸🎵
@papajahko7121
@papajahko7121 2 года назад
‘Saor Alba’ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
@Mickybear89
@Mickybear89 3 года назад
There's something so rugged, yet beautifully authentic about this coming together of true talent. In Ireland we call a gathering like this a Céilí 🇮🇪
@j-jamm4969
@j-jamm4969 3 года назад
Most people from these mountains are of Irish decent. As are we.
@melissagannon5711
@melissagannon5711 3 года назад
They're Irish most likely
@dukadarodear2176
@dukadarodear2176 3 года назад
I'm from Ireland but I would have to add that this music is rooted in the Irish and the Scots, especially the Scots-Irish. Traditional Irish dancing is almost exactly the same as Appalacian mountain dancing.
@campbellmccreedy6519
@campbellmccreedy6519 3 года назад
Ulster Scots
@brucecollins4729
@brucecollins4729 3 года назад
@@melissagannon5711 the scots have been in and around the apallachians since the 1500s. many a scottish sang and fiddle tune there. a few scots words also
@jasonc8058
@jasonc8058 3 года назад
Wow, this is worthy to be in the national archives. Outstanding.
@iccionesosnowitz356
@iccionesosnowitz356 3 года назад
It's on the trail of the Alan Lomax Archive. Why wouldn't we have... let's say... David Hoffman Archive, too?!?;-)
@kengibson2605
@kengibson2605 3 года назад
Great stuff reminds me of growing up in north ga mountains
@rashoietolan3047
@rashoietolan3047 3 года назад
Although I am an outsider I do so stand with you upon this risen conviction
@wesleyjohnson597
@wesleyjohnson597 3 года назад
Best comment ive seen in a while
@goldencalf13
@goldencalf13 3 года назад
@@kengibson2605 I grew up in the county that Bascom Lamar lunsford grew up in and, while most of the people he learned from, knew of, glorified for being better than him; because in most cases they were, his knowledge of everything/one is still praised and taught about. It doesn't hurt that he is essentially the only famous person to have come from our county. Sadly he's not even considered famous anymore.
@thejourney1369
@thejourney1369 3 года назад
I’m 63 and I’ve lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains my entire life. This is the kind of music I grew up on. I have cousins who had their own bluegrass band until one of them had such health problems they had to quit and he eventually passed away. Bluegrass is still a music staple here and the older I get, the more I appreciate it. It was so wonderful too to see Lost John as the amazing musician he was and not as a poor man or a freak of nature. Mountain people are the best.
@michellepaltinavich674
@michellepaltinavich674 3 года назад
I truly luv this kind wish there was more available to hear.
@mcpaplus
@mcpaplus 2 года назад
Such a piece of American and human history. I descended from Kentucky Scots-Irish. Something that transcends time grabs my soul when I see scenes like this and hear this music. And another note, it seems like everyone could play some sort of instrument. No tv, probably no phone and maybe a radio. Books, music, dancing and talking together. The past was rough in many ways, but not without merits.
@bennoah1673
@bennoah1673 2 года назад
You say he was poor, I say he lived like a king, he saw good days, lived in his place, his wife Loved him, and enjoyed the fiddle. Brought joy and tears with his playing
@sonicruins1106
@sonicruins1106 2 года назад
Great point: limited materially ('stuff/thing-poor'), but rich in humanity and musical expressiveness. How loaded with inherent bias are the simple words rich and poor.
@latestplague3762
@latestplague3762 Год назад
Outsiders have always been fools to the real beauty of our culture. Sadly it's a culture long gone replaced by the outsiders themselves. I have not only been fortunate enough to live hard myself but to have known folks that lived like this man. Dirt floor, thin saw milled siding, no power, and some still without running water inside. I am only 40 and can recall atleast 6 kids through school who never had power growing up. It was somewhat normal to us because many in the community had or still lived the same. Technology has destroyed what was beautiful in the NC mountains. My people have been here for over 270 yrs and I can guarantee I'm the last of that line to have had a glimpse of how the people and community really was. By the time my children were born most of the remnants in my County were gone.
@bennoah1673
@bennoah1673 Год назад
@latest plague peace and blessings, what is old is new again. We will be forced to discover the old ways, or parish. Back to homesteading, raise or hunt for meat, garden, and can or dry our food, save seeds , heat and cook with wood. The last month only spent 90$ at the store for food. Back to living as we should , close to the land.
@latestplague3762
@latestplague3762 Год назад
@Ben Noah same to you and agreed, mother nature will find a way. Whether it's plague, war, or nature's fist there will be a reckoning for the way society has gone out of control. Don't know if I will live to see it. Sadly alot of the old ways have been lost, we are the dumbest smart people to ever exist when looked on as a whole.
@mountainliving514
@mountainliving514 3 года назад
These musicians had a light heart and could handle a heavy wheelbarrow. The opposite of today.
@Deschain-um7jz
@Deschain-um7jz 3 года назад
Heavy hearts and light wheelbarrows?
@Deschain-um7jz
@Deschain-um7jz 3 года назад
@doctordonuthin I sure hope so.
@jimroushing7534
@jimroushing7534 3 года назад
All of these Old Folks from the 50's are long gone now, but although they were without the Luxuries of the outside world even at that time, they didn't know it. They were happy. Most living over a Hill or Holler from each other, but the word got out after Winter & they would meet up to play in someone's barn & they would eat, dance, & drink. This Film Producer found out just how poor they looked to him, as even his Host were getting on in Age & were having trouble with where Lost John lived. It comes with age, but did you see how quickly that driver... through directions from that Youngster brought back exactly where to go & what turns & roads he spoke of immediately. Recall!! Even the wife stated that to her husband that I don't believe you ever brought me over here to Johns. He said Noooo, I never did. But instantly they knew each other. Make No mistake word traveled when someone was in trouble or someone in a family passed, within a 5-10 mile radius. And you didn't just go into the Hills & Hollers to cause trouble. Most thought them Dumb. But make No Mistake, within a few words & them being Cordial to you, word would be out & passed along within the day. These people could read you like a book. They were the Ultimate at surviving and all before getting Older in life were Buckboard Strong. In older age, You didn't push them Oldtimers as they were still very dangerous. It was best if you were to get lost in those mountains to be Friendly & certainly Not ask the Wrong Questions. These people are all gone now, but think of hard these Folks Parents & Grandparents were who came before them. Most of these in the Mid 50's living in the tiny Homes in Hollers & Hills that were passed down to them. Any normal (what we called normal say from a city), wouldn't have lasted a Year in the Mountains. They lived there lives like we all should, & that's to enjoy each & every day you have on this earth. We are now fighting Covid here in 2020 but worse, although Technology & Advancement is Great, how often and everyday are you stressed from the rush of always seeming behind. Not enough hours in a 24 hr day. Simply exhausted from the Rush of life in a day that we've created ourselves. I love my simple life. I make a point Not to get involved in to many things or projects in my life. I have learned not to be on FB, Intsta, etc, & 3 years ago got rid of Cable Tv. I bought a simple Antenna, & get about 20 channels & get local News. I now watch the morning News & then turn off that Tube, that I used to have access to 500 channels or so too. I go for walks & get out in nature more to see the Beauty as I did as a Child. Hit a few parks & enjoy fawn & fauna. You will find less is more, & more is less, & for certain, much more healthy for your body & mind! Merry Christmas to All and I pray these Vaccines are the Miracle we all need right now, so that 2021 will be a New Year of healing. God Bless Everyone 🙏🎄💕
@bigdaddya735
@bigdaddya735 3 года назад
@@jimroushing7534 well said
@AtacamaHumanoid
@AtacamaHumanoid 3 года назад
If they lived today, they'd have just as low energy and heavy hearts as everyone else.
