September, 2004 - Nr. 9
Toronto Connection
Since last Tuesday (the day we came back from our trip to
Tennessee and Virginia) I have been wearing black. I promised Jane, our
Tennessee Mom, that I would wear black for a whole week to express my
sadness over leaving our beloved second home. Some of us could say that with
every visit it feels more like a first home.
We travel 14 hours south to the border area of these two states because of the music preserved there and the intensely sweet and kind people. These qualities of the area and its people are so concentrated there that it is intoxicating! Every time we leave it is harder! We have such a good time.
I’ll tell you about some of the things we did. Our family performed for an hour on a local radio show, which was well received by the "live" audience. They always especially enjoy when we throw in an Austrian choir song. Somehow the Austrian mountain harmonies strike the same chords in the hearts of those southern mountain people as their own beloved music. It must be a mountain thing. We also recorded two songs accompanying Dale Jett, a relative of June Carter, Johnny Cash’s wife. Legendary country star Tom T. Hall who’s producing Dale’s CD came from Nashville to record us. That was a lot of fun and an honour as well. But the highlight of our annual summer trip is always the Carter Family Festival, in Poor Valley, Virginia, commemorating the family who started it all in the country/folk music world in 1927. The family brought the people of America through the Great Depression with their songs of hope. Before then "people music" born of hard-times was not played on the radio.
At
the 30th annual festival, not only can one enjoy a dozen great
Old-time bands inside the rustic theatre, but, outside, anyone can join in
with the endless clusters of people who have come down from the mountain, or
up from the town to make music for hours and hours. My cousin Danny always
jams for 10-12 hours with those "pickers" (Nope, I’m not kidding).
There,
a folk music lover is in his glory! One can meet so many interesting people
and learn so much. We now have a new crop of fabulous young friends and
remarkably talented musicians who play in their family band all over the
States. They will be visiting us this winter which makes the fact that we
are now so far away a little easier. If all goes well we will drive down
again this fall to see the life story of the Carter family in a play.
Eventually I’d like to live part of the year down there; specifically where
the Carter Family Fold is in Poor Valley, Virginia. There the soil might be
poor and people might have very little money, but they have so much more
than what wealth could ever bring.
If you are interested in getting a little taste of the spirit, culture and music of these southern people, the movies "The Songcatcher", "Cold Mountain" and "O Brother, where art thou" are atmospheric examples!
Comments to: rachel@echoworld.com
