Raw & Real Old Time Bluegrass Fiddler. Lucky Me To Have Filmed Him In 1965
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- Опубликовано: 21 сен 2013
- American homegrown bluegrass music. Country music. Mountain music. Old time music. Appalachian music at its best. I can't say enough about it except I love it and have since I was a young filmmaker back a long time ago. In this scene you are watching Lost John- the fiddlin man from Wilkes County, NC
The time was 1965. I was a 23-year-old filmmaker making my first documentary for television. I had never been to the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina but I knew that the music was great from hearing it on the radio where I grew up in Levittown, Long Island. I wrote to 80 year old Bascom Lamar Lunsford after I read an article in Time magazine and asked him if I could come down and make a "movie" with him.
I took my 1st plane ride and rushed to Bascom's home. He and his wife Freda took me around those mountains and introduced me to fantastic musicians, storytellers, singers, and dancers. This is one of the places Bascom first took me. A sweet and beautiful scene developed and I tried to film it all. I spent weeks filming with Bascom and his wife Freda, filming with a 16 mm sound camera and a friend carrying a Nagra audio recorder.
In the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina clog dancing had an important part of social gatherings, community events and local celebrations. It was historically a way for communities to come together, share stories, and pass down traditions through generations.
Clog dancing has deep roots in the region. This energetic and rhythmic dance style is a blend of several European and African-American influences, including English, Scottish, Irish, and African dance forms. Clog dancing typically involves intricate footwork, heel-and-toe tapping, and syncopated rhythms, making it visually and aurally engaging.
My one hour film ran in the primetime in 1965 and got the cover i've TV Guide with a fabulous review. Today it is considered a classic and I am proud that so many subscribers and others have chosen to watch it - many more than once. Thank you Bascom Lamar Lunsford and all those who appeared with him in my film.
Some of my subscribers make the comment that they have heard better. Of course this is a matter of personal taste but to me, great bluegrass country mountain fiddling has to be gritty and raw - just like the way Lost John plays it in this sequence. And, respecting Bascom Lunsford who had spent 60 years going around the mountains looking for the best (and he considered Lost John the best) even if I didn't feel the absolute brilliance in this man, Bascom did.
These days some commentators have also described feeling sad that this era is over. Even if they had never been to the mountains to see it, they saw what this film showed as American at a simpler time with teenagers were decent. They Feel badly that this is all gone. I have written some commentators in my responses, just how active clog dancing and all the elements of bluegrass and mountain and old-time music from Appalachia are these days. There are probably more clog dancers who are young today than were active way back when this film was made.
I loved the people of Appalachia who treated me so kindly when I was a young filmmaker and showed me a bit of their ways. I love their music, their dance, their storytelling, their guitar, banjo, fiddle, ukulele, just as I did back when I first heard it as a 16-year-old on late night Long Island NY radio.
I could not be presenting this and other clips without support from my advertisers and I want to thank each of them. Live music Winston-Salem NC. Music in Brevard NC. Bluegrass music Asheville. Biltmore Village Asheville NC. Biltmore estate Asheville. Biltmore house Asheville. Biltmore Village shops. Lazoom Asheville. Folk Center Asheville. North Carolina Asheville Arboretum. Asheville Arboretum. Bascom. Clogging shoes. Clogging. Shania Twain Asheville. Live music Charlotte. Live music Greensboro. Bascom Lunsford Festival.
David Hoffman Filmmaker 
Видеоклипы
Here is my entire documentary. Worth Watching - ruclips.net/video/gdoA0swYKyI/видео.html
David Hoffman Filmmaker
Nice ❤
One of the coolest things you’ll ever see is old folks getting together…not knowing one another…and one says ok boys, key of a, start tapping and then a guitar starts and they all just follow along like the song they are playing was written 100 years ago but it’s all just impromptu jamming. It’s amazing how music can just come together that way.
I would think this group has known each other literally all their lives and are likely kinsfolk.
Or “old folks getting together … not knowing one another… 1 says ok boys key of a” and they all start as if they’ve played together all their lives
Fellow proud southerner here. Please consider the meaning behind your pfp. That flag stands for wealthy elite upper class traitors and it’s a shame that it’s glorified here in the south. We are so much more than a war our region fought on the wrong side of.