@blortmeister
@blortmeister 3 года назад
There's poor, and from the look of his place Lost John and his family were poor. But then there's poverty--when all hope, all joy, everything worthwhile has just been kicked out of you. Lost John did not live in poverty; there was art in his life, and joy. This is a man surrounded by a community that respects him and his abilities. This man lived poor, but he did not live in poverty.
@terryfinley7760
@terryfinley7760 3 года назад
Exactly what I was thinking! 👍
@miriambucholtz9315
@miriambucholtz9315 3 года назад
This is the sort of thing I mean when I say that there's poor and there's broke. Both mean little to no material wealth. The dividing line is despair.
@PeacefulPeteable
@PeacefulPeteable 3 года назад
He may have been one of the richest men alive. Wealth should never be measured by money.
@ouimetco
@ouimetco 3 года назад
Well put. Interestingly I know dozens of Cubans in Cuba that are poor but very very far from poverty with rich full lives. I also know several wealth Canadians that live in abject poverty. Interesting your statement. Causing thought.
@CBCycles
@CBCycles 3 года назад
Thank you for that perspective, he was rich indeed
@larrygrant-hy8sk
@larrygrant-hy8sk 9 месяцев назад
I grew up in Appalachia surrounded by this culture and music. A great time and place to become a man.
@mladenstankovic3148
@mladenstankovic3148 2 года назад
Their faces, especially the banjo player's, radiate warmth only seen from those that have been through and a lot, but always smiled. You can see it from the grooves on their skin.
@mikebarnes2746
@mikebarnes2746 10 месяцев назад
You got that right ! These folks radiate happiness,they will enjoy and be grateful. Thank you your all the best .
@janicejohnson6438
@janicejohnson6438 3 года назад
I love Lost John's expression when he plays. Blissful. Money cant buy this.
@beckywelborn1379
@beckywelborn1379 3 года назад
As a little girl growing up in a small community call Windy Gap NC, Lost John and his family lived just up the road from me. I remember he was a little different than other people. His kids were like that also. I was very surprised to see this video as he must have been living in a different area when this video was made. But this is surely him, cause my mama told me about him playing the fiddle. The old house is still partially standing there, and is all grown up around it. I just wonder if this video was made before he moved to our community, cause that is def not the house he lived in in Windy Gap!
@andreegross
@andreegross 3 года назад
Becky, was he blind? He hardly opens his eyes
@beckywelborn1379
@beckywelborn1379 3 года назад
@@andreegross As far as I know he could see, he did jobs and tried to make a living. I was very small when this video was made. He lived in my community a good while after that. He made music with one of my neighbors and his boys. They were quite the thing, and did quite a bit of traveling. The neighbors wife told her son in law, who told me, that he had one good suit of clothes, I guess for making music in. She said they had to take the suit away from him because he would wear it to the garage, and to the garden. I believe he only had about 3 sets of clothes to his name! Part of the old house is still standing, I believe, I intend to go by there one day soon and see if there is any remains of it!
@andreegross
@andreegross 3 года назад
@@beckywelborn1379 thank you for taking the time to answer with so much information. I wondered because he appears to have kept his eyelids almost closed. Yet, he did seem to look right at anyone who was speaking. Thank you.
@beckywelborn1379
@beckywelborn1379 3 года назад
@@andreegross you are very welcome!
@ThatJetstream
@ThatJetstream 3 года назад
Mountain music is the grandfather of our modern stuff, respect our history!
@rileymcintosh4852
@rileymcintosh4852 3 года назад
Amen
@brianpeters7847
@brianpeters7847 3 года назад
Right on Otto.. I'm from Maritime Canada and we have the music that came over with the first settlers.. I imagine mountain music and our music are very close because at one time they were the same... The music could bring a simile to the races of hard working women and men.. that kind of Music will always be with us thank God ...
@YorkyOne
@YorkyOne 3 года назад
@Otto Scorzany And English folk music. Or doesn't that count?
@YorkyOne
@YorkyOne 3 года назад
@Otto Scorzany A staggeringly ill informed not to say utterly bizarre comment - your grasp of the history of the British Isles and its folk traditions is wanting to say the least. 'There is no English folk music'. So what were the English farm labourers, cowherds, shepherds, blacksmiths, weavers, millhands etc etc singing and playing in the years up to the First World War and modern mass entertainment? Of course they sang Irish, Scots and 'Welch' songs but predominantly their own English folk songs. Do you just make this stuff up?
@YorkyOne
@YorkyOne 3 года назад
@Otto Scorzany Again, but this time in English.
@helenvanpatterson-patton
@helenvanpatterson-patton 3 года назад
Brought me to tears. My grandfather who was born and raised in Monroe County, Mississippi could play any song he heard. Watching these people gather round one another was amazing. Pickin' and grinin'. Grandpaw died when I was 4. I am 46 now and this transported me back to standing on the chair rung beside him holding onto his overalls while he played. Thank you so much for work.
@rearea6409
@rearea6409 2 года назад
Same as my family back in the days ( Jasper co.... Mississippi)💖💖
@thejoshwardchannel
@thejoshwardchannel 2 года назад
😳 Monroe County MS representing here too!!! Used to go to Pickin’ & Grinnin’ on Main St. Amory!! Wonder if you were there! Haha! Small world!
