Mountain Music
A near-synonym for the Appalachian highland strain of old-time, emphasizing the music made in and about the mountains: fiddle and banjo tunes, dulcimer-backed ballads, gospel-tinged harmonies, and the high, lonesome mountain vocal. Instrumentation leans on fiddle, clawhammer banjo, guitar, dulcimer, and autoharp, with both lively dance tunes and slow, mournful laments. The feel is rooted, rustic, and tied to a strong sense of place.
History
Mountain Music is the everyday name for the traditional music of the Appalachian and Blue Ridge highlands, popularized as a category by early radio and the Grand Ole Opry's "from the mountains" framing. It was carried by ballad singers, fiddlers, and banjo players from Virginia, the Carolinas, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and recorded by The Carter Family, Clarence Ashley, and others from the Bristol-era forward. The dulcimer, championed by Kentucky's Jean Ritchie, became one of its emblematic instruments.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Jean Ritchie, "Singing Family of the Cumberlands"
- Bill C. Malone, "Country Music, U.S.A."
- Smithsonian Folkways recordings