Hellfire and banjoes

The last two clips from my fieldwork videos from 1988-91:

Excerpt #14: Taped at a revival meeting at the Boiling Springs Baptist Church, Cherokee County. Unidentified preacher. I have many times used this clip as an illustration of oral narrative and what folklorists call "formulaic composition" in traditional southern mountain sermon style. Like African American sermon style, to the uninitiated, traditional "shouted" sermonizing is often misread as "angry." This style of preaching goes back, in both Black and Anglo traditions, at least to the Second Great Awakening.

Excerpt #15: Banjo player Hobby Whitener, with gospel piano player Ruby Russell. The two are neighbors in Marble, North Carolina. I'm on the far left on guitar, and local tree surgeon Scott Ferguson, on my left, plays fiddle. This is a program we put together for public school teachers from Chattanooga.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• banjo
• old-time
• preaching
• revival
• meeting
• sermon

[NWAfan]

@1231preacher Brother Phil Kidd still does

[tassiespirit]

Scaring people out of Hell and into the heaven? In Revelations it's actually the Lake of Fire and not hell different isn't it?

[brncplnd]

This preacher is Dr. JB Jordan. He was my pastor growing up as a kid at Victory Baptist Church in Cumming, Georgia. This was a true man of God who is still loved, respected, and missed by all who new him as Bro. JB.