@helenvanpatterson-patton
@helenvanpatterson-patton 2 года назад
@@thejoshwardchannel I have family strung from Bartahatchie to Hamilton to 45 in Columbus:). We lived in Hamilton and my Grandpaw was in the sticks in Bartahatchie. I dont know if that was even happening in the early 70s. It is a small world:)noce to meet ya Josh
@jimmilucky4679
@jimmilucky4679 2 года назад
@@thejoshwardchannel Pickin and Grinnin at Carolina Community Center, Monday nights, 6pm pot luck, 7pm music. Bring your voice/instrument
@maxcorder2211
@maxcorder2211 9 месяцев назад
My father was born in 1882 in NE Mississippi. My grandfather fought in the Civil War. My father was a very good fiddler and played many a Sunday at “all-day singings and dinner on the ground” in Pontotoc County, Mississippi. I remember the food and the ladies fanning themselves in the church with fan’s advertising the funeral home. A wonderful time that will never be relived, and I miss it so.
@HarryFCallahan
@HarryFCallahan 2 года назад
These films you’ve made are truly a gift. I can’t begin to thank you enough for how you’ve preserved a little piece of American history in these shorts. Just fantastic.
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker 2 года назад
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
@hetjamesfield4473
@hetjamesfield4473 3 года назад
I play Blues and Metal. As a musician, all i can say is, if you do not appreciate and value this music and its history, you should start. Blues and this kind of Country mountain music was the start and gave "birth" to RocknRoll. You know it all from there on...
@Mistwalker67
@Mistwalker67 3 года назад
You're spot on.
@inthemaze7441
@inthemaze7441 3 года назад
M y sons are Smokestack Relics. They started blues. Love it!
@hetjamesfield4473
@hetjamesfield4473 3 года назад
@Lord Of The World Agreed!
@hetjamesfield4473
@hetjamesfield4473 3 года назад
@@inthemaze7441 That is awesome, You must be very proud :) 👍
@meekinheritor2171
@meekinheritor2171 3 года назад
I am from mountain folk in Poland and their music is quite unique. Polish Highlanders or Goralska Muzyka...check it out. Thanks for another history lesson.
@encoreunefois1X
@encoreunefois1X 3 года назад
This is bloody marvellous A real historical document.
@encoreunefois1X
@encoreunefois1X 3 года назад
​@@cam_webb Got me bang to rights, it's a fair cop!. I hail from the Lea Valley Delta, just south of Enfield!
@whitetroutchannel
@whitetroutchannel 3 года назад
@@cam_webb i can do better than both i live in ulster were its that bad these folks in the video had to run away from it nr 300 years ago 😂😂
@MJ-ix7wm
@MJ-ix7wm 3 года назад
@@whitetroutchannel Is that why I'm in N.C. as I type this now?, born here infact. I've crossed the big pond & found y'all to be real pleasant folks!!!! Cheers mates. Well their was that lady who looked at me like I was an arse-face. To be real I wasn't use to being told to, "cue up" so I was thrown off & confused. I can only guess my face resembled a bum to her & possiblely the whole of England. But now I get it. "Mind the Gap" fellows.
@CBCycles
@CBCycles 3 года назад
I totally agree!
@carolinechamberlain5707
@carolinechamberlain5707 3 года назад
David, thank you for sharing mate! Brilliant 💜🙏🏽
@donwade3801
@donwade3801 3 года назад
To us people who live in Tennessee, North Carolina , Virginia, etc., music is and has been a very vital part of Our Lives. We play, our parents played, our grandparents played, our great-grandparents played, you get the picture. We love our music and we are so glad people all over the world love it too. We consider it a gift of God and we want to share it with everyone. Especially in these troubled times.
@eldenrivas7842
@eldenrivas7842 3 года назад
The humility in Lost John's face brings me to tears.
@imaginarycanary9956
@imaginarycanary9956 2 года назад
Me too and then I had tears of anger when someone mocked him in the comment section.
@eldenrivas7842
@eldenrivas7842 2 года назад
@@imaginarycanary9956 I can't believe people make fun of such a kind hearted individual.
@michaelbarnett2527
@michaelbarnett2527 2 года назад
I agree. He reminds me a lot of a friend that died last year.
@eldenrivas7842
@eldenrivas7842 2 года назад
@@michaelbarnett2527 so sorry to hear that.
@lamadrina5384
@lamadrina5384 2 года назад
@@eldenrivas7842 They are what Hell is for. They don't see, they don't hear, they are idiots.
@andymelendez9757
@andymelendez9757 3 года назад
From the hearts of the humble come the loftiest things. Can you imagine walking thru the hollers and hearing music like this
@deewaddellinstudio_1886
@deewaddellinstudio_1886 3 года назад
Andy, as long as what you’re hearing ain’t Dueling Banjos 😮😄
@loganmohler737
@loganmohler737 3 года назад
@@deewaddellinstudio_1886 paddle faster!
@jacobheeringa6469
@jacobheeringa6469 3 года назад
I love this music so much, and i am from the Netherlands but i feel very comfortable when i hear this kind of music
@ProfileP246
@ProfileP246 3 года назад
They are your people my friend!
@paulkuijer8129
@paulkuijer8129 3 года назад
They are your people!! Klopt. Zit ook bijna elke dag te zoeken naar deze fantastische muziek. Bijzonder...
@ProfileP246
@ProfileP246 3 года назад
@@paulkuijer8129 Me too.
@hereigoagain5050
@hereigoagain5050 3 года назад
Truly universal music. Bluegrass has origins in northern Europe folk music and resonates over time. Just like when I visit the Netherlands and hear Dutch. I think, "The Dutch can't wait to go home and to relax with English." (Apologies to my Dutch friends and Garrison Keillor of "Prairie Home Companion" for stealing his joke. :)
@aldousorwell3807
@aldousorwell3807 3 года назад
My mother was from Middlesborough Kentucky, and was half Dutch and half Cherokee. Her mother's maiden name was Holland. There were a lot of settlers from the Netherlands in the Cumberland Gap region of the Appalachian Mountain range. You may be distantly related to some. .....HELL, .....maybe even ME!😂
@EMJE272
@EMJE272 2 года назад
These folks are all long gone, yet their music lives on forever. They were not famous, just a bunch of the "un-famous" talented people that no one would have never heard of except for this chance meeting
@jeffandersen7397
@jeffandersen7397 3 года назад
when Lost John handed the fiddle over it lost all it's Mojo. I'm glad you caught that moment on film because it demonstrates how his sound was much more rich and full when compared to the other fiddle player. Thanks for yet another amazing moment in History, perfectly captured and preserved
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker 3 года назад
Thank you Jeff.
