Wheeling to Host Book Festival

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Wheeling to Host Book Festival Wheeling to Host Book Festival The Ohio County Public Library will host the inaugural Upper Ohio Valley Book Festival on Saturday, November 8 from 9 AM until 4 PM. Five award-winning authors will speak at this free event. Authors will then lead workshops for those interested in writing and publishing in the areas of graphic novels, poetry, or non-fiction. Book vendors will also be on-site, offering participants a wide array of local and regional publications. The organizers saw a need, especially in light of the unfortunate discon- tinuation of a similar festival in Charleston. “It is our hope to continue the legacy of the West Virginia Book Festival in some small way by promoting an interest in regional books, authors and publishing,” said festival organ- izer Cheryl Harshman. “The idea for this book festival grows from the Wheeling Arts and Cultural Commission and its work to support, nurture, and promote all the Arts in the greater Wheeling area.” New York Times best-selling novelist Sharyn McCrumb will be the key- note speaker and will take the main stage at 1 PM. She will be accompanied by singer and fiddle player Jack Hinshel- wood to present her internationally acclaimed "Words and Music" program, which brings together the ballads that are woven throughout McCrumb's novels with Hinshelwood performing the ballads as Sharyn reads and discusses her work. “In her depiction of the southern Appalachians, Sharyn McCrumb is both accurate and sympathetic,” commented festi- val organizer Bonnie Thurston. “Few contemporary writers manage this delicate balance so well. Her ballad novels are classics, and her many awards for regional writing are well deserved. Hers is a presentation we are fortunate to have and not to be missed. She is one of the brightest and best of our Appalachian writers." Other participating authors will be: Doug Van Gundy (poetry), Daniel Boyd (graphic novels), and Geoffrey Fuller and Daleen Berry (non-fiction). These authors will lead afternoon workshops focusing on their areas of expertise. Those in- terested in the attending the workshop sessions may reserve a seat by calling the library at 304-232-0244, sending an email through the “Contact Us” page at the library’s web site at www.ohiocountylibrary.org, or by visiting the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/uovbookfest. The full schedule for the Upper Ohio Valley Festival of Books follows: 9-10: Vendor hour 10-10:45: Poet Doug Van Gundy Van Gundy’s poems are rooted in his West Virginia heritage while retaining a wide appeal. His work has been published in numerous regional literary maga- zines and has won prizes in both the Eve of Saint Agnes and Lullwater Review competitions. His poems have been included in the anthologies xconnect: Writers of the Information Age and Wild Sweet Notes: Fifty Years of West Virginia Po- etry. Doug holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry from Goddard College in Vermont. In addition, Doug is a well-known musician and performs throughout the eastern US and Canada, teaching the traditional music of West Virginia on the fiddle and banjo. He is a member of the old-time string duo Born Old. Doug was exposed to a wide range of music through the Augusta Heritage Center at Davis and Elkins College. He studied fiddle with the late Mose Coffman of Greenbrier County through the National En- dowment for the Humanities folk arts apprenticeship program of the Augusta Heritage Center. Doug's playing focuses on the fiddle styles and repertoire particular to east-central West Virginia. 10:45-11:30 Graphic Novelist Daniel Boyd Daniel Boyd is an acclaimed filmmaker with dozens of films, including Chillers and Strangest Dreams: Invasion of the Space Preachers to his credit. A media studies professor at West Vir- ginia State University since 1983, Boyd has also taught around the world including in Tanza- nia as a three-time Fulbright scholar. Producing nearly every genre of film, Boyd’s television work has earned three national Telly awards and two regional Emmy nominations. He has re- cently expanded into graphic novel creation with Chillers – The Graphic Novel (Transfuzion Publishing), which was the 2012 Shel Dorph nominee for Original Graphic Novel of the Year, and Ghastly nominee for Best Horror Anthology. Chillers 2 was released in 2013. His newest graphic novel, CARBON, was released in May 2014. CARBON is a new take on Man, Earth, and the God we know. Reflecting recent man-made human and environmental disasters, CARBON is sensationalism with “message,” and entertainment with “purpose.” 