Sights & SoundsJohn Buck and James R. Lumpkins Jr.
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 & SoundsRemembering Houston Caldwell
It is with tremendous sadness that we report the passing of Houston Caldwell, eighteen, of Galax, Virginia. Houston was gifted and promising young banjo player, and a dear friend. I …
Sights & SoundsBreaking Up Christmas
When Christmas is over, the fun is just getting started for many in Southern Appalachia. The tradition of “Breaking Up Christmas” is a week-long series of gatherings, where people get …
Sights & SoundsThe Paschall Brothers and Tidewater Gospel Quartets
A Virginia-based a cappella quartet earned the “gospel album of the year” award at the 2009 Independent Music Awards. The Paschall Brothers of Chesapeake sing four-part harmony in a style …
Sights & SoundsAcoustic Youth
Many of the musicians who perform at fiddler’s conventions and music festivals throughout southern Appalachia are, in fact, young kids. Late in the night, long past their bedtimes, children and …
Sights & SoundsFlory Jagoda
“Don’t open your mouth. Just sit and play. Keep on playing.” Flory Jagoda (photo right) sings songs she learned from her nona (grandmother) as a child in pre-WWII Sarajevo – …
Sights & SoundsThe Old Jimmy Sutton
A masterful songster recorded by two folklorists, fifty years apart. When the late folklorist Alan Lomax set out on his now infamous “Southern Journey” in 1959, he stopped in Chilhowie, …
Sights & SoundsUbaldo Sanchez and Jorge Cabrera
Alfombras de arracin (rice carpets) are created in Guatemalan cities and villages during Holy Week. Using dyed sawdust, rice, dried beans, and other vegetable materials, teams of artists create a …
Sights & SoundsDeborah Pratt and Teddy Bagby
For communities on Virginia’s Northern Neck, the oyster fishery was perhaps the largest and most influential industry from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s. Men and women employed by the industry …
Sights & SoundsMark Campbell and Barrow Wheary and Isaac Akers
The early folk song collecting expeditions of Cecil Sharp and others informed the rest of America about the remarkable breadth of fiddle tunes in southern Appalachia, many of which closely …
Sights & SoundsJimmy Price and Alex Handley
Working from his home business not far from the site of his grandfather’s farm in Amherst, Virginia, Jimmy Price is a master of traditional building craft skills once prized and …
Sights & SoundsFrances Davis and Annie James
Known as “Fried Apple Pies,” “Dried Apple Pies,” or even “Fried Dried Apple Pies,” these locally made pies seem to have a ubiquitous presence throughout Southwest Virginia, appearing on the …
Sights & SoundsKathy Coleman and Callie McCarty
When the American Folklore Society was established in 1901, a critical part of its stated mission was to document the “oral literature” of the southern Appalachian Mountains, as this region …
Sights & SoundsMoges Seyoum and Bililign Mandefro
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the oldest of all Eastern Christianities. A defining characteristic of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the elaborate singing or chanting which takes place often for …
