The First Bluegrass Music Festival - Asheville 1929

Get the entire film at www.createspace.com/204610. To support my efforts to create more clips please donate to me at www.patreon.com/allinaday. I spent a year searching for this wonderful old footage and finding folks who were there to experience these events, now long gone. My resulting one-hour documentary tells the story of Lunsford but goes beyond him to give a sense of these great musicians and dancers and how they struggled against prejudice. David Hoffman--filmmaker

[@Ravenscaller]

The Asheville festive isn't a Bluegrass festival. It's an old time mountain music festival or folk festival. Folk music from and by real folks not slick commercial grade like PP&M. I grew up there and have been to the festival many times. I have a great aunt who also performed. Thanks for posting this. Brings back memories.

[@cecimarie8078]

My great-grandaddy Sam Hunnicutt yodeling around 5:20!!! Thank you for uploading this!

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

a spectacular man he was. I remember him well. I'm glad you have the recording I made for your family to enjoy. David Hoffman-filmmaker

[@depoyd]

Bluegrass as a word was not used to describe the music until 1959 on a recording by Folkways called Mountain Music Blue Grass Style. The 1st Bluegrass Day as part of a regular music series held in Berryville, VA, on August 10, 1960, the 1st Festival was Bill Clifton’s one day event in Luray, Virginia held on July 4, 1961. Carlton Haney was in attendance. The first multi-day Blue Grass Festival was held in Fincastle, VA. Labor Day Weekend 1965 with Carlton Haney. This information was part of a dissertation Social Context of Bluegrass Music by Dr. Donald DePoy.

[@chrismontgomery8935]

Bluegrass music started in Bill Monroe's band that had Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and post dated this music. This is Mountain Music or Old Time country music which differs from Bluegrass music.

[@christschool]

Bascom Lunsford was long before Bill Monroe. You don't know much about the Lunsfords and that is a shame. Bascom's legacy was stolen from him and if it weren't for David, he may have been forgotten.

[@empressfrancis1]

My Dad, William "Harold" Francis, was born (1920) and raised in Waynesville and was a member of the Soco Gap Dance Team which Lunsford lead in the 30's. They did sort of flatfoot or clog dancing as it is known now, and were invited to the White House to dance for the King and Queen of England in 1935 as an example of American culture. They paid their own way to Washington in the heart of The Depression, and as a "Thank you" the girls were given a box of chocolates and the boys were given a carton of cigarettes. It upset my Dad.particularly since money was so tight and he didn't even smoke. The type of dancing Mr. Hoffman shows in the clip "Best Bluegrass Clog Dancing Video Ever Made" was what Daddy's dance team did. I believe you can even see Bascum Lunsford in that living room. Daddy is now 95 years old and living in WY.

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

+Debbie F thank you for writing this. I remember Bascom talking about the trip to England and how much it meant to him. Your father has lived an extraordinary life. Before he passes on, you must take the time to videotape him telling his stories if he is still cogent which I hope he is. You can e-mail me at [e-mail] and I will tell you how to do it in the simplest and most long-lasting way. David Hoffman-filmmaker

[@franciscochacon4319]

Have your bluegrass films ever been translated to spanish? And their prices?

[@Ravenscaller]

There used to be professional team dancing like that on the Grand Ole Opry where they used taps on their shoes so people could hear them on the radio. I may be wrong but the I think that had been picked up by the teams at the Asheville festival in the late 60s and 70s. I doubt if it's culturally accurate. Never thought to ask my mother. Her uncle was a fiddler who had dances in their big dining room. I doubt that he would have let people use steel taps on the floor.

[@18winsagin]

I always believed bluegrass began in the mountains of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee which these States produced all of its Legends, Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Ralph and Carter Stanley. Just my thought I'm only 58 but listened to Bluegrass most of my life being Mom and Dad were from around Timber Ridge, West Virginia which wasn't a big hot spot for Bluegrass but it was played by some locals I remember.

