Affrolachian On-Time Music Gathering

06/21/2024

Yesssss!! https://www.facebook.com/share/p/8krg3YPKCAxzmAGB/?mibextid=WC7FNe

06/20/2024

Yay!!

06/19/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/ZGe1iiMvHsTWTzaM/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Thanks to the Ukulele Society of Nasons for joining me on stage at the Juneteenth celebration in Orange, VA. My heart is still ringing with our rendition of Motherless Child. ❤️

06/17/2024

Yay! Go if you can. 🙌🏽

06/17/2024

Yay! Festivities begin at 11am.

Join the Orange County African American Historical Society, Carter Farms, Africulture, and The Arts Center in Orange for a community celebration of Juneteent...

06/14/2024

Wheee!! https://www.facebook.com/share/1Uzos28p5ajvNSv8/?mibextid=WC7FNe

See you tomorrow. My set starts around 5pm. 🙌🏽

06/13/2024

Thank you, Mr. Riddle. 🙌🏽

On June 13, 1905, old-time musician Lesley Riddle was born in the Silvers Gap community north of Burnsville. Riddle learned to play blues and gospel songs on the guitar after losing most of a leg in an accident at a cement plant. He had to adjust his picking techniques to use only his thumb, index finger, and little finger after losing two fingers in a shotgun accident.

A.P. Carter, patriarch of the famous Carter family, first heard Riddle play and sing in Kingsport, Tennessee, in 1927 and quickly recruited him to help advance the Carter family’s fame. Carter and Riddle visited African American communities and churches throughout Appalachian Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina to find new songs for the Carter Family band. Riddle would memorize the tunes and words before returning to teach the songs to Sara and Maybelle Carter.

“Mother Maybelle” learned her trademark guitar techniques from Riddle, including using a pocketknife for slide guitar work.

Riddle never made a living at music, working as a shine boy, presser, and school crossing guard. In the 1960s, he accompanied Mike Seeger and the New Lost City Ramblers on the folk festival circuit.

Riddle is celebrated by an annual festival, Riddlefest.

Marker located in Yancey County, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2024/01/18/lesley-riddle-1905-1979-n-14

06/08/2024

Thangsters everywhere. 🙌🏽 https://www.facebook.com/share/v/XShYHeXhvc2L7ZPR/?mibextid=WC7FNe

06/06/2024

Even the warm up is sweet. Enjoy. Thank you Cedric. ❤️

06/05/2024

Sing Peace with us in Orange, VA.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/2XSaUyTm2qqSuvJD/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Sing Peace today at noon. ❤️

06/02/2024

Be there. 🙌🏽

Old-Time Week (July 21-26, 2024) Instructor Announcement - Justin Robinson!
Justin Robinson is a Grammy award-winning musician and vocalist, cultural preservationist, and historic foodways expert. Robinson has used his wide range of interests and talents to preserve North Carolina’s African American history and culture, connecting people to the past and to the world around them.
Robinson grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina. Influenced by the musical tastes of his grandparents, he grew to love a diversity of musical styles. He learned to play the violin as a child; however, he did not enjoy playing classical music and stopped playing around the age of 13. It wasn’t until he was inspired by the old-time blues jams he attended as a student at UNC-Chapel Hill that he decided to approach the violin again—this time, as a fiddler. He played with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, thereby working to preserve traditional forms of music, to introduce new generations to musical legends like Joe Thompson, and to remind audiences that the fiddle was, historically, an African American instrument. He wrote the song “Kissin’ and Cussin’” for the group’s Grammy award winning album, and continued to write music after leaving the group in 2011, releasing the album Bones for Tinder as Justin Robinson and the Mary Annettes in 2012.
Robinson is known for his work as a culinary historian. He is committed to helping African Americans rekindle their ties to the land. He is a founding member of the Earthseed Land Cooperative, a collective in Durham “made up of farmers, entrepreneurs, professionals, and teachers who are currently engaged in creating alternative models for sustainability, equity, and cooperation within communities of color.”
Robinson holds a BA in Linguistics from UNC-Chapel Hill and an MS in Forestry and Environmental Science from NC State University. He is a member of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina Board of Directors.
www.augustaartsandculture.org/2024-programs/

05/26/2024

Nice.