@stephenkevindoss1474
@stephenkevindoss1474 9 месяцев назад
dear sir that “other” fiddler is a legend and I was shocked to hear that famous melody…
@jeffhensley9988
@jeffhensley9988 3 года назад
These are my kind of people. I'm from the hills of Tennessee. Sweet kind God fearing people, but that being said, we don't take no bs from anyone. A lotta Love but tough as nails.
@jcp012000
@jcp012000 3 года назад
Unfortunately with non of the grit and quiet strength these people had. Too soft these days
@jeffhensley9988
@jeffhensley9988 3 года назад
@@jcp012000 Not everyone. The deep country and mountain people, now those are some people that's not to be messed with. 😏
@thornyturtleranch6152
@thornyturtleranch6152 3 года назад
@@randyboring9089 where did you go instead and what happened in life that you are not happy with, if you dont mind sharing more? And what town in Tennessee? I've been driving through tennesse lots over last year going to ohio for medical appointments. Nice state. As a teenager I traveled a few times to Dunlap area down from Chattanooga for canoeing on the Sequatchie river.
@thornyturtleranch6152
@thornyturtleranch6152 3 года назад
@@randyboring9089 oh okay. My dad and my brothers are in Washington state. My step mothers family was first to homestead on vashon island in Puget sound seattle/tacoma. I'll have to look up turtle town tennessee, interesting.
@tonydanis1480
@tonydanis1480 3 года назад
These are fine people, they humble me with their decency and goodness. As a child, I remember folks like this in the backwoods and swamps of Florida. Somehow, people aren't as epic niwadays.
@PenitentHollow
@PenitentHollow 3 года назад
I think the way that you can observe people without judgment and look at every new situation as a an opportunity to learn is beautiful and a part of what has made you a great documentary film maker.
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker 3 года назад
Thank you so much. That is quite a compliment. And, I guess I can say this because I am nearly 80 years old, it's true. David Hoffman filmmaker
@claytonatkinson865
@claytonatkinson865 3 года назад
@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker could you make a video or a video series on how to make the most of a documentary? Pardon my ignorance if’n you already have sir.
@randomvintagefilm273
@randomvintagefilm273 3 года назад
@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker what, 80? Are you kidding me? You look amazing
@ReichardtHelmut
@ReichardtHelmut 3 года назад
@Penitent Hollow: you really found beautiful words of appreciation for David Hoffmann. What a beautiful documentary about wonderful musicians !
@hummingbird275
@hummingbird275 3 года назад
David Hoffman Thank you for this heart touching video. I am 79, and grew up with country “”fiddlins””, as they were referred to. My dad played guitar, one neighbor played “fiddle”, another played mandolin, several others played guitar. They gathered at my parents house most of the time, I think it was because my mom would fry doughnuts all afternoon, and make the “pressure canner” full of hot chocolate enriched with fresh country cream added to farm fresh milk. The pressure canner would hold about 5 gallons of hot chocolate. As the old saying goes, “you can take the kid out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the kid”. That is a very true statement! I REALLY enjoyed hearing the music on your video. Thank you so very much.
@mayatodd8342
@mayatodd8342 3 года назад
I’m a generation removed from my KY mountain relatives. They lived in very poor conditions, but the music was and always has been very much alive. (Not too far removed, I suppose. My father had rickets as a child. Lack of vitamin D.) He carried the music forward and onward when he left KY. Got a college education, and traveled the world as a military officer. I swear, the music speaks to my soul. I embrace this part of my heritage.
@linterpretemehariste9081
@linterpretemehariste9081 2 года назад
Howdy Maya! I'm sure you'll highly appreciate some of the Bluegrass that the band named "Six String Soldiers" perform on RU-vid. They have a sergeant playing fiddle and a guy playing banjo too... You will like it, for sure
@jgdooley2003
@jgdooley2003 2 года назад
I recall my first job as a milk delivery man in the west of Ireland. Some people used to get free milk,about a pint or two per day depending on the number of children in the family and the income they had ( mostly low) in order to build up the vitamin D in their systems and prevent Rickets which led to brittle bones and bad walking posture if not prevented in time. The funding was through the regional health boards at that time. Our local school briefly had a breakfast scheme, milk and bread, to accommodate pupils who did not get a breakfast through parental neglect or poverty. The scheme lasted 2 or 3 years and was badly needed at the time. The compassionate thing about the scheme was the every child got the breakfast so that the poor kids did not stand out among the rich and get teased which could happen if it was only confined to the poor kids. The school I went to was unusual in that the free book scheme was done with great care to keep the recipients confidential so as to avoid the inevitable teasing that would happen if the recipients were made public, some schools were not so understanding.
@mayatodd8342
@mayatodd8342 2 года назад
@@jgdooley2003 Thank you for sharing this. Whoever was in charge of that school program had a great deal of compassion. Many Irish crossed the pond to Appalachia and brought their music and their resilience with them.
@biggieed949
@biggieed949 2 года назад
I’m 75 years old and even though I wish I was young I would not trade anything for my memories of my early life around Copperhill,tenn. and the red clay hills bare of any green, the dirt roads, and my grandparents home with the spring at the end of the road. Uncle Eugene plowing with a mule, Grandma cooking canned sausage and gravy to go with the biscuits and eggs on a wood stove smelling of pine. The graveyard on the hill with the unmarked graves but Dad knew who was under every rock marker. The nights we spent there sleeping in the old car are something that can’t ever be again but can’t ever be forgotten. The copper mines are gone and I guess life is better, but damn the memories are good. Aunt Ada and Uncle Jimmy I miss you.
@livingintheforest3963
@livingintheforest3963 28 дней назад
I am with you those memories! The world is foreign today.
@benjammin8240
@benjammin8240 3 года назад
One of my father’s sayings I heard several times was “you cannot become a true musician until you appreciate and respect all genres of the art” 😎👍🏻👍🏻
@deloreshendershot2348
@deloreshendershot2348 3 года назад
so true
@fredgarvinMP
@fredgarvinMP 3 года назад
All genres except modern country.
@blazerwilliams2260
@blazerwilliams2260 3 года назад
@@fredgarvinMP you got that right.
@NoLefTurnUnStoned.
@NoLefTurnUnStoned. 3 года назад
@@fredgarvinMP That’s about right...and German Techno!