@@outbacksteakhouseofficial that’s the thing tho…the music can bring people together, but the thought of telling people what to do and think and feel in America does not. I will not consider it, because it’s not a flag, it’s an image of the late, great, Dimebag Darrell, the greatest metal guitarist to have lived, IMO, and my name, is a play on the name of one my favorite albums, the great southern Trendkill, by his band pantera. See if people noticed anything other than what they feel to be hatred, and examined things with a wider lens, they wouldn’t say foolish things, not say what you said is foolish. We live in America, land of the free, home of the brave. And it’s a beautiful place where people, north,south,east, and west, black, white, Asian, and every other heritage have fought and died to protect the very freedom I have to use whatever image I do choose. And to memorialize my favorite guitarist, that’s the one I’ve chosen, and the more people hate it, the better I like it, because it shows me who really has hate in their hearts for the people mentioned before. See, I feel that if you bend the knee to someone because of their feelings, or because it offends them, then those same men and women who fought and died, died in vain. I appreciate your opinion, and the fact that you didn’t try to attack me over it, which is why I explained what the image actually is. But I won’t change, and it won’t change until I’m ready for it. Have a great day.
@@southerntrendkiller2632 yea see the thing is nobody believes you because you have an image of the treasonous rebel flag in your pic, doesn't matter if there's a famous guitarist in their too. Nobody that isn't at least somewhat sympathetic to racist imagery is going to use that picture. You just came up with that bullshit about Dimebag and soldiers dying to pretend you're not a proud Johnny Reb
Please God let this be the heavenly choir that greets me at your gates.
Amen to that
The second man on the left is Bascom Lamar Lunsford he was a lawyer by profession but his love for pure blue grass music took him all over the apalechian country collecting music from every day people and now they have an anual festival in his honor at Mars Hill University in North Carolina he was a cousin in my husband’s line.
Fascinating!
Thanks for sharing this about your cousin, he sounds like he was an interesting person, and appreciated.
Great info.
How wonderful that you shared those extra details! Thank you!
No arguing where they originate from, Lunsford is in Kent, England, Thomas Lungsford 1610 - 1653 settled in Williamsburg Virginia.
There is something amazing about the fact that almost all modern music originates from white folk and black folk playing music in the Appalachian mountains and the deep south. God truly speaks to us in mysterious ways.
Small country towns are disappearing & wonderful people like this I live outside of Knoxville Tennessee & it was farms 20 yrs ago but now it's Wal Marts & other bullshit it's sad
sad
atleast the economy is booming in Tennessee.
Randall vandal
So agree
just go to morristown
When even the “poorest” folk had more dignity n self-esteem than anyone anywhere!
God, what meth has done to us.
Great good souls!!
Funny you said that. I haven't seen or heard about meth since the 80's (except on t.v.shows) and just found out it's making a big comeback here in Philly. We got enough problems with the opioid crisis and I hoping the young bucks don't get jammed up with meth !
Can't judge the past with present. Plenty of vices back then too. George Jones white lighting comes to mind.
Meth has not done anything to me and mine.
@@jerryshirley7381 meaning you still do it or it's not common in your area ? Just curious I've snorted my fair share back in the day ! I'm just surprised that it's still around
@@davideisemann7130 Silent epidemic in many places.
Back then, schools still taught *all* kids to read music and families would get together after dinner, they'd get their instruments out and play music *...together* It was the popular thing to do, back when fundamental education was a real thing and family was one of the most important things to a person!
My grandparents were in Rowan county. They past on in early 60s. When I was with then in the summer we did have fun like this. I do miss that time. I am now 73 so that was a lot of history.
Gary Bangle Bangle nice comment , thanks. I'm in Silverton Oregon. I miss Pineville, Ky. Music and moonbow's
Sit down and rest old man i bet ur tired
Rowan county KY. It's beautiful there . I spent 114 days in their lovely county accomodations...aka...jail
"Oh play me some Mountain music, like grandmaw and grandpaw used to play..."
I was thinking about that same song 😂
Mom used to call it "good ole' okie music"...
