Southern Ohio Folklore

1980

Fieldworkers: Pat Mullen, Sandy Rikoon

"Southern Ohio Folklore" is an all-encompassing title that could allude to any number of expressions of traditional culture. This collection does touch on a range of practises, but it is largely devoted to music making, albeit music making of various different ilks and found in various different contexts.  For example, through audio recordings, the collection includes coverage of musical events such as the Adena Indian Bluegrass Festival, the Gymanfa Ganu celebration of English and Welsh hymns and anthems, and the Bob Evans Country Music Convention. It also contains materials regarding less formal musical gatherings; for example, a square dance held in the Victory Grange Hall of Pattonsville, Ohio, and an informal jam session at a neighborhood picnic in Jackson County. Interviews with and recordings of individual musicians and some bands also form part of this collection; the musicians/bands in question include Clyde Arrowood, Frank Hill, Arthur Sharp, and Southern County Line.

However, "Southern Ohio Folklore" goes beyond documentation of musical activity and among the fascinating non-musical items in this collection are an interview about wood and stone carving with Charlie Kern; a conversation about what it was like to work in the mines in the 1920s with Frank Hill; and a discussion of blast furnaces, charcoal burning, threshing and other forms of labor with Dan Jones.