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I am an ex-urbanite who escaped the city life and has lived for the past 28 years in a rural, mountainous area of Virginia that in colonial and early-American times was part of the "Backcountry." This is the true melting pot of the U.S.A., its culture and traditions dominated by "born fighting" Scotch-Irish immigrants and enhanced by German, Highland Scot, Dutch, Welsh, and yeoman English settlers. Having absorbed and inculcated the history, values and views of the Backcountry, I would like to share insights, information, and viewpoints from the place where America began. - - Jay Henderson

"My weariness amazes me . . . ." - - Bob Dylan ("Mr. Tambourine Man").

“The law often allows what honor forbids.” - - Bernard-Joseph Saurin, French lawyer, poet, and playwright.

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Saturday
20Jun2009

New In Backcountry Culture: FIDDLERS' CONVENTIONS

A tradition throughout the Backcountry - - and these days, beyond - - the "fiddlers' convention" is a gathering to celebrate traditional folk ("old time") music. Fiddlers' conventions go back at least a century, and probably grew out of smaller community gatherings where music was played.

(To listen to streaming samples of old timey fiddle music, go here for samples from the Galax Old Fiddlers' Convention and here for an excellent long-running jukebox feed from Roots of American Fiddle Music.)

Although the six-string guitar predominates in modern "folk" music, guitars were rare in the early days of the Backcountry and the American frontier.  The instruments used in that day were the fiddle, which had come over with settlers from the British Isles, and the banjo, which came over with slaves from Africa.

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