11:30-12:15 Nonfiction co-authors Geoffrey Fuller and Daleen Berry In Pretty Little Killers, journalist Daleen Berry and investigator Geoffrey Fuller expand upon their New York Times best-selling ebook The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese to provide more information behind one of the most horrific and shocking murders of our time. Including over 100 pages of new material, Pretty Little Killers shares the latest theories and answers the questions that have left many people baffled. After killer Shelia Eddy pled guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison and Rachel Shoaf was sentenced to thirty years for second-degree murder, family, friends, investigators, and other key sources reveal the facts you would have learned if the case had gone to trial. In- cluding specific details drawn from Rachel’s confession, Pretty Little Killers looks at the crime through the eyes of the victim and kill- ers, providing intimate testimony from the pages of Rachel’s personal journal, Skylar’s diary and school papers, and court records. California native Daleen Berry is the award-winning author of Sister of Silence, which is being used in several colleges and universities, including Johns Hopkins University. Most recently, she received the 2012 Pearl Buck Writing for Social Change award. She is a keynote speaker at conferences around the country, invited for her insight into attitudes about social issues and the empowerment of women and children. A freelance writer, her work has appeared most recently in The Daily Beast, XOJane, and The Huffington Post. 12:15-1: lunch break and vendor time 1-2:30: Sharyn McCrumb and musician Jack Hinshelwood Sharyn McCrumb is an award-winning Southern writer, best known for her Appalachian “Ballad” novels, including the New York Times best sellers The Ballad of Tom Dooley, The Ballad of Frankie Silver, and She Walks These Hills. Her latest novel, Nora Bones- teel’s Christmas Past, was published last October by Abingdon Press. She has been awarded the Frances Hobson Award for Achievement in Southern Literature, a Library of Virginia Award for St. Dale, the Chaffin Award, the Plattner Award and three Best Appa- lachian Novel awards for Appalachian literature, and in 2008 she was named a Virginia Woman of History for Literature by the Library of Virginia. Jack Hinshelwood is an accomplished musician who began playing Appala- chian and Bluegrass music on the guitar in 1972. He has won numerous mu- sic competitions including the guitar championship at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, TN. 2:30-3:30: Writer Workshops Writing Poetry with Doug Van Gundy Writing in Pictures with Daniel Boyd Non-Fiction Writing with Geoffrey Fuller and Daleen Berry 3:30-4: vendor time The festival will be held on the lower level of the Ohio County Public Library at 52-16th Street in Wheeling. All programs and workshops are free and open to the public. A light lunch will be available for purchase on-site. Publishers and writers wanting to reserve a table in the vendor area should contact the library as indicated above. The event is co-sponsored by the Wheeling Arts and Cultural Commission, through its History and Literature Committee. Other sponsors for the event include the West Virginia Library Commission and the Center for the Book, the Elbin Library at West Liberty University, the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation, and pri- vate donors. The project is supported in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the pro- visions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in West Virginia by the State Librarian. .
Recommended publications
  • State District Organization Name Discipline / Field City Project Description Fiscal Year Grant Amount WV 1 West Virginia Filmake
    State District Organization Name Discipline / Field City Project Description Fiscal Year Grant Amount To support production and post-production costs for a documentary on cultural representations of Appalachia. Co- directed by Sally Rubin and Ashley York, the feature-length film will examine historical representations of Appalachia in film, television, and photography from the past century and West Virginia Filmakers tell stories of the region's residents today. Interviews with WV 1 Media Arts Morgantown 2017 $10,000 Guild artists and writers such as bell hooks, Ashley Judd, and Burt Reynolds are included in the film. Upon completion, the documentary will be submitted to film festivals and made available to the public through community screenings, with a special focus on West Virginia and the greater Appalachian region. To support a performance and community engagement touring project. The orchestra, with Music Director Andre Raphel, will perform Young People's Concerts in schools, as well as conduct teacher workshops and distribute educational materials. Programming will include Orchestra Wheeling Symphony WV 1 Music Wheeling from Planet X, an innovative production featuring the Magic 2017 $10,000 Society, Inc. Circle Mime Company, as well as orchestral works by American composers such as Aaron Copland, Louis Moreau Gottshalk, Leroy Anderson, and Morton Gould. The project will serve children and their families in communities in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. To support statewide fieldwork and documentation of traditional artists and cultural communities. WVHC will use oral history interviews, photos, and video to document the field. A new partnership with West Virginia University West Virginia Humanities WV 2 Folk & Traditional Arts Charleston Libraries to archive documentation into its system will be 2017 $40,000 Council, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bulletin P AR E XCELLENCE !
