Video: Mississippi John Hurt | Spike Driver’s Blues
Mississippi John Hurt used a syncopated finger picking style of guitar playing that he taught himself. According to the music critic Robert Christgau, “No one else has talked the blues with such delicacy or restraint.”
Video: Rising Appalachia | Resilient
These times are poignant
The winds have shifted
It’s all we can do
To stay uplifted
Video: Nora Brown plays two old-time banjo tunes
In a mesmerizing set, musician Nora Brown breathes new life into two old-time banjo tunes: “East Virginia” and “John Brown’s Dream.” An evocative performance paired with a quick history of the banjo’s evolution.
Mark Allan Jackson: Reactionaries love it, but country music has a progressive heart
Right from the start, country music spoke up with a progressive voice.
Video: Doc Watson & Earl Scruggs Perform “John Hardy” at Doc’s home
Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, and their sons perform the Appalachian ballad John Hardy at Doc’s home. — On January 19, 1894, the Wheeling Daily Register published the following story: “John … Continue reading
Video: Doc Watson performing ‘Deep River Blues’
A master at both flatpicking and fingerstyle guitar, Doc Watson (1923-2012) had a profound influence on American traditional, folk and bluegrass music ever since coming to national attention in the … Continue reading