@fredgarvinMP
@fredgarvinMP 3 года назад
@@NoLefTurnUnStoned. I do like Kraftwerk though...
@johnderekmitchell1510
@johnderekmitchell1510 3 года назад
God I miss growing up listening to this music at my Family Reunions. We are from the Hills of VA. Down Home Folks who'd give you the shirt off our backs if you needed. Didn't give a damn what color your skin happened to be.
@timdixon3391
@timdixon3391 3 года назад
And these people had no idea they would be playing together that day. Master musicians
@jimwatson4513
@jimwatson4513 2 года назад
In the smokies ,of western Carolina, my folks settled there ,long before the Civil War. Folks back then made their oun musical instruments !! Bango ,out of barrel tops , goat hide , wire of any kind , hickory long arm stems ! We then , had to make what we wanted ! That's what makes mountain music so special to me !! l'm 73 , now , never let our heritage be forgotten!! 🇺🇲🇺🇲
@BloomGlare
@BloomGlare 3 года назад
As much as I love this video, I want to take a second to appreciate David. This man has given us so much. Thank you David. I've spent hours and hours watching your content. Whether working, studying, or just wanting to learn from history - your videos are treasures. Thanks mate, for all you've done and all you do.
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker 3 года назад
Thank you for your kind thoughts. I feel fortunate to have done what I have done and be able to share it. David Hoffman filmmaker
@murielcastellanos7209
@murielcastellanos7209 2 года назад
To
@luciehanson6250
@luciehanson6250 3 года назад
Also intrigued by Lost John's manner of holding his fiddle, playing from his heart.
@JBSlickflyer
@JBSlickflyer 3 года назад
That's how a working man holds a fiddle. After a lifetime of manual labor, the shoulders don't like to be forced into the unnatural position a violin player uses. Just a couple minutes on the shoulder is enough to make both hands tingle and burn for the rest of the week. I can appreciate the love he puts in every note.
@michaelwebster8389
@michaelwebster8389 2 года назад
I need to see more of this. This is fantastic - just one of my most favourite styles of music. Deep, and filled with sadness and joy, and most of all community - a tremendous culture to make the tribulations of a hard life bearable.
@sublime835
@sublime835 2 года назад
I am so proud to be from Kentucky and those beautiful Appalachian mountains.
@howchristianalwaysreal9531
@howchristianalwaysreal9531 3 года назад
Oh my I am seeing this on Christmas day- what a present. I grew up knowing many people like this from back in the hollers, so poor they hardly had two pennies yet they would share whatever they had with you. Treat you like you were king of Egypt. They would be hard core, uneducated but yet the best people you could ever meet and be around. For anyone watching this who never experienced that I am so sorry for all the money in the world could not buy those kind of times. Thank you David for sharing. I'm also a Hoffman-my family all but lost in the Holocaust.
@dtcj04
@dtcj04 3 года назад
The look on his face as he plays. He's not just feeling it....he's living the music.
@CRuf-qw4yv
@CRuf-qw4yv 2 года назад
I swear I met the Dr. Lunsford and his wife while on a family trip towing a camper thru western NC in 1965. My father knew him since the old WW2 Arrmy days. We were invited in and shared a terrific southern dinner just like we were long time family. These people appreciated what they had and made up the core spirit of America without complaining, feeling entitled or woke..
@tierratrails9554
@tierratrails9554 2 года назад
This is just what I needed to feed my soul today, hillbilly and Cajun roots
@randyporter3491
@randyporter3491 3 года назад
What they play, is exactly what you hear. No electronics, no auto-tune, no enhancements. Just self cultivated talent and a living version of "The Darlings" on Andy Griffith. Thank you for preserving this treasure of mountain music and the people that made it.
@theronb1177
@theronb1177 2 года назад
The Darlings were not something concocted for the TV show, they were a real bluegrass band, actually called The Dillards. Led by brothers Doug (a great banjo player!) and Rodney Dillard from Missouri, they were a bit younger than the old folks in this video but still the real deal.
@governmentchihuahua4132
@governmentchihuahua4132 2 года назад
@@theronb1177 That's so cool. I never knew that. Thanks for the info.
@starjunkie2804
@starjunkie2804 3 года назад
I've always thought that the best part of being human is music and the ability to make it. I may have said this before, but my Polish aunt, Pauline, married a man down Appalachia. My uncle Johnny (Segna), taught me to play the guitar in the summers when I'd go to visit them beginning at 6 or 7 years old. They lived about 15-20 miles from Asheville, NC. I learned on an old 1920's Martin & Co. Guitar. My uncle gave it to me before he passed and if I had a penny for every offer from someone to buy it, I'd be a Gazillionaire. Time. Learning to play well takes time, the right mindset and a good ear. You know that as well as I do David. Some of us just have it and others really have to work at it. Although, I still really worked at it and still do. I've played every single day for the past 50 years. Beginning at a young age is crucial as well. No dolls for me, just a nice guitar and books. I'd play at home the remaining three seasons and uncle John would mail me lessons written out in longhand. Neither of us read music. I only read Tabliture, but it does not matter, because all I need is the key any song is in and I'm as good as locked in. I never play the same lead twice and that is the fun of it for me. Throwing the curveball in. These gentlemen here know all of this. It is a gift, but you still need to take the time, these guys have/had a lot of time on their hands. This is also the area where I realized that you don't need much money to live and have a good time. As poor as they are, people still do for each other down there. I miss that. Those were the best days of my life. I've known and played with many fine ladies and gentlemen down there. I love those people and I have wet cheeks right now just remembering it all. Nice work David.
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker 3 года назад
Thank you. David
@hummingbird275
@hummingbird275 3 года назад
Srar, thank you so very much for your heart warming story. You definitely have a treasure, in the 1920’s Martin guitar, not only the guitar, but the beautiful memories.♥️
@buckbuchanan4902
@buckbuchanan4902 Год назад
I can only imagine how awesome it would be to sit for a couple of hours with these interesting people and listen to their incredible music and stories. So glad these amazing moments were preserved on film.
@alipainting
@alipainting 7 месяцев назад
There are old-time festivals out there, you can sit around and listen
@coreychilders4970
@coreychilders4970 3 года назад
I am from the mountains of North Georgia. And this is my kind of music. We grew up poor. But every Friday night we would clean out the living room and bring in the folding chair for all the boy to play old blue grass. I truly miss those days
@echoromeo384
@echoromeo384 3 года назад
People nowadays talk about poverty and discrimination yet have no idea what real poverty and discrimination actually is. People just have no clue how poor these folks actually are. Salt of the earth.