[@qpwillie]

There Was no Bluegrass music in 1929. Bill Monroe didn't come to the Opry until 1939.

[@tommckinnon1005]

My parents used to take the family to Mr Lunsford's festivals in Asheville during the 1960s. He was an old man then and I am only now learning of his long devotion to mountain music.

[@TimLahey]

Great film! Thanks for putting it together. I had the pleasure of hearing Tommy Hunter and Obray Ramsey play in Madison County in the early 70's.

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

What a pleasure that must have been. Two genius musicians and tru mountain men as well. David Hoffman - filmmaker

[@marypegramciervo1905]

My father George Frankin Pegram Jr was a famous banjo player !!

[@alfrede.neuman8898]

Bascom Lunsford was a national treasure as was John Jacob Niles. Niles' son told me that they both met at the Niles' homestead, had lunch together one day, and shared a long conversation about Appalachian Music. ---- John Niles 13 years ago Yes, my father did know Bascom Lunsford and admired his work. I remembered Lunsford coming to the house in Kentucky many years ago and having lunch with my dad. John Ed Niles

[@clawhammer704]

Lunsford wanted mountain music. Nothing else.

[@kevinw9073]

Great video as always.

[@frankkelch4553]

Bluegrass didn't exist in 1929. Lunsford started an annual folk festival... there's a difference.

[@jayturbo5181]

Frank Kelch Amen.. It was Mountain Music, not Bluegrass..

[@robertewalt7789]

My father, from the Bluegrass region around Lexington, KY, told me “Bluegrass music” was a misnomer, because it has its roots in the mountains of Eastern KY, not the central Bluegrass region. Bill Monroe was from western KY, near the Ohio River.

[@haroldcrenshaw5630]

Bluegrass is a lawncare term

[@larusoskar6707]

Mountain Music, Old Timey ... the term Bluegrass came later ... actually Bluegrass music is just Old Time Music on speed!

[@haroldcrenshaw5630]

@@larusoskar6707 lol good one

[@seanmccormick3270]

What we call bluegrass music started in the 40's. The music in this video is mountain music. There is a distinct difference. You might want to reconsider changing the name I love your video. Like the first Mountain Music Festival,

[@elliotportner8020]

David it is amazing to me the ashvpile was so deeply influenced by European music or formal music I had in my masters at Temple--I am making my final operatic cd after my daughters wedding in hot springs sept 2 oy such a simcha

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

I would love to hear it, Elliott. It sounds interesting to say the least. David Hoffman-filmmaker make sure you videotape the event and the music with good sound recording equipment.

[@jomcg50]

This title is a little misleading, since "Blue Grass" music didn't exist until the 1940's, when it was used to distinguish Bill Monroe and his music from the other country or mountain music acts on The Grand Ole Opry. Even up until the 1960's groups such as Flatt & Scruggs, Jim & Jesse, Reno & Smiley, The Stanley Brothers, et. al., never billed THEMSELVES as "Blue Grass". At Carlton Haney's 1st Bluegrass Festival in Fincastle, VA in 1965, some of these groups were first labelled as "bluegrass", and now every acoustic string band is lumped into that category! Blue Grass music was Bill Monroe, defined by the rhythm of his music, the tempo at which he played and the different keys in which he played - all foreign to the musicians in the 1920's through 40's.

[@Jy3pr6]

You seem to know a lot about these distinctions. Could you recommend a CD compilation of early bluegrass or mountain music? I've got compilations of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and now The Stanley Brothers but none of the early stuff. Your recommendation would be much appreciated.