    E UGENE , O REGON -- THE U NIVERSITY TOWN The Bulletin P AR E XCELLENCE ! — Anne Dhu McLucas, University of Oregon OF THE S OCIETY FOR A MERICAN M USIC FOUNDED IN HONOR OF O SCAR G . T . S ONNECK Pesidents’ Weekend of 2005 st Vol. XXX, No. 3 Fall 2004 (February 17-20) will see the 31 Annual Conference of the Society for American Music meeting in Eugene, Oregon, hosted by the University of Oregon. Eugene is R ICHARD S TRAUSS ’S VISIT renowned for its track meets, its bike TO THE K LEINES STADCHEN OF M ORGANTOWN , paths, and its friendly, liberal, and casual WEST VIRGINIA atmosphere. The city is beautifully situ- ated between the Cascade Mountains to the East and the pristine Oregon Coast to — Christopher Wilkinson, West Virginia University the West-- each an hour away by car. The Willamette Valley is home to numerous This past March, the Division of of his art songs. That evening, Strauss vineyards and wineries. Some of the best Music of West Virginia University com- conducted the Pittsburgh Orchestra in pinot noir and pinot gris wines in the U.S. memorated the centenary of the visit to performances of two of his best known are produced here, and locally-grown campus by the German composer Richard tone poems: Tod und Verklärung and Till grapes also find their way into California Strauss, his wife, soprano Pauline de Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche. The story wines. Ahna Strauss, the Pittsburgh Orchestra, of the seemingly improbable series of The conference will be held primar- and its conductor, Victor Herbert, on events concerns not only the circumstanc- ily at the Eugene Hilton, in the heart of March 14, 1904.
    [Show full text]
  • Educational Matinee Information Packet WVU Wind Symphony, March 10, 2020 Country Living!
    College of Creative Arts College of Creative Arts Educational Matinee Information Packet WVU Wind Symphony, March 10, 2020 Country Living! Purpose of the series The WVU School of Music is offering a series of weekday matinee performances, open to all grades and ages from public schools, private schools and homeschool groups. The performances provide an opportunity to enhance school curriculum and to expose students to the arts. Performances start at 10:00 a.m. and are typically 60 minutes in length without intermission. The WVU School of Music ensembles will include Symphony Orchestra, Percussion Ensemble, University Chorus, Wind Symphony, and Jazz Ensembles. College of Creative Arts Ensemble background and history The WVU Wind Symphony is one of six ensembles within the WVU Bands program. It consists of approximately 50 of the finest wind and percussion performers at West Virginia University. The Wind Symphony performs a wide range of musical genres ranging from traditional wind band works, marches, and orchestral transcriptions to more contemporary works and even popular selections. The ensemble has performed at prestigious concert venues such as Symphony Hall in Chicago and Carnegie Hall in New York City. Director spotlight Dr. Scott Tobias currently serves as Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music at West Virginia University where his responsibilities include conducting the WVU Wind Symphony, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in conducting, and providing administrative leadership for the WVU Bands program. Prior to coming to West Virginia University, Dr. Tobias served on the faculties of the University of Central Florida and Appalachian State University. He also previously served as a high school band director in the public schools of Georgia and South Carolina.
    [Show full text]
  • Newell Chester Top of WV Toronto Weirton Steubenville Follansbee
    Pages 7 Newell 6 Chester 8 Top of WV 13 Toronto 7 Weirton 11 Steubenville 6 Follansbee 9 Mingo Junction 11-12 Wells Township 9 Dillonvale 12-13 Tiltonsville 1 Warwood 2-3 Oglebay 10 St. Clairsville 2 Wheeling Park 3 Wheeling 250 5-6 Heritage Port Events 4 Waterfront Wednesdays 10 Barnesville 1 Moundsville Robert “Scat” Scatterday The 2019 Summer Event Guide is dedicated in memory of our dear friend Robert “Scat” Scatterday. Four years ago, Scat brought us his idea of combining summertime community concert schedules into a single publication. So, we teamed up with Scat and our friends at Wheelhouse Creative to distribute 50,000 free Ohio Valley Summer Event Guides up and down the Ohio River. The guide has helped breathe new life into smaller community events and is the primary reference point for summer happenings in Wheeling, Weirton and Steubenville. Scat saw a way to bring Ohio Valley communities together, and he made it happen, as he has done so many times for so many worthwhile causes. Rest In Peace, Scat, and thank you for making a difference. Marshall County Summer Concert Series Riverfront Park • Glen Dale Park • Grand Vue Park FRIDAY EVENINGS 7-9 PM • FREE ADMISSION JUN 14 Ron Retzer Trio Variety Moundsville Riverfront Park 28 Markus & James Classic Rock / Country Moundsville Riverfront Park JUL 12 Easy Street Band New and Classic Rock Favorites Glen Dale Park 19 Pocket Change Dance / Funk / R&B / Variety Cameron Baseball Field (tentative) 26 Brett Cain & Jonathan Banco Popular Rock Grand Vue Park AUG 2 Crazy Horse Country Rock McMechen Riverfront Park Hosted by: Moundsville Parks/Recreation Commission, City of Glen Dale, City of Cameron, Grand Vue Park and the City of McMechen.