See that mountain o'er there? Yeah, someday imma climb that mountain 😏
Man that broke my heart. I wish things were the way they used to be.
@@gunners4129 Beautiful memories, haven't heard that song in years!
I hope we never lose Bluegrass and Country Music.
i am from colombia, south america. i love this music, because is playing with heart and soul
To those in Columbia South America, hello. Be blessed. 🙏JESUS CHRIST is soon to return. 🕇🕇🕇
I was a long-haul trucker and I liked to turn on the radio from my fancy satellite radio to see if the local color could still be heard on broadcast radio. I was sad the last time I went through Chicago I couldn't find any Blues being played. When I was Texas I got a kick out of Tejano as it has the indigenous feel of fine Bluegrass interpreted by a whole different culture. This is a very fine piece of real people who are playing REAL music.
@@donnafranks-oldpathhome Who?
@@googlemail7934 😂 ok. If you say so.
@@googlemail7934 you should check out some non fiction books.
I saw the still picture and knew instantly it was a Hoffman film. Like the clog dancing, a refreshing sequence to take in.
I grew up in rural NC in the 60s and 70s ..this kind of scene is very familiar to me
I bet heaven will look like this! The world has changed SO much in the last 20 years....
Catskill Society of Model Engineers Liberty NY
You were blessed, my friend!! 😙
Lucky you
Catskill Society of Model Engineers Liberty NY woah mate I grew up in 1980s England and I love this music!
I believe this was filmed just northwest of Asheville in 1965
So sad this time in place is long gone. People made their own fun back then.
no its not i live in north georgia and tons of people still live like this and play this music
SillyGooseSG Then move it on over, 'cause I'M fixin' t'be movin' to Geo'ria!!
Stevie Baxter go ahead man we got plenty of space.
no, no it isn't. I lived in central Pennsylvania and this is still a thing there. Bunch of drunk hillbillies playing music. good times...I guess.
People still make their own fun... this guy is a fool blinded by nostalgia for a past he likely was never a part of.
Wow 80 years old in 1950. He better had a wonderful life. See you in heaven guys
And there's people who tell us that America has no culture of its own
Kenji Setou I personally never understood why people say that. Just take a minute to see everything America has to offer and you’d be amazed.
Avi I think people are just angry and divive today. Also it is hard to see it whennits all you have seen
@@avi2578 It's just how fish can't see water, or we don't see air. People have so much American culture around them that it just seems normal, but they don't know how different their lives would be without it.
It's a shame really. As a Brit, I can happily agree there's so many uniquely American things which you've brought to the world. Unfortunately though, I think modern America has turned its back on its own culture and heritage. At least that's very much the impression I got while I was visiting the US.
I think it might be because geographically speaking, Americans are people who have settled their from all over the world, mainly Europe
Correct me if I’m wrong
My wife’s Family reunions years gone by would always have a little playing after the meal. Folks would bring their instruments. If you couldn’t play, you could sing.
the building of the new highway, I-26, through madison county displaced a lot of old timers, relocated a lot of old cemeteries and took down a lot of old homes.
sometimes "progress" just isn't worth it.
+cruiser I can't even stand to go home to western North Carolina any more, they have moved roads and built and developed to let the tourists have a straight shot from Atlanta to Tennessee, as fast as possible. Little towns are gone, or paved over. But at least we still have the music, thanks to the people who share on here.
you are right!
If we didn't have progress the fiddle would never have been invented.
progress didn't sell out the south, capitalism did. we could use a little bit of real progress down here.
cruiser to me it's almost criminal
Makes me cry to see and hear stuff like this. What a treasure that is lost today in this present world.
There are Folks playing this kind of music still to this day. I believe, to a degree, many folks have had their fill of "Corporate" performances. RUclips, and other forums are allowing Individuals, and Groups to display their Talents at minimal cost, and reach Globally.
Can't no fancy book learning teach you how to play like that!!!
True! I'm a musician myself, with a small amount of musical book learning...and if i wanna even TRY to play like that, i gotta forget the book and just feel it!
If he went to music school as a boy, the first thing they'd tell him is.. 'You're holding it wrong'. I often wonder how many creative people have been stifled by skoolin?