[@RobsRags]

Jonathan Perez old time music. Check out “field recorders collective”

[@mandoist]

Your 'history' is a little off. But right about "bluegrass" music not existing in 1929. Wasn't until 1939 that Monroe formed a string band that was one step away from what would become the original 'Blue Grass' music sound. When Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs joined Monroe in 1945, the fiddler was Howdy Forrester with his brother, Joe on bass. This unit evolved into the definitive Blue Grass sound late in 1945, with the replacements of Chubby Wise on fiddle and Howard Watts on bass. Bluegrass as we know it was born at that moment and this version of Monroe's band recorded almost 30 songs from 1946-47 which are still performed in the mainstream of the genre today. The term "Bluegrass" came out of Bill Monroe's home state... and the State of Kentucky's motto (The Bluegrass State). of course, the origin for Monroe calling his band 'The Blue Grass Boys'. Music historians and scholars agree the moniker 'Bluegrass' became the adopted name for this music genre in the early 1950's once audiences began calling out to the stage to "play us some of that bluegrass music" and so on. The term passed through word-of-mouth and that was that.

[@mandoist]

For what it's worth... the first organized Blue Grass "festival" was in 1965, and promoted/organized by singer/writer Bill Clifton. Carlton Haney's event started the following summer.

[@editorjuno]

I attended one of those Haney festivals, and I can assure you that the term "bluegrass" was well established among those of us who played the music well before Haney's innovation of summer festivals devoted to the style.

[@paulyoungblood7484]

Pete Seeger was inspired to begin to play banjo at this festival.

[@elliotportner8020]

David the cd is complete- it is comprised of Schubert, Schumann, Bizet, Rossini, Beethovan, Vivaldi- yes it is opera that I need to update n my repertoire of recordings- responses from Temple, Cleveland Inst. of Music and Juilliard are just great so it will be public soon as mein zindl an electronic mayvin gets on it- thank you for your supportive comments sir!

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

You are welcome Elliott. And please connect with me when it is all done at my e-mail address, [e-mail]

[@Isosceles1]

I've never seen so many sprightly old people in one video.

[@freedapeeple4049]

Mr. Hoffman, you need to stop referring to anything pre-Bill Monroe as bluegrass. Bluegrass was invented deliberately and specifically by Bill Monroe. He intended for it to be his own signature style and was greatly upset when others started copying it. Old-timey music INFLUENCED bluegrass, but it was most definitely NOT bluegrass.

[@surgeongeneralsmokes]

Amen sister..couldn't have said it better myself!!! There's a WORLD of difference between Bluegrass and Old Time Mountain music...

[@moonshinerphd9523]

That's right Freeda, I enjoy that 'Old Time' mountain music!

[@freedapeeple4049]

Actually, I believe I owe Mr. Hoffman an apology for the tone of my comment. I stand by what I say, but I had no business telling Mr. Hoffman that he "needs to do" anything. He has contributed far more to the world than I have and I should have been more respectful.

[@christschool]

LOL. Did Bill Hayley invent Rock N Roll because he coined the term? I know it hurts you folks from Kentucky, but truth is truth.

[@chuckwilliam4746]

@@christschool Alan Freed was the 1st person to describe a particular kind of music as "rock and roll", an old term black folks used to describe sex.

[@gazicj]

this is so great--thank you. check out that homie get down from 3:40-3:50.

[@tribulationcoming]

That is a really good thing. I'm a songwriter/musician and should go to Nashville with the songs. All Gospel with a different sound.

[@bryantc382]

Jerusalem Ridge in Rosine Kentucky is Home of Bill Monroe for the Original Birthplace and Roots of Bluegrass music

[@MooPotPie]

@ 00:16 - That's the Kearse Theater on Summers St. in Charleston WV, not Asheville, NC. It was demolished in 1982.

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Interesting. I'm not sure you are correct. The documentary Newsreel from which that clip was taken was made in 1938 or so and lists itself as “Asheville North Carolina.” David Hoffman-filmmaker

[@MooPotPie]

@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker I am 100% positive. There was never a Kearse Theater in Asheville. The newsreel has misidentified that shot. Here's the one in Charleston - it's the identical building. Shame it was lost. news.lib.wvu.edu/2014/10/23/demolished-movie-palace/

[@ParkRoadGuy]

@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker Same exact footage from a film promoting Chareleston, WV: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIWugKewaq-Vo5I

[@ParkRoadGuy]

