THE WRECK OF THE OLD ’97 was an American rail disaster involving the Southern Railway mail train — officially known as the Fast Mail (train number 97). While en route from Monroe, Virginia to Spencer, …
BY JOSH BECKWORTH— When considering early country music recordings it is often difficult to discern the impact of the commercial recording industry. After all, most of the songs recorded during the first decade of country …
A Distinction Between Musical Motivations — Entertainment or Heritage in Everyday Life? Read More »
BY JOSH BECKWORTH— The jam session has become a common event in modern Southwest Virginia. Community centers, general stores, and libraries regularly hold jam sessions as a way of both bringing together local musicians and …
BY JOSH BECKWORTH— Perhaps no town in the Southern Appalachian mountains is more unique than Fries, Virginia. In a region that has historically grown slowly from small settlements to more developed towns and communities, Fries …
BY JOSH BECKWORTH— Henry Whitter and Fiddlin’ John Carson’s initial recording sessions in 1923 set off a shockwave in popular music. Record producers, suddenly aware of an untapped demand for ‘authentic’ folk musicians, began scrambling …
—BY JOSH BECKWORTH G.B., or Gilliam Banmon, Grayson was born on November 11th, 1887. The precise location of his birth is unclear, but was either in Ashe County, North Carolina, or in bordering Johnson County, …
BY KINNEY RORRER— The Wreck Though it was referred to as “Old 97”, the fast mail train that crashed into a ravine not far from the north bank of the Dan River in Danville, Virginia …
By JOSH BECKWORTH— Henry Whitter’s role in early country music has often been to serve as an easy punchline. The tale is often retold of Ernest Stoneman hearing Whitter’s early recordings for the first time …
