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July 31, 2008

Old-Time Music Revival

Phil Meeks, Whitley County’s Extension Agent, and Richard Mandell, Corbin banjoist, have received a grant from the Kentucky Arts Council to hold and “Old Time Music Revival” (not a religious revival) Aug. 16 at the Extension Office on Hwy 25W in Goldbug at the Farmer’s Market. Admission is free.

It will be an effort to revive the Tri-County’s attachment to “the old music.” Some old-time musicians will present talks, demonstrations, old time jams, “clawhammer” banjo and fiddle labs, and an old-time square dance in the evening. It will be an opportunity to re-connect with this area’s past and a learning opportunity for musicians, children and adults.

By Richard Mandell

Special to The Times-Tribune

Last year, Governor Fletcher had “Bluegrass” proclaimed as Kentucky’s official music. Indeed, to most people in the state, this has been the traditional music of memory and the music for which the state is famous. But there is another, less known musical tradition that lives in Kentucky that is called by its adherents “Old-Time Music” or “Mountain Music,” almost never heard on the radio and only played by a small, devoted group of musicians who have saved it from oblivion. Now hard to find, it was once widespread in Kentucky. It is the direct musical predecessor of Bluegrass.

When colonists crossed the Atlantic to the British colonies, they brought with them their music and the very portable fiddle, which became the major instrument for this music. Later it was joined by the banjo, which developed from an African instrument made of a skin stretched over a gourd with a neck and strings. The banjo became popular during the first half of the 1800s. It joined the fiddle in supplying music for dancing in the days when community square dances were major social gatherings and sources of entertainment. The Old-Time music, unlike Bluegrass, is primarily dance music; whereas Bluegrass is an “ensemble” music, more for listening, and generally is not danced to.

In the old days, before radio, television and phonographs, the only way to have music was to make it yourself or go where someone was playing it. Playing banjos and fiddles became skills that were passed down hand-to-hand. Music teachers were few. Later on the guitar, mandolin and bass were added to these Old-Time string bands. For many decades, this was the music of Kentucky and other Appalachian states.

In the 20th century, changes in the way people lived caused fewer Kentuckians to make their living by farming. Jobs became available in the cities and towns. Mining grew and railroads, highways and electrification came, and with those changes, people started to get their music by listening to radio, recordings and television.

The tradition of passing down the ability to make music became weaker. It was easier to listen to recorded music at home or on television and radio. Musicians wanted to sound like what they heard on the air and the old music began to slip away. The square dances began to be less common and people found entertainment elsewhere.

In the mountains of eastern Kentucky, where electrification, roads, railroads and media came later, the music managed to hang on just barely long enough to survive into the 21st century and it is slowly coming back.

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