Folk music has been an important ingredient in the cultural inheritance of the region. It has been adapted and blended into an array of popular musical forms, such as old-time country, bluegrass, and gospel. In these forms, music continues to be a significant part of life for people of the region. The first commercial recordings of country music were made in Bristol, Tennesse, in the 1920s, and many musical groups and individual recording artists began their careers with performances on local radio stations in the region.

Browse our Suggested Reading List for books of interest.

Manuscripts

Appalachian-Scottish Studies Collection
Contains a number of audio and videotapes of American and Scottish artists performing English and Scottish ballads, and playing such instruments as the dulcimer, banjo and Jew's harp. Among the artists represented are Margaret Bennett, Frank Profitt, Jr., Orville Hicks and Emily Lyle. Restriction: Recordings may not be duplicated without the permission of the donor.

Barnicle-Cadle Collection
Includes audiotaped copies and original disc recordings of such artists as Jim Garland, Sara Garland (Sara Ogan Gunning), Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly), the Osborne Family, Aunt Molly Jackson, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, and the Ritchie Sisters. The recordings were made by folklorist Mary Barnicle and her husband Tillman Cadle between 1936 and 1951. Restriction: The recordings may not be used for commercial purposes.

Richard Blaustein Collection
Included in the collection are audio and videotapes which document the following types of music: old-time, country, blues, bluegrass, white gospel and revival. Performers recorded include Ralph Mayo, Friday Brothers, Bailes Brothers, Old Joe Clark, Dixie Dewdrops, Victory Quartet, Charlie Bowman, Carter Family, Claude Grant, Uncle Dave Macon, Roan Mountain Hilltoppers, and G.B. Grayson. Festivals recorded include: ETSU Homefolks, Ferrum Blues and the Old Time Country Radio Reunion. The collection also contains written documentation on the history of country music and on the Old Time Country Radio Reunion, and photographs of country music performers. Restriction: Recordings may not be duplicated without the permission of the donor.

Broadside Television Collection
This collection includes a number of 3/4" video cassettes of musical performances. Performers include the Morris Brothers, Taylor and Stella Kimble, the Fiddlin' Powers Family, Ralph Stanley, Tommy Jarrell, Johnny Cash, and Malcolm Johnson. Types of music represented include: old-time, bluegrass, ballads and mountain blues guitar. The Broadside collection also contains videos on WZAP, a country-music radio station, and on making musical instruments. Many of these recordings are available for loan.

Thomas G. Burton Collection
Contains various types of materials on folk music. Included are dub sheets and transcripts of interviews with individuals who sang folk songs. Also contains a songbook written by Delmar Herington of Bristol, Tennessee; and songs sung by Hattie Presnell and Stanley Hicks on cassette audiotape. Restriction: Recordings may not be duplicated without the permission of the donor.

Burton-Manning Collection
Includes taped (audio and video) musical performances of local persons from East Tennessee and western North Carolina, as well as such noted performers as Arlie Watson, Doc Watson, Tom Ashley, Horton Barker, the Carter Family, and the Toe River Valley Boys. Types of music played include: ballads (Child and Laws), shape note, bluegrass and old-time. Written documentation includes dub sheets, correspondence on ballads, and clippings on ballads. Restriction: Recordings may not be duplicated without the permission of the donor. These recordings are available on loan.

Center for Appalachian Studies and Services Records
Contains audio and videotapes on Bowmantown (Washington County, Tenn.) musicians Tom Slagle, Vestal Jackson, Bill Keys, Walter Harmon and Bill Adams. Also includes audiotapes of home recordings of Clyde Dykes, the Rock Springs Ramblers, Bob Crawford, Ruby Whitaker and Orland Whitaker; and interviews with Bowmantown musicians and residents. Also contains 22 reel to reel audiotapes of programs which aired on public radio for the program "Bluegrass Heartland." Performances and interviews of such bluegrass artists as Tony Rice. Walter Harmon, Richard Blaustein, Doyle Lawson, Amanda Whitaker and Don Campbell are recorded on the tapes. Restriction: Recordings may not be duplicated without the permission of the donor.

Charles Gunter, Jr. Collection
Two audio tapes have information on country music: one tape has information on how to make and play dulcimers, while the other includes old-time country and country and western tunes played by various local artists. These recordings are available on loan.

Kenneth M. Murray Photographs
Includes black and white prints on the construction of musical instruments, musicians, and dance. Restriction: Photographs may not be published without the permission of the photographer.

David Larry Nave Collection
Contains videotapes of old-time country musicians E.C. and Orna Ball.

