We are pleased to announce our 2022-2023 cohort of apprenticeship participants in the third round of the West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program. Seven apprenticeship pairs from across the Mountain State will study and practice traditions including soul food cooking, fiddle repair, and mushroom foraging. The Folklife Apprenticeship Program offers $3,000 to recognize and honor West…
Tag: Music
Introducing Jennie Williams, the State Folklorist of West Virginia
A version of this piece will be published in the Summer 2022 issue of Goldenseal, a print magazine produced by the WV Department of Arts, Culture and History. My name is Jennie Williams, and I’m thrilled to join the West Virginia Humanities Council and direct the West Virginia Folklife Program as the new state folklorist….
West Virginia Folklife Collection Now Online Via WVU Libraries
West Virginia Folklife is thrilled to announce that its digital archives collection, The West Virginia Folklife Collection, is now accessible online through the West Virginia and Regional History Center at West Virginia University Libraries. The collection may be viewed at https://wvfolklife.lib.wvu.edu/
West Virginia Folklife Presents Virtual Apprenticeship Showcase: Old-Time Fiddle & Banjo
Please join us on Thursday, September 23 at noon for a virtual showcase featuring apprenticeship pair in old-time banjo of Central West Virginia, Kim Johnson & Cody Jordan of Kanawha County, and old-time fiddle apprenticeship pair Joe Herrmann & Dakota Karper of Hampshire County. The pairs will perform a concert and host a Q&A. The event is free and open to the public, but attendees should register here.
West Virginians’ Creative Responses to COVID-19: A Digital Exhibit
In April 2020, in the midst of West Virginia’s Stay at Home Order, the West Virginia Folklife Program issued a call for West Virginians to share documentation of how they were creatively responding to the COVID-19 crisis, through music, stories, writing, craft, art, memes, mask making, and more.
Over the next year, we received documents, photos, and videos featuring homemade masks, quilts, doll clothes, and hooked rugs, original poems and compositions, parody songs, paintings, home herbal apothecaries, and even the Mothman statue. These submissions demonstrated the various ways Mountain State residents were processing, documenting, and occupying their time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020 Folklife Apprenticeship Feature: Joe Herrmann & Dakota Karper, Old-time Fiddle
Joe Herrman of Hampshire County is leading an apprenticeship in old-time fiddle with Dakota Karper of Capon Bridge. Herrmann is a founding member of the Critton Hollow String Band and has taught old-time fiddle to many private students and at the Augusta Heritage Center.
2020 Folklife Apprenticeship Feature: Kim Johnson & Cody Jordan, Banjo Traditions of Central West Virginia
Kim Johnson of South Charleston is leading an apprenticeship in banjo traditions of central West Virginia with apprentice Cody Jordan of Charleston.
A Tribute to West Virginia Labor Singer-Songwriter Elaine Purkey (1949-2020)
West Virginia Folklife deeply mourns the great loss of labor songwriter, musician, activist, radio host, teacher, and devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother Elaine Purkey.
West Virginia Fiddle & Banjo Player John Morris Among the 2020 NEA National Heritage Fellows, the Nation’s Highest Honor in the Folk and Traditional Arts
We are thrilled to announce that old-time musician John Morris of Ivydale, WV, is one of nine 2020 National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellows, the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.
Join the West Virginia Humanities Council’s Virtual West Virginia Day Celebration
Happy West Virginia Day 2020, from the West Virginia Humanities Council!
Field Notes: An Interview with W.I. “Bill” Hairston
W.I. “Bill” Hairston, 71, is a storyteller, old-time musician, and pastor living in Charleston, West Virginia. He was born in Phenix City, Alabama, and his family moved to Saint Albans, West Virginia, in 1960.
Remembering Bill Withers: The Nomination Letters for his 2017 WVU Honorary Doctorate
William Harrison ‘‘Bill’’ Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was born into a miner’s family of 13 children in Slab Fork, Raleigh County, West Virginia. His mother moved the family to Beckley when Withers was 3, but he continued to spend weekends in Slab Fork. By the time he was 15, Withers…
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