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Through the year, this quintet of performers presents “This Programme Is Morally Good”, the story of The Carter Family. As Winter rolls around, they cast their net a little wider along America’s Eastern mountain chain. This seasonal show explores the music and customs of what Ralph Stanley has called “the birthground of American folk music.”
Many of the midwinter traditions of the Appalachians have remained virtually unchanged since they were brought there by settlers from England, Scotland and Ireland. Others are newer customs developed within individual families and larger communities in the often isolated regions that stretch from the Cumberland Gap to the Indian Ladder.
As the show explores these traditions, we also hear the rich and varied seasonal music of the region – ancient ballads, old-time country, Sacred Harp, hymns ancient and modern and newer compositions by the region’s legendary residents: A.P. Carter, Jean Ritchie, Maybelle Carter, A L Phipps and James Lord Pierpoint.
The group’s four musicians perform in costume using a range of instruments associated with the region; between songs the narrator takes us on a journey through time to Christmases past but not forgotten.
In the show’s two hours, you’ll hear some familiar favourites in less familiar form, some seasonal classics well known in America but largely unplayed over here and some lost gems that you’ll not have heard before, including a couple of ‘lost’ Carter Family songs.
Let the Appalachian Xmas Show take you somewhere both strange and familiar, fondly remembered and long forgotten:-
For the time when the corn is all into the barn,
The old cow's breath's a frosty wine,
When the morn along the fallow field
Doth silver shine.
from Wintergrace by Jean Ritchie
About the performers
The music is performed, appropriately, by a pair of husbands and wives, who coincidentally happen to be 2/3 of Grace Notes and 2/3 of In No Particular Order. All have been working in folk music under various guises for more years than they would like to recall: along the way they have contributed to recordings by Muckram Wakes, Mountain Ash, Nic Jones, Les Barker, Peter Bellamy, Pete Coe, Damien Barber and The New Victory Band, among many others.
The narrator presented the Folk Show at Pennine Radio, where he was Head of Music, for twelve years. He is probably best known for his work compiling and writing the Free Reed box sets (Carthy, Fairport, Thompson, Swarbrick etc.). He has lectured and led workshops on various aspects of folk music both here and in the USA.
For bookings email carters@skinnymalinksmusic.co.uk
or ring Nigel or Christine:
01274 581504