@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker Entire intro is Quarrier Street in Charleston, not Asheville, from the film "CHARLESTON WEST VIRGINIA " BEAUTIFUL ON THE KANAWHA " 1932 CIVIC PRIDE PROMOTIONAL FILM XD72214" kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIWugKewaq-Vo5I

[@bobbyhooks6922]

North Georgia Mountain "Band" - Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers never called their music "Bluegrass." Theirs was Mountain Music, "Hillbilly," or maybe "Country," but it was close to what was later to be called "Bluegrass." Their style became known as "Bluegrass" when Bill Monroe refined, promoted, and named it. Hylo Brown famously called it "the Old Kentucky Blues" in his "Grand Ole Opry Song." The Skillet Lickers signed with Columbia Records in 1924, five full years before this "festival" in Asheville. (Monroe was only 14 years old in 1924) The Lickers were playing "Soldiers Joy," "Cripple Creek," and "Down Yonder," all staples of Bluegrass to this day, way back then. ["Down Yonder" and "Soldier's Joy were included in the triple album: "Will the Circle be Unbroken" in 1972. (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)] So, Bluegrass had it's earliest roots in the North Georgia mountains.

[@conniefletcher6884]

Showing my ignorance-what’s the name of the fiddle tune that Tommy Hunter plays around 2:20? PS I agree about the distinction between Bluegrass and old time, but dang this is a good video!

[@conniefletcher6884]

Maybe Jenny Lynn?

[@nohojim]

Doesn't he say at 2:07 that it's "The Grey Eagle"? Same as the Asheville music hall?

[@conniefletcher6884]

nohojim LOL-I thought he was talking about his fiddle! But thank you for this info. I’m going to run out of years before I run out out of songs to learn.

[@cesar_145]

SO TRUE!

[@johnmaidment6728]

GUESS YA FOUND ME NEIGHBER

[@CadillacL]

Would love to see, if possible, or vintage footage. Especially if there's any dancing.

[@Ravenscaller]

There were clog style square dancers as opposed to the shuffle foot western square dancing and single performers who buck danced and such. As far as I know there were always dancers because dancing is a big part of the culture.

[@diannedavis5443]

Bluegrass didn’t come along until Bill Monroe in the 30s/40s.

[@owen261]

Not bluegrass lol! "Mountain music."

[@mvl6827]

Owen Wardlaw would that be the same as hillbilly?

[@ParkRoadGuy]

This is not Bluegrass. This is old-time music.

[@MichaelRenoHarrell]

A Big Difference!

[@BabbaZee1111]

Really great clip thank you!!

[@jonmars9559]

I love the music and I love how it evolved over the years. I love how it spread far and wide and has taken on regional flavors. I love what some of the youngsters are doing with it these days. I love the traditional sound but I don't feel the need to cling to manner in which it was originally presented. By the way the narrator reads it, this mountain, sort of old timey roots music was apolitical but he comes off more as protesting the change and social modernization that was taking place at the time. I think the music was a celebration of something that formed organically in the region and that politics are being applied in the guise of apolitical. Don't like politics in my music.

[@johnmaidment6728]

YUP"S OLD HANK HEAR THANK YA KINDLY FER LISTNIN NEIGHBER

[@christschool]

Bill Monroe didn't invent "Blue Grass", he invented the term. The music has been around much longer. In fact, because states like NC were settled long before Kentucky, the music was originally introduced there as well as all up the Eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains, to be called Mountain music. However, the music originates from Britain and you can hear it when you listen to old British folk music from before the Revolutionary War. Lots of butt hurt Kentuckians here.

[@Jwalways]

I agree...even from Ireland...clogging. these people came into the US and there you have it...

[@ethanpace2225]

Sure, but most of what people call bluegrass these days is the sound defined by Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt, and Chubby wise. I think it’s fair to say that bluegrass is just a more specific way of playing in that old time tradition that began in the Old Country.

