Creator: Lornell, Kip, 1953-
Link to Catalog Record
Abstract: Performances and interviews with African American blues and pre- blues secular musicians from North Carolina. Music performed includes blues, old-time songs and tunes, boogie-woogie, and gospel songs, played on banjo, guitar and piano. Also included are an interview with Guy B. Johnson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sociologist who studied African American musical traditions; interviews with the Chapel Hillbillies, a black string band in the 1920s and 1930s; a re-recording of Primitive Baptist singing by Elder Golden Harris and others, ca. 1932; and performances by Anglo-American fiddler and hammered dulcimer player Virgil Craven (1902-1980). Performers include Jamie Alston, Wilbert Atwater, Pernell Charity, George Letlow, Arthur Lyons, Lesley Riddle, Dink Roberts, John Snipes, Leo Strowd, Joe Thompson (1918- ), Odell Thompson (1911- ), Willy Trice (1910-1976), and Clarence Tross (1884-1977).
Repository: Southern Folklife Collection
Collection Highlights: Interview with Guy B. Johnson regarding his work collecting African-American folk music in the 1920s on Saint Helena Island, South Carolina and also about his research on the legend and song cycle of “John Henry.” Recorded by Kip Lornell in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1975. [2 reels, FT1317-FT1318] Also included are tapes documenting African-American musicians in the North Carolina Piedmont area recorded by Kip Lornell in 1974. Music includes blues and pre-blues secular music on fiddle and banjo; musicians include Dink Roberts, Wilbur Atwater, Jamie Alston, John Snipes, Joe and Odell Thompson, Willie Trice, Jack Minor, and Arthur Lyons. [8 reels, FT1396-FT1403]