Bernard Rousseau Collection
The Bernard Rousseau Collection contains 187 open reel audiotapes of performances at fiddlers’ conventions, bluegrass festivals, music clubs, and studio sessions, 1957-84; as well as radio broadcasts of bluegrass and country music, 1983-88. The collection also contains two manuscript boxes of printed materials, which focus on the conventions and festivals. Included in the two boxes are tape logs, performer lists, publicity photos, along with convention and festival programs. The recordings are available for educational and research use in the archives only. Recordings may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission of the performer.

Sing Along with Appalachia Collection
This collection contains a small number of images of old-time musicians. Restriction: Photographs may not be published without the permission of Great Smoky Mountains National Park Archives.

Southern Songbirds: The Women of Early Country and Old-time Music Collection
Contains seven 30-minute audio cassettes of interviews conducted by Rachel Ann Goodman with women instrumental in the early development of country and old-time music. Musicians represented include Etta Baker, Ramona Jones, the Powers Family, Jean Ritchie, the Carter Family, Martha Carson, Matokie Slaughter, Patsy Montana, Ola Belle Reed, Wilma Lee Cooper and Hazel Dickens. Restriction: May not be used in commercial broadcasts or recordings.

Jack Tottle Bluegrass and Old-time Music Collection
Included are 61 reel to reel audiotapes (dubbed onto audio cassettes) of bluegrass, old-time, and blues music tapes from live and recorded performances, 1940-76. Artists represented include the Poplin Family, Flatt and Scruggs, Uncle Dave Macon, Etta Baker, Lonesome River Boys, Stanley Brothers, Kentucky Colonels, Bill Monroe, Hylo Brown and Don Reno. Restriction: Duplication of recordings is prohibited.

WCYB Radio Tapes
Contained in this collection are seven reel to reel audio tapes, dubbed from transcription disks, of 1947-49 WCYB radio programs. Programs include "Farm and Fun Time," and "Thrift Supply Company." Artists represented include Curly King and the Tennessee Hilltoppers (Don Campbell, Leslie Keith, Shorty Morris), Roy Russell and Roy Webb.

WETS-FM Records
Includes reel to reel audiotapes of different types of country music. Old-time, bluegrass, folk, and revival are among the types of music represented in the collection. Artists represented include Ed Snodderly, the Corklickers, the Dixie Dewdrops, Friday Brothers, Hotmud Family, Bluegrass Ramblers, Whitetop Mountain Band, Guy Carawan, Keith Miles, John McCutcheon, Red Rector, Roan Mountain Hilltoppers, Bill Clifton, Foggy Bottom String Band, Nanci Griffith, and Mountain Memories. Restriction: May not be used in commercial broadcasts or recordings.

Appalachian Vertical Files

The collection of articles, clippings, brochures, etc., contains material on country and folk music under the following headings: Musical Instruments; Music; Bluegrass Music; and Folk Songs.

Appalachian Publications Files

The Archives holds the following periodicals relating to Appalachian regional music: Bluegrass Unlimited; Devil's Box; and the Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin. The University Publications Vertical Files includes Now and Then. Volume 2, No. 3 (Fall 1985) focuses on Appalachian music.

Suggested Reading from Special Collections

Special Collections holds many titles that focus on traditional ballads, old-time string bands, early country music, and bluegrass music. The following is a list of selected titles about music in the region. For a complete listing, consult Sherrod Library Online Catalog.

Blaustein, Richard. Traditional Music and Social Change: the Old time Fiddlers Association Movement in the United States. 1975.

Burton, Thomas. Some Ballad Folks. 1981.

Cantwell, Robert. Bluegrass Breakdown: the Making of the Old Southern Sound. 1984.

Ford, Tennessee Ernie. This Is My Story, This Is My Song. 1963.

Irwin, John Rice. Musical Instruments of the Southern Appalachians. 1979.

Jackson, George Pullen. White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands. 1964 (reprint).

Jones, Loyal. Minstrel of the Appalachians: the Story of Bascom Lamar Lunsford. 1984.

Kahn, Edward A., II. The Carter Family: a Reflection of Change in Society. 1970.

Malone, Bill C. Country Music USA: a Fifty-year History. 1968.

Rosenberg, Neil V. Bluegrass, a History. 1985.

Scarborough, Dorothy. A Song Catcher in Southern Mountains: American Folk Songs of British Ancestry. 1966.

Schlappi, Elizabeth. Roy Acuff: the Smoky Mountain Boy. 1980.

Sharp, Cecil James, comp. Eighty English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. 1968.

Swan, M. L. The New Harp of Columbia: a System of Musical Notation. 1978 Reprint of 1867 edition.

Tribe, Ivan M. The Stonemans: an Appalachian Family and the Music that Shaped Their Lives. 1993.

Wright, John. Traveling the High Way Home: Ralph Stanley and the World of Traditional Bluegrass Music. 1993.

Educational Media

Country Music in the Tri-Cities, an outreach videotape, is available for a 30-day loan from the Archives.