@@philip6419 yes. From the little bit of formal training I have, I KNOW I play the piano wrong. They say your left hand is to always stay to the left of middle C, and your right hand is to play from middle C up.. I don't care, I play all over! Plus, my posture is all wrong! 😁
...as a musician, I completely disagree. There are definitely contemporary programs that teach improvisation-based folk musics and things of the sort.
Correct. Only muscle memory acquired through practice, practice, practice can teach you that.
The Ulster Scots influence is strong in this .
My uncle was raised in a rural portion of south east Oklahoma. He lived next door to us my entire life. He died when I was in my early 20s. A banjo was found among his simple belongings. I asked my granny about it ( he was her first born) she told us as a young man he was a very talented musician. She was the only one that new. So sad I would give a lot to hear him play. I understand The Foxfire Museum has reels of this stuff. What a lost art. What a national treasure.
Makes my heart weep for home the blue Ridge mountains
This is great, you can hear the celtic heritage
Sweet jesus, that bluegrass sound of the banjo has a special place in my heart. God bless Appalachia💗🌿their accents remind me of my grandparents. I'm proud to still have my family's farm, and friends who love and carry on the culture and traditions.
To still have the family farm is so wonderful. I grew up in blue-collar suburbia and don't have a single object to link back to from that time. It was just the place we were traveling through. I saw so many beautiful family farms in Appalachia.
David Hoffman-filmmaker
Lost John Ray is legendary up here. Reputed to be the best who ever played in these mountains. I live where he lived (in Wilkes County, NC in the Blue Ridge Mountains) about 60 years ago.
+banjoonthelump Yes for me, I never heard better that Lost John Ray.
David Hoffman - filmmaker
Hey I'm from Deep Gap just over in Watauga County!
He must be the origin of Charlie Daniels' "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."
I'm not American but I really love listening and exploring American country musics. It makes my mind peace.
Love you David Hoffman for preserving heartfelt very rare footage of American Folk music! I've heard people say America has no culture. American Folk music is a big part of our cultural history.
You know the band is legit when there's a rhythm banjo AND a lead banjo
My father worked with the Johnson administration in the war on poverty in college(Friends World College New York) from 1964 on. One project he worked on involved him living with a poor family in Kentucky, a tobacco farmer, share cropper who used mules to plow his fields. They all lived in cluster of outbuildings-cabins all with no running water or electricity. The toilets were outside. They lived up in a ‘Holler’ a beautiful rugged part of Kentucky. Fiddle music was their evening twilight entertainment for centuries. Sad to see any of it lost. Appreciate this video very much. Thank you.
While slowly cruising these very same back roads of NC and eastern TN, I keep my motorcycle's Sirius radio on the bluegrass channel as a sort of tribute to the persons who created this genre of music
thats where live no radio needed c: while on your bike!
Perfect. Have listened to Hemingway's "water" books on tape driving down A1A from West Palm down to Lauderdale by the Sea, too. Bet you've spotted some wild turkeys along the way. :-)
@@mntlblok LOL, oh yea, quite a few !
Music has always been, from the earliest of times, an escape from the harsh realities of life.
The great ones always smile when they play.
I feel a little better and uplifted listening to that.
RUclips IS GOLD. And person who upload this is NATIONAL TREASURE
Good ol Southern folks...the best in the world
Our sisters and brothers 💙
Those are Appalachian folks; lots different than southern.
Koley Turner I mean the culture has to be different much less cash crops and plantations. Tennessee was like half confederate
Koley Turner I’ve been to former union factories in Tennessee. There’s one in Gatlinburg.
Koley Turner says the one who thinks Virginia culture is the same as Tennessee culture. Someone failed US history
how lucky to of been able to be born into a family like that, I understand the hardships but that talent in unbelievable
Saw that fiddle.True bluegrass music is nothing but pure bluegrass.I come from a foot stomping good time all around music lovers.The fiddle and banjo are all linked to the best music of all time.Good old fashioned foot stomping music.And meth has nothing to do with me and my music I can say proudly.Just some good ole fashioned Bluegrass mucic and I am fine 👍💖❤️♥️👏🎼🎶🎵🎶🎼🎻
I remember my dad driving up the Lincoln Highway in a 49 Hudson Hornet in Pennsylvania up the mountain listening to that music takes me back sad though
Real America at it's finest!!! Love it!
