Articles/Blogs


Jimmy Collier

Jimmy Collier stands out in a crowd with his trademark cowboy hat. But it's the sound of the tall, sturdy troubadour's music that has magnetized listeners across the land.…


Yee Haw! The Rise of Black Country

Thanks to Darius Rucker, Rissi Palmer and the Carolina Chocolate Drops, black folks are finally rediscovering their country roots. There’s long been an assumption that black…

Generations
Race And Country Music Then And Now

In a recent book, Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music, editor Diane Pecknold rounds up some of the better music writers in academia in order to…


Blackface

The stock characters of blackface minstrelsy have played a significant role in disseminating racist images, attitudes and perceptions worldwide. Every immigrant group was…

Generations
Fiddle Tune History -- Minstrel Tales: Picayune Butler and Japanese Tommy "Hunky Dory!"

For much of the 20th century onward, blackface minstrelsy has held an especially vilified place in American culture. Not that it was entirely embraced prior to that, for even…


The Carolina Chocolate Drops with Bill Hinkley and Judy Larson: a benefit for "Black String Revival"

A benefit performance for Black String Revival, an hour-long documentary from Fretless Films which will tell the story of the rise and fall and the rise again of the Black…


Why Black Folks Don't Fiddle

Many unfamiliar with the real history of Black fiddling forget that fiddling was extremely common among African Americans until the early 20th Century. In the we have many…


Bluegrass, string music deeply rooted in African-American tradition

Strains of African-American music beat in the deep heart of bluegrass, from the African-derived tones of the five-string banjo to the blue notes that give the music its…


The Banjo's African American Heritage

The Banjo’s African American Heritage is celebrated on this dates Registry. Since Caribbean Blacks created the banjo in the 17th century and carried it to North America in the…


A Part of My Story as a Bluegrass Musician

I found this surprising reference in the Jerry Douglas Bulletin Board Archives. Several years ago when searching The Internet I ran across this posting made by the guy I…

Generations
Jess Morris

Jess Morris, born June 12, 1878, in Williamson County, Texas, was a noted fiddler in the western Panhandle region. In 1890, his father moved the family to a ranch near old…


Deford Bailey A Legend Lost

Deford Bailey was the most influential harmonica player in the first half of the 20th Century. Despite such acclaim, Deford dies quietly without recognition of his place in…