Sights & SoundsFrank Newsome and Buster Mullins
The singing of the Old Regular Baptists is one of the oldest and deepest veins of American spiritual singing traditions. This hymnody, with elaborate, lined-out, unaccompanied singing is prevalent throughout …
Sights & SoundsSandra Bennett and Linda Wright
An appreciation of Appalachian fiber arts has often been hindered by stereotypical images of Appalachia as a poverty-stricken region, where women had to make every article of clothing and bedding …
Sights & SoundsTom Van Nortwick and Andrew Elder
Tom Van Nortwick of Franklin County is Virginia’s master of pinstriping, the precise application by hand of a thin line of paint to create designs on auto body panels. Tom …
Sights & SoundsBob Cage and Jim Crawford
For more than a century, million of pounds of some of the highest-grade cigarette tobacco in the world have been grown by farmers in what has been called Virginia’s “Old …
Sights & SoundsHerschel Sizemore and Spencer Blankenship
The mandolin was introduced to the United States by Italian immigrants in the 19th century, and was popularized by Bill Monroe, who featured the instrument as a cornerstone of his …
Sights & SoundsScott Fore and Cheryl Lunsford
The guitar was primarily used as a rhythm instrument in the United States until the late 1930s. As more and more guitar players began to play lead breaks on the …
Sights & SoundsCharles McRaven and Willie Lehmann and Daniel Malcolm
Charles “Mac” McRaven has been building with stone, log, and hewn logs since he was eleven years old. His parents built their homes in the 1940s with the help of …
Sights & SoundsThe Madison Hummingbirds and the “Rookies”
In 1903, an African-Portuguese immigrant named Marcelino Manoel de Graca (Charles Manuel Grace), the son of a stonecutter from the Cape Verdean Island of Brava, came to the southeastern Massachusetts …
Sights & SoundsThornton Spencer and Martha Spencer
The early song collecting journeys of folklorists informed the rest of America about the remarkable breadth of fiddle tunes in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, many of which closely resembled …
Sights & SoundsElton Williams and Earl Sawyer
The steel drum, or “pan” as it is called in the Caribbean, was invented in Trinidad about the time of World War II. Afro-Trinidadians resourcefully crafted this musical instrument out …
Sights & SoundsGeorge Butler and Warner Rice
The story of Reedville, Virginia, is linked to the commercial fishing industry that developed late in the nineteenth century. From this tiny fisherman’s town located between the Potomac and Rappahannock …
Sights & SoundsJohn Cephas and Marc Pessar
While perhaps not as well known as the Mississippi Delta style, Virginia has long been home to its own style of blues—the Piedmont Blues. And, just as it is in …
Sights & SoundsLaura Ortiz and Ariel Hobza-Ortiz
Mexicans comprise one of the fastest-growing immigrant populations in Virginia. This emerging cultural community has already contributed a plethora of traditional folkways to the diverse tapestry of Virginia Folklife, including …
Sights & SoundsJack and Nannie Branch and John Maeder
There is probably no other traditional food more associated with Southwest Virginia than country ham. Unlike the more commonly known wet-cured ham, which is soaked in brine or injected with …