A precious record of a sadly vanished era.
My kind of people and my kind of music. If this world had more old timers like this we wouldn't be in the shape we are now. Honest hard working god fearing people
Did most of the mountain people, learn to play an instrument, if so how cool is that, when compared to now. My father was from southern Ireland, he wasn't an educated man, although very sharp and witty, he could play harmonica and accordion, most of my Irish side of the family, could play some sort of instrument or had beautiful folk voices . Went for a holiday in early 2001, it's just a small village in southern Ireland, they had a party in the local pub for us, I think most of the people there were related to us, all of a sudden, two of our cousin's started to play guitar and sing a local Irish song, many others in the pub joined in, one man just drummed away on the pub counter with his hands, but in perfect harmony, it was amazing and the skill and talent took my breath away.
My dad was a dump truck driver/gunsmith/guitarist/singer who was on a local TV show ‘Alabama Jubilee’ in the ‘60s, and I played with him and three of his second wife’s brothers at family reunions, parties, July 4th celebrations, etc. for almost 20 years. This brings back a lot of memories of those times...thanks!
Sitting in the yard and playing a tune. Love it !
I like this music very much . when i was a boy i liked so much watching the hillbilly bears!!!!!
Beautiful and a look back in time to The good ole days!!! Today's world truly Has nothing on small town American talent and truly genuine People who knew how to have fun without having money.
Expression on his face priceless. Thank you.
My people right there and proud of them !!!
These talented people are a product of a world without the internet, television, cell phones with games on them, etc.
Amazing, just amazing! It sounds and looks so much like my grandpa when he played. It made me smile.
True American music.the real stuff!!!!
i think in another life i was american , becouse i dont know why i LOVE THIS MUSIC AND CULTURE!!
+Lewis Sosa Yeah I woulda fit right in down there.
It's a deep kind of "thang".
Not an American thang so much as a human thang.
You love it, because you feel it deep down.
Deep down in that place we all share root.
GOD bless you now.
No, It's an American thing.
Go eat.
I think in another life I was from the Deep South because I love this music :)
We used to get together like this about every 3 or 4 months. Invite friends to bring what they had 2 play All night. Good eats and beer. Just about everyone had to sing, even if they were too embarrassed. Fun times
Think I just found something really worth listening to on RUclips. Can't stop smilin' and tappin' my foot.
My father was the Kentucky state banjo champion in 1976. He played along with great fiddlers. I remember many of them. I have to agree with you!
He must have played a mean tune. That’s cool. Is he still with us?
@@diosantana2659 He passed away in 2011. He was a gifted musician. Could play anything with strings…except a fiddle.
David, your contribution to preserving and promoting American culture can not be overstated. You are one of my heroes…..
There are those precious few times when you meet a person or persons that enrich your life, these are some of those people. You were fortunate to have shared time with these good folks Mr. Hoffman, thank you for sharing these clips with the world and enriching our lives.
Great player , and with the best comfortable style to my tastes.
This is how God intended music to sound like, completely awesome.
Good days just a sitting in the yard or on the porch just making music Memories Good+fun ones+yes he can play that fiddle ✌💙
I love this so much! I didn't want this to end.
Pure, unpretentious, unbridled joy
1000th comment! May there be a thousand more .this world is losing the knowledge of true soul and true music
This would be an awesome family gathering
That is great. Happy people.
Boy howdy that will put a smile on your face!
this is pure, beautiful life. Salutes from over seas.
What a different time. That slow talking old man at the end. Living in the moment is long gone.
honest and pure. Lots of respect for the folks that did it right....just because they loved it. wish I had an ounce of that talent.
Just pure talent. And probably unknown outside their own community.
That's what music is all bout!!😍
Reminds me of my childhood, listening to aunts and uncles
I have family roots in Madison County. I spent alot of wonderful evening's on porches listing to great music. Correct me if I am wrong. "The greatest mountain music ever made was never recorded!!
Gary Justice thank goodness for Alan Jabour and others who made field recordings
Gary Justice Probably just as well. The musicians might have gotten the big head and wouldn’t be simple country folks anymore. Then it would be just a big commercial like so much Nashville stuff is these days.
