The People and Their Music
from Musical Instruments of the Southern Appalachian Mountains by John Rice Irwin, founder of the Museum of Appalachia

Music has always played an important part in the lives of the people of this Appalachian region.  Even in the most remote mountain cabin, shy of furniture and cooking utensils, one often finds two or three musical instruments.  Folks valued their music and the took it quite seriously, although they may never have played outside the confines of their homes.

This attitude is illustrated by the following anecdote:  My longtime friend, Jacob, one of twenty-six children, was talking to me in his tiny three-room house in confidential tones while his wife was out back chopping wood.  Jake played the fiddle a little for himself, his brothers, and his neighbors.  He had a cow and a garden and otherwise just loafed around while his wife worked in town.  And in the most serious manner he looked over his glasses at me and said, "the old woman complains to me because I don't keep the firewood cut, but every time I start choppin' wood, my hands git stiff and sore and hit makes it hard fer me to play the fiddle."

And so Jake sat in a broken down old chair before the fire and patted his big foot as he wailed out an old tune called "Cumberland Gap" on the fiddle.  And as he did so, we could hear the ringing of the axe as his good wife buried it deep in the green hickory outside in the cold.

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The Museum of Appalachia has supported traditional music for over a quarter of a century, both in its preservation of physical artifacts that relate the story of a region's music, and in its efforts to provide performance venues for artists who preserve the old musical styles.

In addition to the popular Tennessee Fall Homecoming, our Porch Musician Project (funded in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission's Art Builds Communities program) provides live, daily performance of authentic old-time music to the thousands of people who tour the Museum each year, often introducing visitors for the first time to a type of music they have never heard before.  We are proud of our Porch Musician Project and believe that it makes a valuable contribution to the preservation of our State's tradition and history. 

The Museum of Appalachia is grateful to have received a grant from the
Arts Fund of East Tennessee Foundation
for our porch musician program. Together we are helping to preserve the music and traditions that make this region unique. You can visit their site at
www.easttennesseefoundation.org