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Music & Culture

Across the Blue Ridge #75- Music of southwestern Virginia and beyond

by Paul Brown

Wade Ward (L) and Charlie Higgins were two of the most revered old time musicians from the southwest of Virginia in and around the town of Galax. We hear from them and others in a program focusing on Virginia traditional musicians. John Cohen

This week, as the fiddlers' convention season in the south really gets underway, we check out some songs and tunes old and new from the Virginia mountains.  In the southwestern part of Virginia, Galax and surrounding communities have long been centers of old time and bluegrass music.  The Old Fiddlers' Convention in Galax was started in 1935 and continues to draw thousands of people each August.  On this show, we hear some field recordings of musicians including Wade Ward, Charlie Higgins, Ruby Vass and Hobart Smith; and the songs and tunes of contemporary musicians such as mandolinist Scott Freeman and his daughter Dori. The Carter Family, Ralph Stanley and the Lonesome River Band are also on the show.

Playlist

  1. Skip To My Lou
    Uncle Alec Dunford
    The Bristol Sessions Vol. 1
     
  2. Keep On The Sunny Side
    The Carter Family
    Anchored In Love
     
  3. Ain't Nobody
    Dori Freeman
    Dori Freeman
     
  4. County Road Gang
    Fields Ward
    Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie
     
  5. Ducks In The Millpond
    Emmett Lundy
    Library of Congress Recording
     
  6. Sally Ann & Step Back Cindy
    Luther Davis, Paul Brown, Paul Friedman
    Field recording
     
  7. Shady Grove
    Norman Edmonds & The Old Timers
    Norman Edmonds Vol. 1
     
  8. Break 1 - Bill Brown
    The Canote Brothers
    Sugarbaby
     
  9. Grey Eagle
    Scott Freeman
    Southern Souvenirs
     
  10. Ashby's Breakdown
    John Ashby
    John Ashby
     
  11. Somebody's Missing You
    Lonesome River Band
    Mountains of Music Homecoming 2015
     
  12. On The Banks Of The Old Tennessee
    Tyler Hughes
    Mountains of Music Homecoming 2015
     
  13. Gone At Last
    The Glorylanders of New River Valley
    Mountains of Music Homecoming 2015
     
  14. Cumberland Gap
    Albert Hash
    Albert Hash
     
  15. Bill Cheatham
    Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys
    Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys V.3
     
  16. Break 2 - Little Birdie
    Paul Brown
    Studio recording
     
  17. Cripple Creek & interview
    Wade Ward & Charlie Higgins
    Southern Journey Vol. 1
     
  18. Pretty Polly
    E.C. Ball
    Southern Journey Vol. 1
     
  19. The Banks Of The Ohio
    Ruby Vass
    Southern Journey Vol. 2
     
  20. The Devil's Dream
    Hobart Smith
    Blue Ridge Legacy
     
  21. Fly Around My Pretty Little Girl
    Hobart Smith
    Southern Journey Vol. 2

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