@werewolf4358
@werewolf4358 3 года назад
When misery comes knocking it's not any less miserable just because it doesn't look the same as it once did. If you're stuck day in and out wondering whether you should put off rent or food this week, that doesn't make it any more or less terrible because you have a toilet with running water instead of an outhouse. Isn't that the point of these little videos? To show that you can empathize with others, regardless of if they're familiar to you or not?
@nikkijo9999
@nikkijo9999 3 года назад
@@werewolf4358 no. The point of the videos is the music
@werewolf4358
@werewolf4358 3 года назад
@@nikkijo9999 I think that's a rather simplistic approach to this. If it were *just* about the music, why would more than half the video be introducing the lives of the people who made it? It would make much more sense to just say "yeah, I went to such and such area at this period of time and here's the music I found." But instead of that, we're really introduced to these people. Told about their lives, their problems and somewhat about how they deal with it all. To me, that's setting the viewer up for a good old fashioned dose of connection with strangers.
@nikkijo9999
@nikkijo9999 3 года назад
@@werewolf4358 the man that made the fill said that it was about th music
@bradcarroll3719
@bradcarroll3719 3 года назад
They were poor in the true meaning, because they worked as hard as work gets and still didnt have enough to eat. Nowadays you get a check while sitting on your ass, and inventing every reason in the world for you're disadvantaged. Get off your ass. There are many jos. Btw, I am as liberal as they come with the exception of my strong belief in the 2nd Amendment. Cheers all!
@richarddoran4217
@richarddoran4217 3 года назад
The younger generation need to check stuff like this out. They all think they can pick these guys do it effortlessly. True music.
@arichardson9952
@arichardson9952 3 года назад
I’m 23 and from the blue ridge mountains haha what are you talking about
@richarddoran4217
@richarddoran4217 3 года назад
@@arichardson9952 well that's nice don't get cocky you're blessed stay humble im 65 I live in Hawaii we do our own kind of pickin here
@Hambone571
@Hambone571 3 года назад
Talent...pure and simple. Unlike so much fake today.
@deewaddellinstudio_1886
@deewaddellinstudio_1886 3 года назад
Thing about the mountain musicians, most never knew a lick of music theory; many didn’t know a chord as written, but they played solely by ear; the way we’d all do well to learn. Music is an expression of the emotions and comes from deep within the soul. To copy written chords and try to replicate the exact sounds of your favorite musical “star” takes much away from that.
@harveymilne1684
@harveymilne1684 3 года назад
Music knows no barriers. I’m 19 and English and I’ve been listening to old time mountain music and bluegrass for a long time now, though I’m no expert admittedly.
@dianeconnors4483
@dianeconnors4483 3 месяца назад
Beautiful I’m not even American but I miss this America of old 😢God bless America.
@ethansams883
@ethansams883 7 месяцев назад
I am a native mountain folk, now living away from the mountains of my birth. I just wanted to give you a sincere thanks, this made me smile deeply. I am only 25, but this, even today, sounds and feels so much like home that I nearly cry seeing and hearing it.
@Brainhoneywalker
@Brainhoneywalker 3 года назад
Thank you for filming this treasure. Thank you for the compassionate introduction. That was a lesson in itself; a lesson in non-judgement and a lesson in appreciating the light we each hold inside.
@phononut
@phononut 3 года назад
When my Father first heard this he almost burst into tears saying that's the way Twinkle little star was played when he was a boy. Thank you for sharing this.
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker 3 года назад
Beautiful. Thank you. David Hoffman filmmaker
@loriwilliams2632
@loriwilliams2632 3 года назад
It brought tears to my eyes too!
@loriwilliams2632
@loriwilliams2632 3 года назад
@@pashadyne it's a different version altogether, common in the South
@buzzcagney8096
@buzzcagney8096 3 года назад
I heard an Appalachian in a documentary say "We didnt know we were poor until the government came in and told us" I've been poor, and i was a lot happier then, than i am now in my gold cage.
@stevenwilson9579
@stevenwilson9579 6 месяцев назад
I am from Scotland with a heartfelt connection to this music. All my days my ears prick up when I hear the Appalachians playing. Thank you for bringing this to us all.
@veteangesiale9619
@veteangesiale9619 2 года назад
The soulful momentum that I feel ❤️. This is music. Music has evolved. However, it should still be called music in it's fine unique soulful sound. This kinda music makes me cry and happy at the same times. You still talk about life, real life situations, still talks about love. But it sounds soulful. It's not boast. That's why it's soulful. I would love to just go up and stay with the mountain people because I don't see poverty. I just see amazing free spirited people who doesnt boast. Music makes them happy. Work hard and thank the Lord. I mean what more can you ask. Nobody should be seeking out to change these people's reality to be like the outside world. The outside world needs to go up and see what life is really about. You can find happiness in the little things. Money isn't the happy ending.
@kellyc4144
@kellyc4144 3 года назад
This makes me miss my daddy more than I can day. If only I could turn the clock back for just a few moments and have one more sing together. Life wasnt easy but it held a beauty that most will never know.
@Wolfy-fz5xr
@Wolfy-fz5xr 3 года назад
If the devil went down to Georgia. God went to ole lost johns . Beautiful clip
@danieldimas6160
@danieldimas6160 2 года назад
After listening to this a few times, you begin to realize how on point his timing is. He looks so focused on the sound coming from the people around him, trying to match there time, with music that is more than second nature to him. He is absolutely shredding that fiddle. Appreciate this piece of history!
@Wonderhussy
@Wonderhussy 3 года назад
That lady on the autoharp! Dang!! Her fingers are FLYING
@Wonderhussy
@Wonderhussy 3 года назад
@@garyswift135 thank you, I am!
@montestout1006
@montestout1006 3 года назад
Don be
@stringbean1511
@stringbean1511 3 года назад
She had cp
@kevincruz4045
@kevincruz4045 3 года назад
How cool, Wonderhussy was here too!! Big fan Girl!!!
@jillspears6331
@jillspears6331 3 года назад
My grandmother had one of those!
@JoeSmith-gw6hc
@JoeSmith-gw6hc 3 года назад
Damn these folks can play! Bascom playing his song in 1965 sounded just as good as it did in 1927.
