By Patrick Crum, Lane Sulfridge, and Rodney Wolfenbarger

Cowan Creek Youth String Band and a few parents perform at the Saturday night concert of the 2008 Celebration of Traditional Music

On October 16-19, 2008, the Berea College Appalachian Center hosted its 35th annual Celebration of Traditional Music. The weekend kicked off with a Stephenson Memorial Concert featuring the talent of David Holt and the Lightning Bolts. Holt, a four-time Grammy Award winner, has collected and performed traditional Appalachian music and stories for over 30 years. A talented singer, storyteller, and historian of Appalachian folk music, he and his band, The Lightning Bolts, entertained the audience with their electrifying instrumental wizardry and the warmth and humor of traditional songs.

On Friday festival-goers were treated to a meal of soup beans and cornbread during a lunch-time concert featuring the vocal talents of Karly Dawn Higgins and Sarah Wood. The luncheon was followed by an afternoon symposium by Cecelia Conway, known folklorist and filmmaker, on the African Roots of the Mountain Banjo and Fiddle. David Holt and the Lightning Bolts returned to the stage on Friday evening for the children’s concert. The event was a huge success with many children in attendance singing and dancing along. Soon afterwards, chairs were moved into a large circle for the evening’s jam session.

Saturday morning was filled with workshops taught by festival musicians that included shape note singing, flatfoot dancing, and folk rhythms, which introduced participants to the interesting ways people can create rhythm from everyday objects such as paper bags, spoons, cow ribs, and pop bottle lids attached to sticks. At the Appalachian Center, mandolin, guitar, banjo, and fiddle players of all skill levels gathered to work with various folk artists of the region. Mike Long, a regional guitar maker, also presented one of his guitars in a special display in the main gallery and gave a presentation about his style of work. Informal jam sessions held throughout the morning and early afternoon allowed participation for anyone who desired to make music.

Audience participation continued throughout Saturday afternoon with an open microphone session where spectators shared a few of their own pieces and own styles of playing. Afterwards, the wooden floor was cleared for the dance session, which featured 79-year-old guest caller Lou Maiuri, an award-winning clogger, dance caller, and teacher. David Holt and the Lightning Bolts joined Lou on stage and led people in different styles of dance commonly practiced throughout the Appalachian region.

The weekend culminated on Saturday night with the Celebration Concert of Festival Musicians, a real treat for all who attended. Held in Phelps-Stokes Auditorium, performances included Virgil Bowlin and Peerless Mountain, Karly Dawn Higgins and Sarah Wood, Paul David Smith accompanied by John Harrod, Gloria Belle and Mike Long, a clogging number by Lou Maiuri, and David Holt and the Lightning Bolts as the final performers. The Cowan Creek Youth String Band, comprised of 11- and 12-year olds taught through the Cowan Creek Music School, also performed and was the highlight of the evening. The Appalachian Center was pleased to have them as special guests to celebrate their sponsor, Cowan Creek Community Action Organization, on their receipt of the 2008 Governor’s Award in Folk Arts. The award is in recognition of the creation of the Cowan Creek Mountain Music School and all they have done to promote traditional music here in Kentucky.

Some of this year’s attendees had traveled from as far away as Texas and Oregon to attend this year’s event, and those folks who had not already made the trip back home wrapped up the festival with hymn singing at Union Church on Sunday morning. Deborah Thompson, Appalachian Center Director of Programming—responsible for planning the annual Celebration—led the event with banjo and guitar playing along with weekend performers Virgil Bowlin and Peerless Mountain, Karly Dawn Higgins, and Sarah Wood for a morning full of old-time church music.

If you were unfortunate enough to miss this year’s event, be sure to mark your calendars for the 36th annual Celebration of Traditional Music, to be held October 15-18, 2009. If you are a traditional musician and would like to play in next year’s festival, please send your biography and a music sample to Deborah Thompson, Appalachian Center, CPO 2166, Berea College, Berea, KY 40404.