Play of a Fiddle: Traditional Music, Dance, and Folklore in West Virginia

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More About This Textbook

Overview

Play of a Fiddle gives voice to people who steadfastly hold to and build on the folk traditions of their ancestors. While encountering the influences of an increasingly overwhelming popular culture, the men and women in this book follow age-old patterns of folklife and custom, making their own music and dance in celebration of them. Shedding new light on a region that maintains ties to the cultural identities of its earliest European and African inhabitants, Gerald Milnes shows how folk music in West Virginia borrowed rhythmic, melodic, and vocal forms from the Celtic, Anglo, Germanic, and African traditions. These elements have come together to create a body of music tied more to place and circumstance than to ethnicity. Milnes explores the legacies of the state's best-known performers and musical families. He discusses religious music, balladeering, the influence of black musicians and styles, dancing, banjo and dulcimer traditions, and the importance of old-time music as a cultural pillar of West Virginia life. A musician himself, Milnes has been collecting songs and stories in West Virginia for more than twenty-five years. The result is an enjoyable book filled with anecdotes, local history, and keen observations about musical lives.

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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"There is something for everyone: local histories and folkways, colorful expressions, rough and rowdy characters. No doubt it will stir the memories of many West Virginians, and hopefully inspire younger Mountaineers to keep the traditions going." -- West Virginia Gazette-Mail

Booknews
"Backwater Blues," "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", and "Shortenin' Bread" are a sampling of the intriguing songs that Milness (folklife programs, David & Elkins College) has collected, along with stories gleaned over 20 years of interviews, in this showcase of folk music in West Virginia mountain culture. Includes a discography. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780813193267
  • Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
  • Publication date: 11/1/2009
  • Edition description: New Edition
  • Pages: 264
  • Sales rank: 704,959
  • Product dimensions: 5.90 (w) x 8.90 (h) x 0.50 (d)

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