Sights & SoundsDale Wise and Lori Sallade
The accordion, a box-shaped instrument first patented in Vienna in 1829, was a folk instrument played largely by commoners. At the turn of the twentieth century, European emigrants took the …
NewsNational Folk Festival: September 11-13, Greensboro, NC
First held in 1934, the National Folk Festival is the oldest multicultural festival of traditional arts in the nation. It is a traveling festival produced in partnership with communities around …
Sights & SoundsSharon Tindall and Nancy Chilton
Quilting, a method of sewing together two or more layers of material to make a thicker material, has been practiced for thousands of years. While the term “quilting” technically refers …
Sights & SoundsSean “Purl” Samoheyl and David Rogers
Sean Samoheyl is a resident of the Twin Oaks Community in Louisa County—an intentional community founded on the principles of egalitarianism and sustainability. One of numerous intentional communities created in …
Sights & SoundsDanny Wingate and Sam Linkous
Appalachia, a region that includes Southwest Virginia, could arguably be called America’s first frontier. As early as the eighteenth century, European settlements began to expand west, with many colonists making …
Sights & SoundsWallace Gusler and Bruce Larson
The importation and manufacturing of firearms have been part of Virginia’s history since European settlement. The first documented firearms brought to Virginia in 1607 were muskets equipped with matchlocks, snaphances, …
Sights & SoundsHarold Mitchell and Dale Morris
If you have attended the Galax Old Fiddler’s Convention any time in the last forty years, you will quickly recognize the familiar voice of Galax native Harold Mitchell. Always impeccably …
Sights & SoundsGarrett Queen and Lana Lambert
Prior to the advent of photocopiers, short run quick print, email, and “social media,” the local letterpress (job-shop) was the primary producer of the vast majority of materials for mass …
Sights & SoundsWalter Messick and Chris Testerman
The hills of Grayson County, encompassing the small mountain communities around Mt. Rogers, are a veritable hotbed of luthiers—builders of fretted, stringed instruments. Some of America’s finest guitars, mandolins, fiddles, …
Sights & SoundsWayne Henderson and Jayne Henderson
Wayne Henderson was born, raised and still lives in tiny Rugby, Virginia in Grayson County. He built his first guitar using traced patterns and the wood from the bottom of …
Sights & SoundsJohn Hollandsworth and Sam Gleaves
Patented in 1881 by German instrument repairman Charles Zimmerman, the autoharp first reached popularity in the United States as a novelty instrument. By 1900, by the time the fad had …
Sights & SoundsEarl and Scottie Blake
Earl Blake. (Peter Hedlund/The Virginia Folklife Program) The Latin roots of the term Carnival mean “farewell to meat,” as Carnival falls on the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of …