Me too...lineage goes back to Madison, NC....and Cherokee Territory....I'm trying to find info on Fiddlin' Buck and the Blue Ridge Mountaineers (Buck was Everett Lundy, son of Emmett Lundy)....
There's no shortage of good country fiddle players around today that's for sure. But then you listen to guys like this and you get the feeling that something isn't quite the same somehow and that something has been lost. Or is it just me?
Absolutely.
I believe it comes down to the soul.
It might be for life experience, age, or character, or a deeper connection with The Spirit of GOD, but one thing is for sure:
It has been lost a little more with each new generation.
The kids today are numb.
There is a confusion in them.
Most don't understand the soul and it's movements, if they even believe they have one.
Music is a soulful thing.
Music is not made up within the brain, it is surfed like a wave in the mind, a track for your train of thought.
It enters the "airspace" of our soulful antenna and we tune in.
Just listen to this man play.
He is speaking, with a message just as powerful as any sentence.
Listen to it. It is worship.
GOD grants this beauty. HE created it. It is like the train of HIS robe.
No, it's just you.
Uncle, I believe God had a hand on your quill too, as you wrote those beautiful words. For your inspired description is pure poetry in its own right.
No it's me!!!
+Uncle Brizz Beautifully spoken!
Love the lady wearing pearls and strumming her guitar…...
Fabulous! That's real down home music!
I heard somewhere once upon a time: the best musicians are porch trained! This outstanding ensemble are a shining testament to that school of thinking! In all seriousness, learning to blend and play in a group is very different from playing solo, the genius developed by practicing for years with folks you love is on full display here!! Thanks for posting!
Thank you.
David Hoffman - filmmaker
Bro, that’s talent. All of them have it. Bravo!
Wow awesome incredible what a collection of American history
Put your cell phones down and listen. This is music in it's purist form. Honest, simple and sincere. These people are all of the above. What good artists. Thanks for posting this piece.
I need the phone to WATCH THIS
We’re using our phones to listen this 😀
damn good fiddle player! I would've loved to be there! back when music was music!
I’m proud of my hill people ancestors when it comes to this. Oh man. Very emotional reaction to this. Thanks for yet another upload.
I have family up in the northern part of West Virginia and there was a time when grampa Jones and Minnie Pearl stayed at one of my relatives house when they played at a fair when they were just getting famous..
David Hoffman thank you, To me you have captured the pureness of Americana at it's best.
Thank you James.
David Hoffman - filmmaker
David Hoffman...you are to be sincerely thanked for capturing these wonderful people in an earlier time.
These are great films you made, I'm from Chicago and people don't know that Chicago a long time ago was like a little Nashville, Gene Autry started singing here, I believe for Sears and Roebuck radio show, I used to listen the The old barn dance program with Judy Canova. while reading the Sunday comics, that's a long time ago.
As genuine musician as ever nó dramatics just oozing talent
Sad that these are times of the past. People don't get together likes this anymore or Sunday dinners.
NOW that’s what I call music
Thank you. There is more of that great fiddler in my full film and the DVD is available via the URL above.
David Hoffman - independent filmmaker
These folks are probably dirt poor but they have a joy and they can rest easy with whatever life brings. They have a good life. What do the rest of us have??
LOVE THIS!!! I'd like to meet these people. That kind of music comes from happy people.
I think I recognize some folks from the Best Bluegrass Clog Dancing Video Ever Made! :D Both so wonderful.
Yes! Mr. Lunsford and his wife.
I bet the fiddle player and the fellow behind him playing banjo are brothers . I'm glad to be an old man and remember jams like these every Saturday night .
Girls and women wore dresses and weren't covered in tattoos . Boys were raised to say "yes mam" & "yes sir" .
Thanks for the memories David Hoffman .
That guy can make his fiddle talk, amazing.
I lke this king of music ... i am from ecuador . From manabi
OMG !!!!! I miss those days 😢😢😢
This is how it was before the curse of TV descended upon us.
Very well said 👍
True but it led to me being able to watch cool stuff like this before I was born.
And with everyone staring at a cell phone
Proud to be an Appalachian American.