This week we hear some powerful string band music from white Appalachian performers including the legendary Camp Creek Boys, Tommy Jarrell, and the Buckstankle Boys.  But that leaves us with the question of where African-Americans, who brought the idea of the banjo to America and learned tunes on the European fiddle, fit into the old time and bluegrass music story.  Music historian Bob Carlin joins host Paul Brown for an illuminating conversation supported by plenty of music. Hear 1940s field recordings of black string band musicians made in Tennessee – including on the streets of Nashville. Then follow the story to a more recent chapter, with the discovery by folklorists in the 1970s of the Thompson family of North Carolina, some of the last traditional African-American old time fiddle and banjo players carrying on a family tradition.  We hear a song from the Carolina Chocolate Drops too, a contemporary African-American band inspired in part by fiddler Joe Thompson and the music he shared with them before his death at age 93 in 2012.  The past comes alive, the present and future are on view and in our ears, on Across the Blue Ridge.

LISTEN

Episode 8 Playlist

1. Paddy On The Turnpike – Esker Hutchins & The Surry County Ramblers
   Album – FRC Esker Hutchins
2. Let Me Fall – Camp Creek Boys  
   Album – Camp Creek Boys
3. Poor Ellen Smith – The Buckstankle Boys 
   Album – Round Peak Home
4. Sally Ann – The Hillbillies  
   Album – The Hillbillies Vol. 2
5. June Apple – Tommy Jarrell   
   Album – June Apple
6. BREAK 1 Molly Put the Kettle On – Joe Thompson 
   Album – Family Tradition 
7. Old Corn Liquor – Joe Thompson
   Album – Family Tradition
8. Eighth of January – Frazier & Patterson
   Album – Altamont
9. Altamont – Gribble, Lusk & York
   Album – Altamont 
10. Po Black Sheep – Frazier & Patterson
    Album – Altamont
11. Rolling River – Gribble, Lusk & York
    Album – Altamont
12. Black Eyed Daisey – Joe & Odell Thompson
    Album – Family Tradition
13. BREAK 2  Twin Sisters – Sidna Myers
    Album – Clawhammer Banjo Vol. 1
14. Little Brown Jug – Joe & Odell Thompson
    Album – Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina & Virginia
15. Soldier’s Joy – Joe Thompson
    Album – Family Tradition 
16. Sandy Boys – Carolina Chocolate Drops
    Album – Genuine Negro Jig
17. Goin’ Downtown – Joe Thompson
    Album – Family Tradition