    [Show full text]
  • Website Concert Handout Booklet.Indd
    The Cumberland Trail Suite: Musicians’ Profiles Emma Bell Miles artwork Courtesy of the Chattanooga Public Library A gala benefit concert at the gorgeous Tivoli Theater in Downtown on Friday, March 22nd 7:30- 10:00 pm. The concert benefits the Friends of the Cumberland, a non-profit created to sup- port the development of the Cumberland Trail State Scenic Trail and its related natural areas and park lands. The Friends contribute to the protection of natural beauty and unrivaled bio- diversity, impressive historic structures and priceless archaeological heritage, and celebrate the cultural heritage of the people and communities who neighbor the Cumberland Trail. Hosting and Performing~ Hosting and Performing~ Rhiannon Giddens: Tim O’Brien: Rhiannon Giddens didn’t know what to Tim O’Brien does it all, with musical gifts expect when she traveled to the first Black Ban- that leave his audiences in awe. He can jo Gathering at Appalachian State University fill an auditorium standing singly beside in 2005. In a day, she met the musicians that an assemblage of instruments, but he’s of- changed her life. Joe Thompson was there, ten paired with other master musicians, an African-American fiddler born in 1918, the best of their time. His virtuosity who lived not far from her home in the North has humble beginnings in West Virginia. Carolina Piedmont. A street musician named He absorbed his parent’s Perry Como re- Dom Flemons also showed up, and the soaring cords and the Lawrence Welk Show, but and raucus style of the Carolina Chocolate abandoned them for Dylan.
    [Show full text]
  • Ltimalr- 1 1 Digital Active Speakers from Meridian O 7 0 5 3496711 8 Display Until November 27 2001 Artful Science
    www_stereophile.com gIr so ile NOVEMBER 1 9 US ,he “wid Is IMQ North American ayer CLASSÉ'S OME FROM CANAD IN REVIE • Luau estlake, & Mirage LOUDSPEAKERS Ayre, LFD, Herron, & Bel Canto AMPLIFIERS Nordost & Synergistic CABLES - . \) CABLE THEORY • David BYRNE & Duane ALLMAN ON DISC LTIMAlr- 1 1 Digital Active Speakers from Meridian o 7 0 5 3496711 8 Display until November 27 2001 Artful Science... The first in a series of loudspeakers. The LAT-1 e--4t 1]<<1_,'J T..• 1_, ASPER IN At .C1,10 -203-799-9954 Krell Industries. Inc.. 45 Connair Road, Orange. CT 06477-3650 • FAX 203-691-2028 [email protected] • www.krellonline.com As We See It Barry Willis very once in awhile, some main- otite charlatan, who last year enjoyed miles to the gallon, years to pay off the stream journalist discovers the renewed critical acclaim by coaxing some loan. Financing a luxury model might audiophile underground. flowering plants in Rockefeller Center into require asecond mortgage and an extra E job. Your purchase will probably sit idle k happened again this past summer, the shape of agiant puppy. Like many artists, when Washington Post writer David Segal in- Koons got his big start rifling on Marcel 350 days per year, but at least it can double troduced his readers to some Washington, Duchamp's notion of the "readymade" —an as guest quarters and arefuge from do- DC audiophiles and the stores that stoke ordinary object taken out of context so that mestic strife when the bills are overdue. their mania ("Sound Crazy?," June 13).
