Sights & Sounds

Mary Beery and Joan Knight and Mollie Beery

The Shenandoah Valley has long been home to some of the country’s finest quilters. Among those who have contributed to the quilting tradition of the region are the Mennonites, who …

Sights & Sounds

Mike Seeger and Seth Swingle

Mike Seeger has devoted his life to singing, playing, studying, teaching, and documenting the old-time music of the southern Appalachian Mountains. Over the years, Mike has absorbed a wide range …

Sights & Sounds

Patrick and Aaron Olwell

The flute has long held a prominent place in traditional Irish music, but the practice of making flutes specifically for Irish music is relatively new. For many years, Irish musicians …

Sights & Sounds

Ofosuwa Abiola-Tamba and Monica James

While there is now a greater understanding and appreciation of the African origins of much of Virginia’s expressive culture, these roots were long ignored, misunderstood, or held in diminished regard …

Sights & Sounds

Clyde Jenkins and Sam Cave

The traditional skill of making baskets from white oaks is hundreds of years old, involving an in-depth study of the grain structure of the tree. Each white oak tree behaves …

Sights & Sounds

Norman Amos and John Buck

The art of snake cane carving is practiced throughout the world, and has a rich history in southern Appalachia. The process begins when a vine wraps itself around a tree …

Sights & Sounds

Brenda and Shannon Joyce

Flatfooting, an old-time dance style closely associated with traditional string band music, is quite distinct from its closest cousin, clogging, in that the dancer’s feet barely leave the floor. Distinct …

Sights & Sounds

Broto Roy and Sunil Chugh

Broto Roy is a master of the 5,000-year-old tradition of tabla drumming of India. The tabla is composed of two drums, one made of wood and the other of metal. …

Sights & Sounds

Spencer Moore and Ben Moore Jr.

When the late folklorist Alan Lomax set out on one of his legendary “Southern Journeys” in 1959, he stopped in Chilhowie, Virginia, to record a tobacco farmer named Spencer Moore …

Sights & Sounds

John D. Clary, Lonnie Moore, Phil Batchelor, and Chiles Cridlin

What began, according to area legend, as a communal meal prepared for a hunting expedition on the banks of the Nottoway River in 1828, the cooking of Brunswick stew has …

Sights & Sounds

Buddy Pendleton and Montana Young

Buddy Pendleton of Patrick County has lived a life in bluegrass music. Buddy is one the most beloved fiddlers in Southwest Virginia, and a common fixture on the leader board …

Sights & Sounds

Asha Vattikuti and Janhavi Kirtane

Kathak dance is an ancient story-telling dance form, originally performed by bards to narrate the stories of gods and goddesses in the temples of Northern India. Asha Vattikuti has spent …

CLOSE