[@DonTalley]

Bill Monroe grew up rooted in the mountain music of the southern appalachians....sometimes referred to as Old-Time music or simply Mountain Music. But Bill was a creator and innovator. He listened to various other types of music and created something new and unique... a musical genre rooted in the mountain tunes of his ancestors but also influenced by blues and jazz. The music he began to play after breaking up with his brother Charlie was unlike the music of that day and time. It was more syncopated, more bluesy. It moved further and further away from the music of the British Isles an when Earl Scruggs joined the band it became even more distinctive and unique. Any british/irish/scottish musician will be quick to tell you that Bluegrass Music is different from celtic music in many many ways Yes... you'll hear some of the same underlying melodies and some of the lyric fragments can be found in earlier musi. but the music itself no longer resembled the music of earlier generations or it's roots in Europe.

[@ChrisLawton66]

So, is Chuck Berry to be called Heavy Metal now?

[@DavidLynchGraphics]

Mr. Hoffman, I'm curious about the footage in this KZbin clip. It was taken directly from the 1989 American Experience bio "Ballad of a Mountain Man", aired on PBS. That documentary was very influential, and restoked my passion for Appalachian fiddling. I became fiddler and later moved to Asheville, NC in 1997. Is the film you offer on create space the same edit of "Ballad of a Mountain Man"? It seems that only the title has changed. I see you are also the person who filmed Bluegrass Roots in 1964. That footage was probably what influenced me the most. Many of my friends have been trying to track down some of the unabridged footage used in "Ballad of a Mountain Man", particularly footage of Marcus Martin playing fiddle at the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. Can you tell me where you found that footage? Thanks in advance for your help!

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

+David Lynch I made 2 films. My original film in 1964 which you can purchase at my website, www.thehoffmancollection.com, and the film I made called The Complete Bascom Lamar Lunsford Story made in 1992 and which contains footage from the original 1964 film plus much more. That is also purchasable on my site. Each is one hour long. Thank you. David Hoffman-filmmaker

[@PotterPossum1989]

+David Hoffman Sir, I really appreciated your Bascom Lamar Lunsford documentary, which I bought a number of years ago as a 12 year old Appalachia fan. I'm now 26 and still studying the hillbilly culture and collecting as much media as ever. Is there any fuller footage available of the Ashford festivals? I'd love to share the performances with my 93yo grandmother, and am always looking for video footage of mountain culture on disc to purchase, of anyone who might play an instrument . I look forward to exploring your website, and thank you for your efforts back in the day, as well as now. Best wishes to you, Kegan Mahon

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

+Kegan Mahon Dear Kegan: There may be more footage of the festival but I don't know where it is. I made this film more than 20 years ago and don't have records any longer of where I licensed the footage from. Good luck in your efforts. David Hoffman-filmmaker

[@lycanmaximus]

David Hoffman you might be surprised what you can find in the archives at UNCA here. Just a thought.

[@DavidLynchGraphics]

Tom, I was the person asking for the footage from Asheville's Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. Can you forward any links to the UNCA archives that might lead me in the right direction?

[@ricodegallo3060]

👍

[@sivad2]

Why are we referring to anything in this as Bluegrass? Bill Monroe hadn't brought about the music that would much later be referred to as Bluegrass. Not to mention this is in North Carolina. Bluegrass came out of Kentucky, hence the name. Have to say that I do like your documentaries but you seem a bit liberal with your use of labels here. Something like this seems to distort the reality of history.

[@christschool]

Bill Monroe coined the term, but do you think he just invented the music? I realize Kentuckians are a little put off by it, but really, its quite ridiculous. Bill Hayley came up with the term Rock n Roll, but do you really think he invented it?

[@jazzbass1967]

How could it be the first Bluegrass festival in 1929 when Bluegrass wasn't a thing till 1946? I think this should be renamed first old time or string band festival.

[@detroitbob58]

Sounds like he was the real inventor of the Hee Haw TV show. Before TV was even invented, no less!