    [Show full text]
  • Cultural Heritage Tourism on the Cumberland Trail
    In Whose Tennessee Mountains? Cultural Heritage Tourism on the Cumberland Trail by Eric Goodwin A thesis presented to the Honors College of Middle Tennessee State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation from the University Honors College. Spring 2020 In Whose Mountains? Cultural Heritage Tourism on the Cumberland Trail by Eric Goodwin APPROVED: ______________________________________ Dr. James Chaney Global Studies and Human Geography ______________________________________ Dr. John R. Vile, Dean University Honors College Acknowledgements Words alone cannot express my gratitude for all who helped me along the way, but I will try. Firstly, I’d like to thank the community of mentors and scholars at MTSU that inspired a love for learning, specifically the Global Studies and Human Geography faculty, and the Honors College faculty. I’d like to thank my thesis mentor, Dr. James Chaney, for not only the academic guidance he gave me, but also the passion he shared with me for geography that shall carry far beyond my undergraduate studies. No acknowledgement page would be complete without a shout out to my family: to Mom, Dad, Beth, Grammie, Papa Jerry, Mimi, and Papa Jack, for feeding me, supporting me, and cheering me up like nobody else can. To all the people who work selflessly to support arts in East Tennessee and preserve culture, keep doing what you’re doing. There are people who care. Specifically, Bobby Fulcher, Brad Smiddy, Karen Cumorich, JoAnne Myers, Tony Branam, Rachel Boillot, and Dr. Brenden Martin: thank you all for your shared passions. And above all, this is dedicated to the artists, musicians, actors and actresses, poets, scholars, and other creatives who color the ridges and valleys with their marks of beauty, whose songs flow over the mountains and echo the voices of Appalachia.
    [Show full text]
  • The Hidden Treasures of Appalachia a State-By-State Guide Ins I De Threats to Eco-Tourism 7 Waterfalls to See This Summer
    ! The FREE 15 Yearsand & stillCounting... Appalachian June/July 2011 VOICE Eco-Tourism EdiTion The Hidden Treasures of Appalachia A State-by-state Guide INS I Threats to Eco-Tourism DE 7 Waterfalls To See This Summer ALSO INSIDE: The Seductive Beauty of Mountain Orchids • Pesticide Problems in Shady Valley The Seeing the Forests Because We Left The Trees Appalachian A Note From the Executive Director By Jamie Goodman their area. Today, Lan- en areas in those states, the correlation Dear Readers, sing storefronts sit empty would be strikingly clear. VOICE The region of central and southern When I think of Appalachia, I conjure images of iconic vistas and and the once charming Towns like Benham, Ky., which A publication of Appalachia has more national land of mountain town has a sad, once grew a thriving tourism trade, are AppalachianVoices gentle mountainscapes, ancient hills and hollows and towering trees and any other region east of the Rockies. neglected feel. now being threatened as dwindling 191 Howard Street • Boone, NC 28607 natural springs where the water is so clear that it reflects the seasons as If you combine just two of our eight 1-877-APP-VOICE But although we coal supplies force companies to move it twists and tumbles across rocks to the valleys below. national forests—the adjacent George www.AppalachianVoices.org have a wealth of state extraction sites closer to populated [email protected] Washington and Jefferson national I hear the voices of my ancestors, born-and-bred Appalachians with and federally-designated areas. Outdoor recreation destinations Appalachian Voices is committed to protecting the land, air forests—you have one of the largest land, Appalachia is also such as Boone, N.C., cave to pressure and water of the central and southern Appalachian region.