@bazzinbulgaria4826
@bazzinbulgaria4826 2 года назад
Thank you for this great video David...I was born and raised in a country a very long way from where this was filmed but the culture, lifestyle and kindness was very similar. I well remember working in the fields alongside my Grandpa and Daddy and having my Grandma and Mom bringing us a bite to eat and some cold tea around midday, every day...it was a 5 mile walk from the house. We didn't have much and needed even less...I was born with nothing and still have more than half of that left...I'm a little over 73 years old now. I really would love to visit with folk like Lost John, set a while and just listen.
@kathyleicester7306
@kathyleicester7306 2 года назад
Mountain people have a sweetness that makes my heart ache with love and pride. I'm not mountain, but I'm American, and this the heart of the Republic.
@joybarker7906
@joybarker7906 3 года назад
I just now watching this finally understand the meaning behind "Just a pickin' and a grinnin'!" The reverent smile on Lost John's face when he plays like everyone else just dissapears except for him, God, and that glorious fiddle! 🎻
@theartistone5860
@theartistone5860 3 года назад
The one great thing about music is it sees no color, background, or anything but the love of great music and the sharing of one's soul. We need more music and even more respect for those who make it. Thanks for your videos, Love them.
@deloreshendershot2348
@deloreshendershot2348 3 года назад
so very well said
3 года назад
"If music be the food of,play on." William Shakespeare.
@sint5990
@sint5990 6 месяцев назад
I came around this rock a few generations late. This is the time I belonged.
@jagitlittlepill5863
@jagitlittlepill5863 3 года назад
Thank you Sir. This was the land of my father. Im cajan kon my mother's side and Scochs Irish withe a bit of Weals on my fathers side. I was brought up with my father playing his ole guitar an singing bluegrass an folk songs. While my mothersang an played her guitar singing cajan songs. Some much love was given to us kids growing up this way. You made me long for my father heari g these songs. Thank you.
@DV-ol7vt
@DV-ol7vt 3 года назад
I grew up with all my family getting together every Friday and Saturday night playing Bluegrass and us kids would run around in the yard until we fell asleep. We would sleep wherever we fell. The good old days!
@jimmydykes7961
@jimmydykes7961 3 года назад
I've had the privilege of knowing down to earth people like this you wouldn't think much of them when you first met them but its amazing what these folks know and can do
@yvonnecormier13
@yvonnecormier13 2 года назад
Makes you smile, and cry at the same time
@billkuhn9905
@billkuhn9905 2 года назад
This reminds me of the music and playing of my Grandmother’s family. She was the oldest of 13 children, born in 1898 in rural Louisiana, about 60 miles south of Shreveport, on the Red River. My great Grandfather was a champion fiddler, winning the state fair fiddling contest. All of my grandmother’s siblings and she played either the fiddle, the guitar, or mandolin, and in the 1920’s and 30’s it was all the entertainment they had. I have most of their instruments, and am amazed they were able to play on such instruments , primitive by comparison to the first guitars I had in 1964. Family gatherings, when I was young, we’re a view into a different time, when music was acoustic, played from memory. I remember being completely in awe, that without any prompting or practice my great aunts and uncles could pickup an instrument, not having played together in years, but able to pickup and play like it had been planned or practiced, simply joining in and accompanying each other. It is no wonder they music has always been so meaningful to me.
@normanmiller9372
@normanmiller9372 3 года назад
Wow!!! My grandparents used to have " pickins " once a week at their home in the Blue Ridge mountains. Wonderful simple times that molded me into what I am today. Never ever not listen to or enjoy the old ones, they are a fountain of knowledge, friendship and love!!!
@catdaddy3302
@catdaddy3302 3 года назад
There were a few old people like that in the Ozarks of Arkansas when I first moved here. They’d have “singings”: at a church or wherever they felt like it. I met a couple who were married when he was 15 and she was 13. Had been married over 70 years. The man said the only time he ever left the county was when he tried to join the Army. He was rejected. And some didn’t have many branches on their family tree. They weren’t ashamed of it either. I saw a wonderful old mandolin player. His daughter had to practically hold him up. And I wonder why most bass players were women. I love Ozarks folk culture. Pure music from pure hearts. ❤️
@chrisridley1750
@chrisridley1750 3 года назад
I wish that I'd been able to meet Lost John. He was not only a great fiddler but he was able to step back and enjoy listening to another fiddlier without finding fault.
@Lisaj4431
@Lisaj4431 3 года назад
Such a sweet time, I remember going to my granny's house in Buckhorn Ky in the 60's and my Aunt Edna playing the mandolin and my Uncle JC on the guitar and my Grandpa Floyd on the fiddle playing bluegrass music while I helped granny string beans, even then as a nine yr old child, I knew that moment in time was very special.
@nightcoregremlin
@nightcoregremlin 2 года назад
I was raised in Wilkes county, grew up clogging in the 2000s. I moved halfway across the world to Asia, and I haven’t been home in 3 years thanks to covid. Thank you for these videos, when the homesickness gets too strong I come back to them. I moved to get out of the generational poverty and all that it comes with, and how constrained I felt growing up in a place where I was the black sheep. No matter all of this, the mountains will always be home. Thinking about picking up the banjo so I can connect to my roots from thousands of miles away
@bluegrassman3040
@bluegrassman3040 Год назад
My pastor is from Wilkes county.
@Deerhunter4life
@Deerhunter4life 5 месяцев назад
Beautiful country up there
@taffykins2745
@taffykins2745 3 года назад
I'm glad he got to have his fiddle in spite of his poverty. He looks so happy!
@Baltihunter
@Baltihunter 2 года назад
We need more people like you 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧👍
@the_original_Bilb_Ono
@the_original_Bilb_Ono 3 года назад
Im born and raised in Appalachia, come from a long line of muscians, and im sitting here at 12:30am alone playing southern blues and bluegrass stuff on my acoustic guitar on a chilly night in the mountains. THANK YOU David for all the media that you have posted and been apart of creating which represents my culture. We are often thought of as ignorant hillbillies (granted, we aint done the best job to represent our good side either) but what you see on movies is NOT how we really are. We are struggling to stay alive, we would give you the clothes off our back, if we cooking then we will give you food if youre hungry. Black and white Appalachian people have the best food. I was raised like this, although by my time in the early 90s things was changing. Me. Th. and cra... ack was ravaging my family and friends, the poverty grew even more. .... my main point, is us "red" ...%$& necks" aint always hate filled people, certainly many are, but i feel like we get a bad wrap. One day people will realize that our culture was so unique and it was such a tragedy how we ended up. [Note: RU-vid is automatically deleting my comment for some reason. I assume its because i mentioned something which youtube believes is worth stepping on the Constitution for. So i have heavily edited this comment. 6th tine trying to post this.]
