He Sang This Bluegrass/Mountain Song in 1965. It Will Give You The Shivers

The time was 1965. In the spring. I was making my first professional documentary film. I proposed it to national educational television, the forerunner of PBS, and they gave me $7000 to go North Carolina, and the beautiful Appalachian mountain towns largely in Madison County and Wilkes County, and follow 81-year-old Bascom Lamar Lunsford as he sought out talent for his mountain folk and dance Festival in Asheville. He started that festival in 1929. I wrote him a letter and he agreed to allow me to take a 16mm camera and a friend with a Nagra tape recorder and be with him for just about six weeks. It was quite wonderful and quite amazing to be surrounded by such talent on a daily basis. Country singers. Mountain singers. Flat pickers. Banjo pickers and fiddle pickers and mandolin pickers. Poets. Storytellers. Clog dancers. Talent everywhere it seemed.

To see the complete one hour from from which this clip was taken, go here -    • My Classic Bluegrass/Mountain Music S...  

Harold and Margaret Winters who you see in this scene from my film lived on a little pond in a town that I no longer remember the name of. He was a heavy smoker of cigarettes and his already beautiful voice became more beautiful with a bit of hoarseness to it.

I had never used the 16mm sync sound camera before and apologize for the unnecessary zooms and sometimes out of focus film. But the recording to me at least is magnificent. Ordinary people. Extraordinary talents.

I found at least two records online that Harold and Margaret recorded together:

1) Armoneer Records / Winona Lake, IN with tracks: Aunt Rhody, Wildwood Flower, Loch Lomond, Black is the Color, The Fox, Go From My Window, and I Never Shall Marry

2) Songs Of Our Mountains by Harold and Margaret Winter of Wee Loch recorded in 1966 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The back cover of the record album says: "Harold and Margaret Winters were born in the remote mountainous area of Western North Carolina. Their forefathers were among the first settlers in the southern mountains. The Winters are both from singing families, their music is a part of their life that they have known and loved from earliest childhood. Most of the songs that they sing were learned orally from their families and friends. They now make their home at Wee Loch, Elk Park, North Carolina.”

Margaret Winter was also the author of How To Play The Dulcimer, published by Boston Music Company. The mountain Dulcimer that she is playing was designed by her husband.

In this scene, the Winters are singing Blackjack Davey. Blackjack Davey is a traditional folk song that has been performed by many artists including Bob Dylan, The White Stripes and The Incredible String Band. The song tells the story of a young woman who leaves her wealthy family to run away with a handsome gambler named Blackjack Davey. The song has its roots in the British Isles and was likely brought to America by Scottish and Irish immigrants. The lyrics have evolved over time, but the basic story has remained the same.
Bob Dylan's version of the song, which appears on his 1992 album "Good as I Been to You," features a stripped-down acoustic arrangement and Dylan's distinctive vocals. The White Stripes' version which appears on their 2003 album "Elephant" is a more uptempo, bluesy take on the song. It is a classic example of the storytelling tradition in country and mountain music.

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Thank you
David Hoffman filmmaker