    [Show full text]
  • Why Does Country & Western Music
    NEW ENGLAND COUNTRY & WESTERN MUSIC: SELF-RELIANCE, COMMUNITY EXPRESSION, AND REGIONAL RESISTANCE ON THE NEW ENGLAND FRONTIER BY CLIFFORD R. MURPHY B.A. GETTYSBURG COLLEGE, 1994 M.A. BROWN UNIVERSITY, 2005 SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE PROGRAM IN MUSIC: ETHNOMUSICOLOGY AT BROWN UNIVERSITY. PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND MAY 2008 © 2008 CLIFFORD R. MURPHY This dissertation by Clifford R. Murphy is accepted in its present form by the Department of Music as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. (signed and dated copy on file at Brown University) Date_______________ _________________________ Jeff Todd Titon, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date_______________ __________________________ Jennifer Post, Reader Date_______________ __________________________ Paul Buhle, Reader Date_______________ __________________________ Rose Subotnik, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date_______________ __________________________ Sheila Bonde, Dean of the Graduate School iii CURRICULUM VITAE Clifford R. Murphy was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey in 1972 and was raised in New Hampshire in the towns of Durham and Newmarket. Cliff learned to play guitar at age 16, graduated from Newmarket High School in 1990, and attended Gettysburg College where he majored in History and English. Following graduation in 1994, Cliff returned to New Hampshire and spent the next nine years working as a singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist in the internationally
    [Show full text]
  • Banjo Women in West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky”
    “Banjo Women in West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky” Text by Susan A. Eacker Photographs by Geoff Eacker Preface In the fall of 1997, we began our search for women banjo players in Appalachia; primarily in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. Our equipment was light—a Marantz tape recorder and a Nikon camera. Our intellectual baggage weighed even less— anecdotal evidence that Appalachian women had historically played what is considered to be America’s first musical instrument.1 I had read the two major monographs on the banjo available at the time: Karen Linn’s That Half-Barbaric Twang, and Cecilia Conway’s Black Banjo Echoes in Appalachia, neither of which included banjo women in the southern mountains.2 As a traditional, or “clawhammer” banjo player and maker, most of Geoff’s familiarity with the five-string banjo came from recordings and live performances by men. Since my teaching and scholarship has always focused on women, my initial intellectual curiosity regarding the possibility of finding women banjo players was piqued when I read that folklorist and musician Mike Seeger was told by traditional musicians in the southern mountains, that “their fathers and mothers picked the banjo before the turn of the century.” From this curiosity came the challenge implicit in Seeger’s follow-up question: “Why do we not have accounts of this—either visually or in the literature?”3 I knew that if I strummed beneath the surface, the banjo music of multiple generations of undocumented and invisible Appalachian women might finally be heard. This article is thus an affirmation of Seeger’s statement and a response to his query.
    [Show full text]
  • Messin' with the Furniture
    ajh018.fm Page 208 Wednesday, March 24, 2004 11:15 AM “Messin’ with the Furniture Man”: Early Country Music, Regional Culture, and the Search for an Anthological Modernism J. M. Mancini Furniture! Thank God, I can sit and I can stand without the aid of a furniture warehouse. What man but a philosopher would not be ashamed to see his furniture packed in a cart and going up country exposed to the light of heaven and the eyes of men, a beggarly account of empty boxes? Henry David Thoreau, Walden In the 1920s a boom in commercial recording brought hundreds of farmers, miners, carpenters, and preachers from rural places like Burton’s Fork, Kentucky, to the very epicenters of urban America to sing and to play banjos, gddles, and guitars into machines. With the help of a rapidly integrating consumer economy that linked city and country through the twin virtual networks of media and market, these machines turned this music—which only a generation before had existed only as practice—into things. These things, in turn, cir- culated not only in those great conurbations and unincorporated spaces but between and within every kind of place in the middle. One musician who made this journey was a young coal miner named Dick Justice (1906–ca.1950s) of Logan County, West Virginia, who traveled to Chicago in May of 1929 to record for Brunswick Records. Like the career of his fellow miner Dock Boggs (1898– 1971), who left Norton, Virginia, in 1927 to set down 12 tracks for the same label in New York, Justice’s recording career there met an abrupt end.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Real American Music" John Lusk and His Rural Black String Band
    "Some Real American Music" John Lusk and His Rural Black String Band by Linda L. Henry “Some Real American Music” John Lusk and His Rural Black String Band 2020 GribbleLuskandYork.org "I am now satisfied," he said to me, "that the future of music of this country must be founded upon what are called the negro melodies. This must he the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States. When I first came here last year I was impressed with this idea and it has developed into a settled conviction. These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are American. (An excerpt from a New York Herald interview of the Director of the National Conservatory of Music, Sunday, May 21, 1893,) A while ago I suggested that inspiration for truly national music might be derived from the negro melodies or Indian chants. I was led to take this view partly by the fact that the so-called plantation songs are indeed the most striking and appealing melodies that have yet been found on this side of the water, but largely by the observation that this seems to be recognized, though often unconsciously, by most Americans. (Antonín Dvořák, “Music in America”, Harper’s New Monthly, February, 1895) Dvorák and a few other composers have indeed made use of negro themes, and the aboriginal Indian music has been seriously treated more than once. But these compositions, however excellent, are no expression of American life and character; they fall as strangely on our ears as any foreign product.
    [Show full text]