@AS-zd9my
@AS-zd9my 3 года назад
Your comment. Beautiful and sad.✌ i.e struggles/survival.
@unncommonsense
@unncommonsense 3 года назад
John Prine wrote about chalking it all up to the progress of man in his sardonic way. What have we lost when we progress? God bless you from another Appalachian brother.
@whitetroutchannel
@whitetroutchannel 3 года назад
hey mate im from the old province of ulster, its great the spirit endures much respect from northern ireland
@MJ-ix7wm
@MJ-ix7wm 3 года назад
@@whitetroutchannel I'm sitting in good old Caroilna right now. Just sayin hello.
@whitetroutchannel
@whitetroutchannel 3 года назад
@@MJ-ix7wm are you of dutch decent? im just assuming because of your surname, i know the dutch and german settlers gave huge help to the ulster scotch when they arrived in the americas, anywho no matter greetings from n.ireland 👍👍👍
@Diana-wg1tm
@Diana-wg1tm 3 года назад
That is what matters in life a kind heart giving and caring. It's not about the clothes you wear or the size of your house and the car you drive. It's about neighborly love. It's what Jesus would want
@Diana-wg1tm
@Diana-wg1tm 3 года назад
Thank you . I shared your video with a friend that was in the music industry that would appreciate your video
@hatrivers8227
@hatrivers8227 3 года назад
I live in that area. It's a burning rage I get when I hear or see how these people have been portrayed through the years. These people are good people and it makes me glad to see others see it for just that
@wyattmccoy4959
@wyattmccoy4959 3 года назад
@@Diana-wg1tm your beautiful
@wyattmccoy4959
@wyattmccoy4959 3 года назад
Respect!!!!
@DollyPorterfan
@DollyPorterfan 10 месяцев назад
Wow! Lost John is the best fiddle player I have ever heard! I would have liked to have heard him play the violin with my great aunt Bertha Robinson playing her banjo! This is some good music right here, I enjoyed this so much. Thank you for sharing and I am so glad we have this documentary to share with the generations going forward.
@nyhusn1
@nyhusn1 3 года назад
God bless these folks. Their music is heartfelt with pure flavor. Very hard to come by these days, in most parts.
@juice2090
@juice2090 3 года назад
4 minutes in and the storytelling alone is worth the watch. Looking forward to the rest. Edit: holy crap the music is amazing
@CODYj423
@CODYj423 3 года назад
Just over the mountain from Asheville, in Northeast Tennessee, Storytelling is art. There's a degree program at ETSU and next door in Tennessee's oldest town Jonesborough they host an annual National Storytelling Festival.
@mountainpatriothomestead
@mountainpatriothomestead 3 года назад
Listening to them sing in the car reminds me of trips when I was a kid. My momma and daddy could harmonize so pretty, and my sister and I would chime in. Good times.
@markharris1223
@markharris1223 3 года назад
Such fine people. Unlike so many of us in this godforsaken age, they had roots to cherish.
@joshuakuehn
@joshuakuehn 3 года назад
We still have roots, we've just forgotten them. They're worth saving still
@the_minimalistic_adventure
@the_minimalistic_adventure 2 года назад
It’s a sad time to be alive. Cancel culture, no one knows what they are, politics are toxic. This is classic America.
@markharris1223
@markharris1223 2 года назад
@@joshgeiger8942 I take your point absolutely. My mother was the daughter (one of seven surviving children) of a Mayo saddler who couldn't afford to put shoes on his children's feet. They all fled the poverty to find work in the UK and the USA. However, none of them settled happily. It is this uprootedness which I pity. Having said that, every last one of them lived into their late eighties! My late wife was German (from Stuttgart) and in spite of the appalling events of the last century, she still had many relatives still enjoying a happy life in the same Black Forest villages where their ancestors had lived since the 17th century. Best wishes.
@nunyabiznez6381
@nunyabiznez6381 2 года назад
It's a pity all the music that's been lost over the years because no one thought to record it or if they did they didn't save it. Blessed are those that remember the ones that came before.
@mcmiller233
@mcmiller233 3 года назад
There is so much here. I want to know happened to Ernest Crawford and how he got killed. I bet the boys who gave directions could tell a story or two. And the mountain boys who "get to the rough edges of the world." I can't thank you enough David for preserving those times.
@rick262
@rick262 Год назад
I love how he puts the fiddle right over his heart when he plays. He truly plays from the heart!
@carlosjohnson6138
@carlosjohnson6138 3 года назад
A tear has fallen from this ol boys eyes that haven't been wet in decades
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker
@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker 3 года назад
That is beautiful Carlos. Thank you. David Hoffman filmmaker
@sydneystone9987
@sydneystone9987 3 года назад
this is so heartwarming. I’m in NC right now, a fiddler obsessed with these old players. despite of everything, he’s happy, they’re happy, because they’re living how life should be lived, with raw feeling inspired by the scenery and experiences they have. this is so amazing you have these. made me tear up a bit oddly, I hope Lost John had a great rest of his life. Wish there was more footage, hes crazy good. I just can’t explain how thankful for this footage. Especially the ending of this video. Wow. INCREDIBLE
@timedwards8944
@timedwards8944 3 года назад
Some how the Lord keeps bringing me back here and I love it more each time
@howardmolton9171
@howardmolton9171 3 года назад
This takes me back to my childhood. My great grandpa looked just like the banjo player. We called him Ratpaw. This is how they lived. Work hard and play music. Thanks for this!
@superrodder2002
@superrodder2002 3 года назад
The best fiddle player I ever heard was an old fella from the east coast who came to Ontario for a wedding I attended. He was amazing and the drunker he got the better he played. I sat there for several hours just watching him and a group of people play music at this wedding.
@bethym3269onmywayhome
@bethym3269onmywayhome 2 года назад
What was his name?
@superrodder2002
@superrodder2002 2 года назад
@@bethym3269onmywayhome I don't remember, that was 40 years ago, and at my age I can't remember what I did 40 minutes ago. LOL
@bethym3269onmywayhome
@bethym3269onmywayhome 2 года назад
@@superrodder2002 dang! I hear ya on the memory....well, it reminds me of my family, both from Ontario where it all started and my youth too. The Davey crew from Northern NY. 💕
@aze216
@aze216 3 года назад
"no prejudice against him"... my favorite quote of this great documentary.
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