Faith, Folklore, and Friends

It was a beautiful spring morning when we visited the Stones River National Cemetery near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It was cool, and except for the birds, totally quiet.  No yelling, no screaming in pain, no cannon fire, no guns blasting, no crying to God for help.   It is easy to drive on through, never allowing the reality of this place and others like it to disturb our comfortable world.   Every white stone represents a young life gone, his family's broken hearts, a wife or girlfriend who continued to read his letters until they were tear-stained and worn. It represents the hands that were taught to make a living, forever useless, forever empty.  Nothing can ever change what happened here, or the atrocities of war at D-Day, Pearl Harbor, and other places all over the world. When we see these tangible offerings of stone, we can remember, we can honor, and we can offer respect for the sacrifices that were made.

For 35 years, the Uncle Dave Macon Days board has selected an annual Heritage Award Winner, someone who continues to carry on traditional music. Past winners include Roy Acuff, John Hartford, Bill Monroe, Mac Wiseman, Ricky Skaggs , and others. This year, the winner was Dr. Ralph Stanley. Dr. Stanley is 88 years old.  Most people who live to that age have been retired and resting many years. While the others are rocking on their porches,  Dr. Stanley stands on the stage with his son and grandson and sings the songs he was singing when I was born, and still sings them well. I'm pictured with him  here  at the Museum of Appalachia's Homecoming in the early nineties. We both have changed a little. I'm happy he received this well-deserved recognition, and that we were able to be there for this concert.  

Some say that old-time music is dead; that it is buried with the common sense and morals of long ago.  It would be hard to convince this crowd of that. Many thousands of people brave the heat to gather in Murfreesboro, Tennessee,  every year to fill themselves with this music.   You know, if you really want to fiddle the old-time way, you've got to learn the dance. The contra-dances, hoedowns. It's all in the rhythm of the bow. The great North Carolina fiddle player Tommy Jarrell said, 'If a feller can't bow, he'll never make a fiddler. He might make a violin player, but he'll never make no fiddler .'  ~Allison Krauss Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.   ~Martin Luther More tomorrow.

Last weekend marked the 37th year that folks have been gathering to celebrate Uncle Dave Macon and his contributions to music.  It started as an afternoon of banjo picking at the Rutherford County Courthouse in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and has become one of the top events in the Southeast. Now, the festival meets at historic Cannonsburgh Village in downtown Murfreesboro. This year's Heritage Award winner went to Dailey and Vincent.   Dailey and Vincent have won three consecutive IBMA awards for Entertainer of the Year and three awards for Vocal Group of the Year.  Both have been playing and singing traditional music since they were children. There was lots of fiddlin' and banjo pickin', and lots of people laid back watching. There was practice for competition in a quiet spot, and jammin' under the shade trees. There were clogging and buck-dancing competitions, in addition to banjo and other competitio...

Since 1980, the Uncle Dave Macon Days board has presented a Heritage Award to individuals whose careers have preserved and promoted  old-time music. Some winners in the past have been Roy Acuff, John Hartford, Bill Monroe, Grandpa and Ramona Jones, Mac Wiseman, Marty Stewart, Kitty Wells, Rhonda Vincent, Bobby and Sonny Osborne, and many more.  This year's winners were Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White. Ricky Skaggs has been performing for more than 50 years, and he just turned 59 years old. Sharon White has performed with her family on the Grand Ole Opry for many years.  It was Sharon who sang Sunny Side of Life in the movie, O, Brother, where art Thou. Sharon and Ricky Skaggs have been married for almost 32 years. Together, they put on a fine concert for us and several thousand others after the award had been presented. So good, in fact, most of us sat through a heavy rain storm which turned out to be a rather large adventure. ...

  Every year, on the second weekend in July, Uncle Dave Macon's life and legacy are celebrated in Cannonsburgh Village, Murfreesboro, Tennessee.     I can't think of a better way to spend a sweet, sultry, summer Saturday.