3 Ways to Enjoy Traditional Mountain Music in Mars Hill, NC

 

The mountains around the small Western North Carolina town of Mars Hill are filled with music! Each year, the fall season brings a renewed interest in traditional mountain song thanks to cherished annual events. But locals here know that there are ways to appreciate this great sound all year long.

 

Here are just a few fun ways to enjoy traditional mountain music in Mars Hill, NC.

 

Mars Hill’s most famous native is the late Bascom Lamar Lunsford, also known as the “Minstrel of the Appalachians.” Born in 1882, Lunsford was a folklorist and performer who spent decades collecting mountain stories and songs. He also has the honor of appearing in the first film recording of Appalachian music, recorded in 1928. As seen in the video, Lunsford was a competent fiddle player, but banjo would be his primary instrument during his musical career.

 

As a fruit tree salesman, Lunsford traveled throughout the mountains and learned music from the people he met. He became a key figure in preserving traditional music and dance in Southern Appalachia. According to the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, “​​The songs and tunes that he knew from memory numbered over 300, and the files that he kept included 3,000 pieces.” He eventually recorded his memory collection for Columbia University (1935) and the Library of Congress (1949). Lunsford also started Asheville’s Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in 1928, an annual event that continues to this day.

 

Throughout the year, the Ebbs Chapel Community Center‘s 250-seat theater hosts musical performances ranging from the classical to the traditional. This year, the Madison County Arts Council hosted a summer concert series there entitled “Sunday Set-Ins at Ebbs Chapel.” The building is a beautifully restored rock school built in 1938 by the Civilian Conservation Corp.

 

Each October, Mars Hill University hosts the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Mountain Music Festival. An annual tradition since 1967, the two-day event is the second longest-running folk festival in WNC. Attendees enjoy mountain music concerts, dancing, storytelling, and traditional crafting demonstrations. You can even join one of the “picking circles,” where anyone with a fiddle, guitar, or banjo can join in to swap songs. Best of all, the music festival overlaps with the Madison Heritage Arts Festival. For more than 25 years, the festival has shown a spotlight on an array of fine arts and crafts, along with many other locally produced products. Food booths, always popular, also offer a variety of lunch selections.

 

Viewers of the 2000 film “Songcatcher” will be familiar with the history of musicologists researching and collecting folk music in the Appalachians. While the film was a fictional story, it was inspired by true events. Olive Dame Campbell, founder of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, was one such songcatcher. The British musicologist Cecil Sharp was another. He was a key figure in the folk-song revival in Edwardian England, largely thanks to the songs he recorded in our mountains.

 

Mars Hill is known worldwide for the living ballad-singing tradition that attracted the attention of professionals like Campbell and Sharp. And as a living tradition, it continues to be practiced today—a folk history connecting past to present through song. Eighth-generation ballad-singer Donna Ray Norton, who is scheduled to MC this year’s Mountain Music Festival, is one local master of the craft.

 

Located in a mostly rural, exceedingly picturesque part of Madison County in Western North Carolina, Mars Hill is a small town that’s big on mountain traditions. The area around Mars Hill is rich with other outdoor opportunities. Nearby are stretches of the Appalachian Trail, numerous other trails within Pisgah National Forest, and the fishing- and paddling-friendly French Broad River. The largest local institution, Mars Hill University, also contributes much to the character of the town. Mars Hill is also known around the world for its traditional mountain music, including its living ballad-singing tradition.