Richmond Folk Festival Documentary Film Series

National Park Service Civil War Visitors Center

Richmond Folk Festival 2012 Documentary Film Series

The 2012 Richmond Folk Festival Film Series pays homage to Virginia’s National Heritage Fellows, recipients of the nation’s highest honor for folk and traditional artists. Many of these outstanding artists will make live appearances on the RTD Folklife Stage and elsewhere. The film series also amplifies the 2012 theme of the Virginia Folklife Demonstration Area, “Fertile Ground: Virginia’s Agricultural Traditions,” exploring traditions from oyster aquaculture to ham curing to moonshine. Film screenings will take place in the National Park Service Civil War Visitor Center at Tredegar Iron Works, located at the center of the festival site, throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday.

From Wood To Singing Guitar(32 min.) – 1995 National Heritage Fellow Wayne C. Henderson, master musician and luthier from Rugby, Virginia, invites us inside his workshop and talks about his guitar making, picking, and personal mentors, including his folk heroes E.C. Ball and fiddle maker Albert Hash. By Shawn Lind, 2009.

All The Past We Leave Behind(22 min.) – Learn about Civil War sites and battlefields in the Richmond area. National Park Service.

Counting Oysters (10 min.) – A day on the Oyster Toad. The once abundant oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay has been in serious decline due to overharvesting, sedimentation and water quality. Pooh Johnston and Wade Walker have been farming healthy oysters for over ten years on an estuary of Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Their oysters are grown from seed to market-size in about two years. By David Chung, 2011.

Hamper McBee: Raw Mash (29 min.) – A candid portrait of the Tennessee ballad singer, storyteller, and part-time moonshiner Hamper McBee. The film follows the inimitable Hamper as he plies his trade at this surreptitious art, socializes and sings. “Bill Malone” is one he wrote himself about the local constable who routinely arrested Hamper when he had too much to drink. By Blaine Dunlap, Sol Korine.
Industrial Heart of the Confederacy: Tredegar Iron Works (12 min.) – The Tredegar Iron Works was the Confederacy’s most important industrial complex during the Civil War. In peacetime, it supplied the vast expansion of the railroad industry; in war it produced the largest number of cannon in the Confederacy. National Park Service.

Blues Houseparty: Music, Dance, and Stories by Masters of the Piedmont Blues (57 min.) – Captures an extraordinary gathering of some of America's greatest masters of the Piedmont blues. John Cephas (1989 National Heritage Fellow), Phil Wiggins, Archie Edwards, John Jackson (1986 National Heritage Fellow), James Jackson, Cora Jackson, Flora Molton, Larry Wise, John Dee Holeman, and Quentin 'Fris' Holloway sing, play, buckdance and swap stories of the days the when blues flourished at country breakdowns, corn-shuckings and houseparties. By Eleanor Ellis, 1989.

Cured (10 min.) – This salivating short film by Joe York profiles Madisonville, Tennessee's world-renowned bacon and country ham producer Allan Benton, who was born and raised in Scott County, Virginia. Produced by University of Mississippi Media & Documentary Projects Center and Southern Foodways Alliance in association with the Biltmore Estate, 2011.

Homemade American Music (42 min.) – A history of rural southeastern traditional American music, as told and played by 2009 National Heritage Fellow Mike Seeger and Alice Gerrard. Mike and Alice recount their own involvement with this music, and briefly trace its history as we meet their mentors: the late Tommy Jarrell, Lily May Ledford, Roscoe Holcomb, Elizabeth Cotten and many other musicians. By Carrie Aginsky, Yasha Aginsky, 1980.

The Ralph Stanley Story (1 hr. 12 min.) Portrait of 1984 National Heritage Fellow Ralph Stanley, legendary bluegrass pioneer and star of the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack. For over 50 years, Ralph Stanley’s banjo playing, haunting tenor voice and tradition-inspired repertoire have epitomized the high, lonesome sound of mountain music. This film explores Stanley’s musical roots in the Clinch Mountains of Virginia, the early days of The Stanley Brothers, and Ralph’s decision to continue on after the untimely death of brother Carter. Interviews with Ralph, former band members, and fellow musicians, with live performances of Stanley bluegrass classics. Appalshop, directed by Herb Smith, 2000.

In The Good Old Fashioned Way (29 min) Uniquely a product of mountain culture, the Old Regular Baptist Church is one of the oldest denominations in the Appalachians. This film documents a riverside baptism, foot-washing ceremonies, an Association Meeting, the music of the church, and memorial services held at a family cemetery, capturing the spirit and faith of the people of this church. Shown in honor of 2011 National Heritage Fellow and Old Regular Baptist singer Frank Newsome. Appalshop, directed by Herb E. Smith, 1973.

Sunny Side of Life (58 min.) During the 1920s and '30s, the records and radio shows of A.P. Carter, his wife Sara, and sister-in-law Maybelle spread the music of the Appalachian Mountains around the world and earned the Carter Family international fame. This film explores the history and legacy of this country music dynasty, which lives on at the Carter Family Fold in Maces Springs [Hiltons], Virginia, an old-time music hall founded in 1975 by the children of A.P. and Sara Carter: Joe, Gladys, and 2005 National Heritage Fellow Janette Carter. Features performances at the beloved Fold as well flatfooting and clogging by the audience. Appalshop, directed by Scott Faulkner, Anthony Slone, and Jack Wright, 1985.

The Key From Spain: The Songs & Stories of Flory Jagoda(40 min)
According to legend, when the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, they took with them the keys to their homes and their synagogues in the hope that they would one day return. They never did return, but their Spanish cultural heritage remained a powerful influence. Acclaimed Sephardic folksinger and 2002 National Heritage Fellow Flory Jagoda shares her uplifting story of survival and continuation, and songs from this timeless musical canon. By Mischa Livingstone and Ankica Petrovic, 2000.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

12:00 p.m.	From Wood To Singing Guitar (32 min.)
12:40 p.m.	All The Past We Leave Behind (22 min.)
1:10 p.m.	Counting Oysters (10 min.)
1:30 p.m.	Hamper McBee: Raw Mash (29 min.)
2:10 p.m.	Industrial Heart of the Confederacy: Tredegar Iron Works (12 min.)
2:30 p.m.	Blues Houseparty: Music, Dance, and Stories by Masters of the Piedmont Blues (57 min.)
3:40 p.m.	All The Past We Leave Behind (22 min.)
4:10 p.m.	Cured (10 min.)
4:30 p.m.	Homemade American Music (42 min.)
5:20 p.m.	Counting Oysters (10 min.)
5:40 p.m.	Hamper McBee: Raw Mash (29 min.)

Sunday, October 14, 2012

10:30 a.m.	The Ralph Stanley Story (1 hr. 12 min.)
11:50 a.m.	Counting Oysters (10 min.)
12:10 p.m.	Cured (10 min.)
12:30 p.m.	Hamper McBee: Raw Mash (29 min.)
1:10 p.m.	All the Paths We Leave Behind (22 min.)
1:40 p.m.	In The Good Old Fashioned Way (29 min)
2:20 p.m.	Industrial Heart of the Confederacy: Tredegar Iron Works (12 min.)
2:50 p.m.	All the Paths We Leave Behind (22 min.)
3:20 p.m.	Sunny Side of Life (58 min.)
4:40 p.m.	Counting Oysters (10 min.)
5:00 p.m.	The Key From Spain: The Songs & Stories of Flory Jagoda (40 min)