Burrow deep into the soil from which old time country music grew. Here we delve amidst the rocks and stones of early American culture to uncover the origins of Appalachian musical identity, telling the story of the heritage of traditions coinciding and colliding.
BY PHIL JAMISON— Since the late nineteenth century, when local-color writers first popularized many of the common stereotypes now associated with the southern mountains, Appalachia has been perceived as an isolated and backward place that …
A Mixed Multitude of all Classes and Complexions Read More »
BY PHIL JAMISON— The Myth of Appalachian Isolation The local-color writers of the nineteenth century portrayed Appalachia as a remote and isolated place, and Frost and Semple, who suggested that the retention of eighteenth-century British …
The Myth of Appalachian Isolation & The Back Door to Appalachia Read More »
Southern Appalachian mountain music has transcended time and location, standing as a root to many music genres, such as the blues, jazz, bluegrass, country, gospel, and American folk. It is a fusion of culture that …
The heavily traveled Great Wagon Road was the primary route for the early settlement of the Southern United States, particularly the “backcountry”. Although a wide variety of settlers traveled southward on the road, two dominant …
By JOE WILSON and WAYNE MARTIN— Settlers in the Tidewater region of the New World did not anticipate the flowering of new musical styles in the mountains that lay to the west. The powerful Cherokee …