05/25/2024

Ready to shine the light in Seattle after a night of listening to Briar, Joe Seamons, and The Rhapsody Project put some music in my banjo ukulele. Wheee!🙌🏽 See you at The Makers Space at the Northwest Folklife Festival. Thank you Benjamin Hunter. 🙏🏽❤️📿

05/25/2024

I would be out of the state! Go if you can. 🙌🏽

Buy Yasmin Williams tickets at the The Southern Cafe & Music Hall in Charlottesville, VA for May 31, 2024 at Ticketmaster.

12/20/2023

Wheeee!! https://www.facebook.com/share/p/YTbPshXLCWvE3dzz/?mibextid=I6gGtw

Join us today at noon for Christmas carols and the usual peace songs. 🥰

12/20/2023

Yes 🙌🏽

12/19/2023

Wheee!!

The Piedmont Blūz Acoustic Duo is excited to be part of the 2024 lineup for the Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival on March 16th along with Lizzie No, Jerron Paxton, Corey Harris, Jontavious Willis, Spice Cake Blues, Joy Clark, Crys Matthews, EJ Matthews, Lilli Lewis, and Stephanie Anne Johnson. See you at the Southside Preservation Hall! Get more info and tickets here - www.fwaamfest.com

12/19/2023

See you there! Wheee!

Hear ye hear ye!! New location for the next dance! Soooo thankful to Studio 23 for hosting us in their new space at 109 W 15th Street! If you aren't familiar, check them out!!

That's not the only exciting thing.. we have a guest caller, Becky Hill, from West Virginia! And the Earl White Stringband! 🥳🥳🥰

12/17/2023

The exhibit is gaining great recognition. Congratulations, everyone. I’m happy that Affrolachian On-Time Music Gathering is mentioned in the display. 🙌🏽

We are pleased to announce that our latest exhibit, I've Endured: Women In Old-Time Music, has been selected by the Southeastern Museums Conference-SEMC for an Honorable Mention Award in the Over $25,000 budget category. The SEMC Exhibition Competition showcases the best in our profession and provides benchmarks for regional exhibition efforts in southeastern museums.

Women have always been central to old-time music – in the home and on the stage, and as instrumentalists and singers, preservationists, activists, promoters, and cultural memory keepers. This exhibit highlights the many women who have been integral to this music, exploring the challenges they’ve faced making a career in the field, the ways they have impacted the genre, and their vision for the future of old-time. It is so important to us that we share their stories, and we are incredibly thankful that the exhibit has been recognized by SEMC with this award!

12/13/2023

Help keep the hope going. 🥰 https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Mai81KCR4jRrxYjx/?mibextid=I6gGtw

Sing Peace tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon. I will be away chairing the art commission meeting. So I will not be with you. Please keep singing in the park. The conductor of Amtrak waves at us every week— as do some of the riders. Please come and shine your light even for a moment. And I will see you next week. (BTW. The train comes by around 12:45pm 😉)

12/07/2023

Lovely.

12/05/2023

Yay. 🙌🏽

JUST ANNOUNCED— we’re playing MerleFest!!

We’ve each performed at Merlefest before individually or in other configurations, so we’re especially excited to return to Wilkesboro together as New Dangerfield!! Tickets are on sale now and we hope you’ll join us in North Carolina on Sunday, April 28, 2024 for this legendary roots music festival. More info: https://merlefest.org/purchase/

And how about this new photo by Justin French, too?!

More 2024 announcements coming soon 👀

12/03/2023

Go back and get them. 🙌🏽

12/02/2023

Amazing work being done through The Rhapsody Project. 🙌🏽

11/28/2023

Join us every Wednesday. Look at this post on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/share/p/fzs9BCVtJQSeN8mr/?mibextid=I6gGtw

Join us for an hour tomorrow to Sing Peace. It will be 37° and clear at noon in Orange, Va. Draw a picture, sing a song, dance a jig. No rhetoric, no agenda. It’s a time to sing together and share good cheer. ❤️

11/26/2023

Starting now. 🙌🏽

11/22/2023

Oh wow!! 🙌🏽

11/19/2023

This is lovely. I look forward to getting to Archie Edwards’ one day. 🙌🏽 way to go, Benedict Turner.

Jim Lande passing down the bone making tradition to Benedict Turner at the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation.

11/17/2023

Yes. Congratulations!!

Exciting news! Southern Living has just included Bristol in their list of 11 Best Weekend Getaways In Virginia For Every Type Of Traveler! We are so proud to be part of this wonderful community!!

📸: Hannah Laney

11/17/2023

Simply the best. These gentlemen are genuine. 🙌🏽 Thank you for this, Junious Brickhouse and Phil Wiggins.