Rough Old-Time Mountain Folk Make The Best Music

The time was 1965 and I was making my first documentary for television. I got sent to the mountains of North Carolina. Asheville. Buncombe County. Madison County. Wilkes County. I was on the road with the great collector of music Bascom Lamar Lunsford. He was taking me to the best of the best, the folks he was going to choose to perform at his mountain dance and folk Festival, the first festival of that type in the USA. My film ran on national primeitime television in 1966 and showed Americans for the first time what these people were like, not just their wonderful musicianship, but this storytelling and poetry and dance and culture. One day Bascom took me to Jesse "Lost John" Ray, who he said folks in that region called the greatest fiddler. I have presented my film on my channel and this clip before and many debate whether or not he was. So I decided to make this video to explain why Bascom thought Lost John was so great. After all these years, I still remember my experience as though it was yesterday and have a deep affection and admiration for the people of the mountains of North Carolina. They treated me beautifully and gave me the opportunity to record wonderful 16mm film. I wish I had the outtakes but back in those days, I was too dumb to realize that I should keep them and didn't have the room in my small Queens New York apartment. I loved mountain music – bluegrass music – country music back then, and I still do today. Especially when played by "real folks" like Lost John.