[@arxfortis7481]

Hee-haw was tripe that did nothing but perpetuate stereotypes. Bascom hated those kinds of silly, fake outfits and forced un-funny humor.

[@ztahs]

Old-time music, not Bluegrass. Don't mean to be picky but get the genres correct.

[@2011Matz]

Lunsford's story is interesting to all of us who are drawn to Folk music, and there are scenes of Bluegrass music in this documentary, but Bluegrass is a post-ww2 style that incorporated some of what Lunsford was promoting. There is no way we can call the 1929 festival Bluegrass, and the poster should do some study. Yet another example of misinformation on the internet.

[@pwb0511]

No cowboy hats? Redicioulous

[@elliotportner8020]

David_Roger sir ---will do my best ---thanks for the protein injection

[@teamsterbutch]

Just because it's got a banjo and a fiddle does NOT make it Bluegrass. That is old time Mountain Music. That's as bad as Monroe saying he invented Bluegrass. He just named it. This music would come closer to Roy Acuff and Bashful Brother Oswald. Did Lunsford actually call this Bluegrass? Not putting the man down at all. The author of this is the person who needs to be taught what the difference is. And that is not a slur. Some folks just don't know. Mountain music is wonderful with a lot of History. But no this is not Bluegrass and this was not the first Bluegrass Festival.

[@mandoist]

"Closer" to Acuff's music is about it... but Monroe's definitive Blue Grass Music was in a class all its own. And Bill did indeed "invent" it, borrowing from several genres of music, from several countries, and Black musicians (including developing the 'back-beat' of mandolin rhythm after hearing the chain gangs chanting and keeping time). So there you have it in a nutshell.

[@christschool]

Bascom Lunsford was my neighbor. What you're arguing for is that if you compare different styles of Rock N Roll and calling each something completely different and not a part of the genre. Lunsford didn't call it Blue Grass, because the name wasn't coined yet. Little Richard didn't coin his music Rock N Roll either when he was playing juke joints until some coined the term.

[@christschool]

@@mandoist Is Van Halen Rock N Roll? How about the Beatles, are they Rock N Roll? You're arguing that one of these bands is and one isn't. Its simply moronic.

[@frankscarborough1428]

Bill Monroe didn’t invent bluegrass. He brought it to a wider audience. Mountain music and bluegrass was played in the hills for a longtime before bill.

[@wiscgaloot]

David Hoffman, you should be ashamed of yourself. Bill Monroe invented bluegrass music in the 1940's. Before that it was string-band music, which is most certainly NOT bluegrass, any more than blues is rock-and-roll.

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

In my humble opinion Kelly, Bill Munro and his band coined the name, not the style of music that we now call it. That goes a long way back to the Scottish and Irish bands plus American influences from other cultures.

[@wiscgaloot]

​@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker He didn't coin the name, other people called the music "bluegrass" after his band name. And they did that because the music was so clearly different than any music that came before. While he did play traditional songs, he played them in a drastically different style. I'll go with music historian Bill Malone on this one, since he has a PhD in the history of country music.

[@christschool]

@@wiscgaloot You don't know what you're talking about. Blue Grass was a marketing name for Mountain Music and yes, early blues sounds just like Rock N Roll. Led Zeppelin I is just cover songs of blues music. Bill Monroe no more invented "Blue Grass" than Bill Hayley invented Rock n Roll because he was the first to give the genre the name. David is correct, this music originated in the Scottish and Irish folk music. Notice how many Scottish and Irish people settled the lower Appalachians, long before Kentucky was even a territory? Bill Monroe was just an artist in this type of music, he didn't invent it!

[@wiscgaloot]

@@christschool Once again, I'll go with the learned opinion of the #1 country music historian, Bill C. Malone, who says that bluegrass was invented by Bill Monroe. You haven't a clue what you are talking about.

[@christschool]

@@wiscgaloot Perhaps you should listen to Bill Monroe himself from a 1986 interview? That might be a good place for you to start.

[@markericksen9445]

How they began to ruin Ashville