Bascom Lamar Lunsford (March 21, 1882 - September 4, 1973) was a lawyer, folklorist, and performer of traditional (
folkThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
and
countryCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
) music from western
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
. He was often known by the nickname "Minstrel of the Appalachians."
Bascom Lamar Lunsford was born at
Mars HillMars Hill is a town in Madison County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,764 at the 2000 census. It is the home of Mars Hill College, and is named after the college. The town is located approximately one mile west of Interstate 26, and due north of Asheville, western North...
,
Madison CountyMadison County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is part of the Asheville, North Carolina, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2000, the population was 19,635. Its county seat is Marshall.- History :...
, North Carolina in 1882. His father James Bassett Lunsford was a self-taught teacher and his mother Luarta Leah Buckner often sang old ballads and religious songs.
Bascom Lamar Lunsford (March 21, 1882 - September 4, 1973) was a lawyer, folklorist, and performer of traditional (
folkThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
and
countryCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
) music from western
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
. He was often known by the nickname "Minstrel of the Appalachians."
Early life
Bascom Lamar Lunsford was born at
Mars HillMars Hill is a town in Madison County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,764 at the 2000 census. It is the home of Mars Hill College, and is named after the college. The town is located approximately one mile west of Interstate 26, and due north of Asheville, western North...
,
Madison CountyMadison County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is part of the Asheville, North Carolina, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2000, the population was 19,635. Its county seat is Marshall.- History :...
, North Carolina in 1882. His father James Bassett Lunsford was a self-taught teacher and his mother Luarta Leah Buckner often sang old ballads and religious songs. His father bought a fiddle to be shared between Bascom and his brother Blackwell. Later his brother bought a banjo. He played this on all social occasions - square dances, weddings and school entertainments. He enrolled at Rutherford College and began teaching in Madison County. When he became a fruit tree salesman he visited isolated farms and there exchanged songs and tunes with the customers. In 1906 he married Nellie Triplett. In 1909 he re-enrolled at Rutherford College. After studying at Trinity College (which became
Duke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892...
) he passed the bar exams and became licensed solicitor in 1913.
North Carolina folklore
He gave lectures on folklore poetry and songs. Almost mocking the formal structure of these lectures he wore white tie and tails, and proceeded to play the banjo. During the
First World WarWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
he became an agent chasing draft evaders. In 1922 Frank C. Brown, a song collector, recorded 32 items on wax cylinders from Bascom. In 1924 he recorded
"Jesse James"Jesse James became a hero in folklore and dime novels before he was killed in 1882. A manifestation of this was the emergence of a wide body of music that celebrates or alludes to Jesse James...
and "
I Wish I Was a Mole In the GroundI Wish I Was a Mole In the Ground is a traditional American folk song. It was most famously recorded and archived in the Library of Congress by Bascom Lamar Lunsford in 1924. It has also been recorded by many other performers....
" for the General Phonograph Company for commercial release. He recorded it again in 1949 for the Archive of American Folksong. It is not clear whether Bob Dylan ever heard it, but Bascom's delivery has some hallmarks of Dylan's early style, with a tight voice on the high notes. In 1928 he recorded for Brunswick. He played in a style from Western North Carolina, which had a rhythmic up-stroke brushing the strings. It sounds similar to
clawhammerClawhammer is a highly rhythmic banjo playing style and common component of American old-time music. The principal difference between clawhammer style and other styles is the picking direction...
banjo playing, which emphasises the downstroke. He also played a "mandoline", an instrument with mandolin body and a five-string banjo neck. He occasionally played fiddle for dance tunes such as "Rye Straw". He censored himself, avoiding obscene songs or omitting verses. His repertoire included
Child BalladsThe Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...
, negro spirituals and parlor songs.
The Mountain Dance and Folk Festival
In 1927 the Asheville Chamber of Commerce organized a
rhododendronRhododendron is a genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. It is a large genus with over 1000 species and most have showy flower displays. It includes the plants known to gardeners as azaleas...
festival to encourage tourism. The Chamber asked Bascom to invite local musicians and dancers. 1928 was the first year of the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, often claimed as the first event to be described as a "
Folk FestivalA Folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music.-Canada:Alberta*Calgary Folk Music Festival*Canmore Folk Music Festival*Edmonton Folk Music Festival*Jasper Folk Festival
Ontario*Barriefolk...
". After a few years the rhododendron element disappeared but the festival continues to this day. He was the organiser and performed there every year until he suffered a stroke in 1965.
Politics and fame
Bascom was involved in the politics of the
Democratic PartyThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
. He managed the campaign for Congressman
Zebulon WeaverZebulon Weaver was a Democratic U.S. Congressman from North Carolina between 1917 and 1929 and between 1931 and 1947....
for North Carolina. From 1931 to 1934 he was a reading clerk of the
North Carolina House of RepresentativesThe North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120 member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the state senate...
. Charles Seeger employed him in the mid-30s to promote singers in "Skyline Farms", as part of the "
New DealThe New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to his complex package of economic programs 1933-36 with the goals of what historians call the 3 Rs, of giving Relief to the unemployed and badly hurt farmers, Reform of business and financial practices, and promoting...
". He performed at the White House in 1939 when the King and Queen of Britain paid a visit.
He died on 4 September 1973.
His fame today rests on his performances, several of which have been preserved on records, and are also available on compact disc. Many of these recordings were made by the
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
to preserve vanishing Appalachian culture.
His most famous recording is "
I Wish I Was a Mole In the GroundI Wish I Was a Mole In the Ground is a traditional American folk song. It was most famously recorded and archived in the Library of Congress by Bascom Lamar Lunsford in 1924. It has also been recorded by many other performers....
", which is discussed at length in
Greil MarcusGreil Marcus is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a much broader framework of culture and politics than is customary in pop music journalism....
'
The Old Weird America. It is collected on
Harry Smith'sHarry Everett Smith was an American archivist, ethnomusicologist, student of anthropology, record collector, experimental filmmaker, artist, bohemian and mystic. Smith is a well-known figure in several fields...
Anthology of American Folk MusicThe Anthology of American Folk Music is a six-album compilation released in 1952 by Folkways Records , comprising eighty-four American folk, blues and country music recordings that were originally issued from 1927 to 1932.Experimental filmmaker and notable eccentric Harry Smith compiled the music...
. A CD devoted exclusively to Lunsford is available, titled
Ballads, Banjo Tunes, and Sacred Songs of Western North Carolina.
Lunsford's original recording of "
Good Old Mountain DewGood Old Mountain Dew is a song composed by Bascom Lamar Lunsford. In addition to being a folklorist, Mr. Lunsford was a lawyer, who defended clients in criminal cases involving moonshining. The original refers to traditional blind trading methods of purchasing illegal liquor...
" was used as the first advertising theme for the newly created
Mountain DewMountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew, is a soft drink manufactured and distributed by PepsiCo. Although its formula was invented in Knoxville, Tennessee, it was first marketed in Knoxville and Johnson City, TN through the 1940s. Then by Barney and Ally Hartman, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and...
soda. He sold the rights to the song for a train ticket home.
Discography
- Ballads, Banjo Tunes and Sacred Songs of Western North Carolina (1996) (Smithsonian Folkways)
- Minstrel of the Appalachians
- Smokey Mountain Ballads (1953) (Folkways
Folkways can refer to:*Folkways —theory by the sociologist William Graham Sumner.*Folkways Records—a record label founded by Moe Asch....
)
- Song and Ballads of American History and of the Assassination of American Presidents (1952)
- Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1956) (Riverside)
- Music from South Turkey Creek (1976) (Rounder)
External links