Earl White
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The 30th Annual Celebration of Traditional Music, Berea College’s
annual weekend of Old Time Music and Dance, will take place Oct. 29-31
on Berea’s campus.
A highlight of the Celebration is a concert of festival musicians scheduled
for Saturday, Oct. 30, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in Phelps Stokes Chapel.
Performers this year include fiddler Earl White; Delmer Holland and The
Blue Creek Ramblers, Ken Childress and Jim Mullins and the Berea College
String Band with award-winning fiddler and Berea College student Jake
Krack.
A founding member of the Greengrass Cloggers in 1971, Earl White has
been a prominent figure in the old-time music and dance scene for 30
years. He received his first fiddle in 1974 and is one of the few black
Americans reviving the music that was once an important part of rural
black communities and life on the plantations in the South. White is
widely known for his extensive repertoire of unusual tunes and his driving,
energetic style. The Blue Creek Ramblers are an old-time string band
from Tennessee, whose members range in age from 70 to 18. They recently
released their first recording “Keeping the Tradition Alive.” Ken
Childress and Jim Mullins are a guitar duo from West Virginia.
The weekend begins on Friday evening with an Open Mic and Jam Session
hosted by local musicians Donna and Lewis Lamb. On Saturday, music and
dance workshops begin at 10 a.m. At 11 there will be a showing of the
documentary “Coal Camp Blues” followed by a noon-time concert
on the College Square Green with Jim McGee and Hershell Muncey. Cincinnati
folklorist John Bealle will present this year’s symposium, “Sacred
Harp as Folksong,” about the traditional and practice of shape-note
singing, beginning at 1:30. The Celebration concludes Sunday morning
with a Traditional Gospel Sing at Union Church in Berea, at 9:30.
A complete Celebration schedule of events is below.
Concert admission Saturday evening is $8 for adults and $4 for children
and youth ages 10-17. Tickets can be purchased at the door. Music workshops
are $10 (square dance workshop is free). All other festival events are
free of charge.
The Celebration is made possible in part by a grant from the Kentucky
Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. To register for
workshops or for more information, call the Berea College Appalachian
Center at 606-985-3140, visit www.berea.edu/appalachiancenter/ or
email:
30th Celebration of Traditional Music
Berea College,
Oct. 29-31
SCHEDULE
Friday, October 29
Jam Session – Open Mic
7:00 p.m. - Alumni Building, Activities Room
Hosted by local musicians
Donna & Lewis Lamb
Saturday, October 30
Workshops - 10:00
a.m. - 12:00 p.m., Alumni Building
- Beginning Banjo
with Rebekah Weiler
- Intermediate/Advanced Banjo with Cari Norris
- Beginning Fiddle with
Lewis Lamb
- Intermediate/Advanced Fiddle with Earl White
- Shape-note Singing with
John Bealle
Documentary Film Showing “Coal
Camp Blues”
11:00 a.m., Alumni Building, Baird Lounge
Followed by a Noon-time concert
on the college square green at Short Street with Jim McGee and Hershell
Muncey.
Symposium “Sacred Harp as Folksong”
1:30 p.m., Alumni Building, Baird Lounge
By John Bealle
Sqaure Dance Workshop
3:30 p.m., Alumni Building, Activities Room
Featuring Delmer Holland and
The Blue Creek Ramblers
Evening Concert of Festival Musicians
7:30 p.m., Phelps Stokes Auditorium
Featuring The Berea College String
Band, Earl White,
Delmer Holland and The Blue Creek Ramblers,
Ken Childress and Jim Mullins, and more!
(Admission: $8-adults; $4-children and youth ages 10-17)
Sunday, October 31
Traditional Gospel Sing
9:30 a.m., Union Church
With Jim Mullins and Ken Childress
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