Songs about the Appalachian Highlands

[OC Richard]

In response to the thread about songs of the Southern lowlands, here's a thread about the Southern highlands, Appalachia, my original home.

This video is both beautiful and heartbreaking. Yes I used to see such devastation, in my annual visits to West Virginia in the 1970s, but I'm happy to report that in recent decades I've spent many hours driving across WV and I've seen hundreds of miles of lush beautiful forested hills unscarred by strip-mining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6quNN8_Em_4

Ah! Much better here. This is the Appalachia I know

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glw0zI3P30g

An incredibly beautiful song about the inevitable mining disasters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stbg74o2JYk

[Tarheel]

Spend the time to ride the three mile loop on the Tweetsie Railroad near Boone NC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBMre_pVYFo

Then you'll understand this song and why this little girl loves it so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_yuexb8jMY

[Dughlas mor]

I wasn`t familiar with this man until I started poking around you tube, looking for something to post in this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI_gdhSP6lM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDHdSx6ms5o

[Kanati]

In response to the thread about songs of the Southern lowlands, here's a thread about the Southern highlands, Appalachia, my original home.

This video is both beautiful and heartbreaking. Yes I used to see such devastation, in my annual visits to West Virginia in the 1970s, but I'm happy to report that in recent decades I've spent many hours driving across WV and I've seen hundreds of miles of lush beautiful forested hills unscarred by strip-mining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6quNN8_Em_4

Ah! Much better here. This is the Appalachia I know

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glw0zI3P30g

An incredibly beautiful song about the inevitable mining disasters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stbg74o2JYk

I would not want to grow up anywhere other that the Kanawha Valley.

I can remember seeing the dead trees sticking out above the living trees on the hillside above Kanawha City back in the mid 60s. When I asked my grandmother about them she told me all of them had died years before.

I would have like to see the forests in the days before the Chestnut blight.

I too can remember the stripmines and slag ponds as well as seeing how the water quality of the river has improve in the last 40 years. All of it has seemed to have improved over the years.

[Orionson]

I am loving this thread, OC.

My Grandfather, Henry Duff, grew up at the confluence of the Muskingum & Ohio Rivers at Marietta, Ohio across the river from Parkersburg, West Virginia.

His father, Aaron Duff, left the Highlands in 1832, arrived in Baltimore, met and married Anne Treadway and then moved West to settle in Marrietta during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson.

Grandfather learned the fiddle from his Father and he was known as Ole Fiddlin' Hen Duff, the fastest fiddler on the Ohio River. He had flaming red hair and a massive beard and made as much money from his illicit Whiskey Still as from his music. We only learned many years later that his nickname was as much for his reputation with the ladies as for his musical skills. Ole Hen was 76 when my Dad was born and he had at least 3 more kids after that.

Scottish Fiddle Music & Bluegrass Music is in my blood and at the very core of my psyche.

I hope that the following links add positively to the discussion. The first is the great Bill Monroe talking about Scotland's influence on Bluegrass. The wee film also features the great Shetland Fiddler, Ally Bain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu5J5UCvUEw

The second is Bill Monroe's Fiddle Tune ~ "Scotland".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCfvNaYKcmI

This last film features my favourite Appalachian Fiddler, Bruce Molsky. Bruce is a frequent visitor to Scotland, and his music above all others, reminds me most of Ole Fiddlin' Hen.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv6RN3KpVk0

[tripleblessed]

The connections between Scotland and the Southern mountains and music are still quite current. At a festival in
the north Georgia mountains I was treated to Neil Gow's Lament for the Death of His Second Wife, as I was kilted.
When done, I told the fiddler I had heard it in Dunkeld/Birnam at the Neil Gow Festival played on Neil's own fiddle,
handmade by him, and played by Pete Clark. He looked stunned, and said, "Pete is my best flyfishing friend; we
skype often, and fish and play together whenever possible".

Now for slightly different music, a Merle Travis song. To skip talk, if you choose, music starts at about 1:15.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvRdUz96WCA

[ASinclair]

The first time Nan and I drove to Grandfather Mountain for the Highland Games, we were amazed to see the Rhododendron on both sides of the road.

For your consideration --

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60dDTofPHtk

[neloon]

The first time Nan and I drove to Grandfather Mountain for the Highland Games, we were amazed to see the Rhododendron on both sides of the road.

For your consideration --

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60dDTofPHtk

Another of my interests is growing species rhododendrons so, of course, we have catawbiense and maximum collected on Roan Mt. Scotland is the world centre of cultivated rhododendrons and we have the biggest collection in the Northeast.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhododendron_catawbiense
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhododendron_maximum
Alan

[ASinclair]

I would of thought this one would have been posted right away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrEljMfXYo

[bonnie heather]

My brother, Bruce Greene (a quiet and modest person) went up into the mountains of North Carolina in the late 60's / early 70's, visiting old time fiddlers, learning from them and tape recording some of their fiddling.
I always wondered if their tunes were related to those from Scotland and Ireland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tomy...3BD6E79E98D6E4