A Bluegrass Music Classic - On The Porch

To get the entire movie go to http://www.createspace.com/204609 It was back in 1964. New York City filmmaker, David Hoffman, age 22, was headed down with his new 16mm hand held camera (weight 49 lbs!) to spend three weeks driving the backcountry around Madison County, North Carolina, in the center of Appalachia, with the 82 year old founder of the pioneer Asheville Mountain Music and Dance Festival, Bascom Lamar Lunsford.

The resulting film, "Bluegrass Roots" lets you hear and experience the hard scrabbling, dirt road real people sounds that dominated the back country of the southern mountains 40 years ago. It presents a string of the most extraordinary singers, players and dancers the BlueGrass Mountains had to offer. Many later became famous. Some were never heard from again. Most of the songs are classics, including Lunsford's own tune, "Mountain Dew."

When this film aired on Public Television in 1965, TV Guide gave it a full-page positive review, because Americans had never seen a documentary on the roots of Bluegrass and Country music. Today, the dirt roads and the moonshine counties are largely modernized, and Bluegrass Roots, stands as a record of a uniquely talented group of people at a time just before the coming of television, changed them.
www.thehoffmancollection.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Old time music
• Asheville folk festival
• country jubilee
• Appalachian music
• mountain dew
• Bascom Lamar Lunsford
• Obray Ramsey
• Banjo
• five string banjo
• five string
• fiddle
• clog dancing
• North Carolina
• early bluegrass
• traditional music
• documentary
• film
• TV

[FLHTP07]

I grew up listening to this on the radio. Little stations where people came in and played live.

Good Stuff.

[allinaday]

So did I FLHT07. On Long Island, they played the Grand ole Opry on a Saturday night radio. It was because of that that I wrote Bascom Lamarr Lunceford when I was 21 years old and asked him if I could come down and make a "documentary" about him. I had never made a professional movie before.

David Hoffman -- filmmaker

[jayphill16]

reminds me of when i was a kid. Family singin on the front porch, pertnear everybody in my family played an instrument singer, Banjo, Mandolin, guitar we'd have us a good old time.

[inbredbeaver789]

that woman is scary

[Satchmoeddie]

@allinaday I was at Goodwill the other day and bought an Earl Scruggs album from 1973. It has some songs that really need posting on YT. Man his kids could really play. I have to admit I get the impression they may have drank too much coffee, or something when I heard a couple of songs played at 3x their normal meter, String Bender is a neat song that should be on YT. I also found a neat UK bluegrass CD in the trash that has a few songs that need to be on YT. Blue Sky Boys, & Monroes

[JakobGrover]

i love this stuff

[LarryTait]

That's really cool :) Reminds me of when I used to stay at my grandmas house. She'd turn the radio on and start cooking breakfast for all us kids.

[starlitbright]

life sure has a lot to offer....cant help but smile watching this bluegrass dream

[lsamoa]

@diandrelabadie I wouldn't judge people's political affiliations based on their appearance or the music they play, but in this case I'm afraid you're right. Lunsford's opinions were rather, let's say unsavoury...

But many folk musicians at that time were actually actively involved in the early civil rights movement.

[OMBIC]

if only the US would look at this and think for once.........

[Honoracharity18]

Old people just have their own sound. Gotta give them props. They make our generation look stupid.

[camojo111]

wowo what great music.i love bluegrass