Across the Blue Ridge #147 - Blue Ridge Folklife Festival & Traditions

This week we hear great music as always, as we examine the evolution of Virginia and North Carolina traditions in song, instrumental music, foodways, farm culture and more, all presented at the annual Blue Ridge Folklife Festival. We talk with Roddy Moore, director of the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum at Ferrum College, which sponsors the festival on the fourth Saturday of October each year. He tells us about the genesis of the Blue Ridge Institute and the festival.  In our conversation we also consider the changes in society which affect the evolution – and in some cases the viability – of certain traditions.   We'll delve into fascinating recordings to get a sense of times past and of the sheer power of regional music.  

Playlist

1. Blue Ridge Cabin Home
   Flatt & Scruggs
   Foggy Mountain Jamboree
   Columbia
    
2. I'm Living Down Here On Borrowed Land
   Silvertone Gospel Harmonizers
   WPAQ The Voice of the Blue Ridge Mountains
   Rounder
    
3. Light At The River
   Buckstankle Boys
   Round Peak Home
   Buckstankle Boys
    
4. Cumberland Gap
   Albert Hash & The Whitetop Mountain Band
   Cacklin' Hen
   Heritage
    
5. Interview 1 - Roddy Moore
   Roddy Moore
   ATBR recording
    
6. Salt River
   The Smokey Valley Boys
   Benton Flippen: Old Time, New Times
   Rounder
    
7. Break 1 - John Lover's Gone
   Wade Ward
   Clawhammer Banjo V. 1
   County
    
8. Sandy River Belle
   Dad Blackard's Moonshiners
   The Bristol Sessions V.1
   Country Music Foundation
    
9. Interview 2 - Roddy Moore
   Roddy Moore
   ATBR recording
    
10. The House Carpenter
    Dorothy Rorick
    Virginia Traditions: Ballads from British Tradition
    Blue Ridge Institute
     
11. The Three Babes
    Spence Moore
    Virginia Traditions: Ballads from British Tradition
    Blue Ridge Institute
     
12. Queen Sally
    Kate Peters Sturgill
    Virginia Traditions: Ballads from British Tradition
    Blue Ridge Institute
     
13. Home Sweet Home
    Rick Ward
    Keeping The Tradition
    Rick Ward
     
14. Break 2 - Big Eyed Rabbit
    Matokie Slaughter
    Clawhammer Banjo V.2
    County
     
15. The Ballad of Caty Sage
    J.C. Pierce
    Virginia Traditions: Native Virginia Ballads & Songs
    Blue Ridge Institute
     
16. Reno Factory
    Marvin Foddrell
    Virginia Traditions: Non-Blues Secular Black Music
    Blue Ridge Institute
     
17. Early Morning Blues
    James Lowry
    Virginia Traditions: Western Piedmont Blues
    Blue Ridge Institute
     
18. Interview 3 - Roddy Moore
    Roddy Moore
    ATBR recording
     
19. Hallelujah It Is Done
    Libba Cotten
    Shake Sugaree
    Smithsonian Folkways
     
20. Coal Creek March
    Dock Boggs
    Folkways Years 1963-68 V.1
    Smithsonian Folkways