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Appalachia
This section applies primarily to the "Southern Appalachian" region of the
United States (the Central Appalachians being in the northeastern U.S. and the
Northern Appalachians stretching into Quebec, Canada).
Appalachian folk music is a distinctive genre of folk music Appalachian music is
believed to have developed from traditional Scottish, English and Irish music
brought to the United States by immigrants from those countries, and in turn it
influenced country music and old-time music.
A Scottish fiddler named Neil Gow is usually credited with developing (during
the 1740s) the short bow saw stroke technique that defines Appalachian fiddling.
This technique was altered during the next century, with European waltzes and
polkas being most influential.
While in the year 2000 African Americans made up only 8 percent of the
Appalachian population[3], their numbers were greater in the 19th and early 20th
centuries, due not only to the presence of slaves but also free blacks working
in timber, coal mining, and other industries. Their music has exerted a great
influence on Appalachian music in its instrumentation (the banjo was adopted
from them by white musicians following the Civil War) as well as ornamentation
(the "blue note" third and seventh, and sliding tones which are not found in
British Isles folk music (outside of certain styles of Irish music, whose
influence on Applachian music is considered minimal - this may be indicative of
parallel evolution, since the early Appalachian settlers were generally of other
than Irish extraction).
Even into the early 20th century, it was common for young white
musicians to have learned the banjo or other instruments from older African
American musicians living in their area.
Appalachian folk became a major influence on styles like country music and
bluegrass. It is one of the few regional styles of old-time music that, since
World War II, has been learned and widely practiced in all areas of the United
States (as well as in Canada, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere). In some cases
(as in the Midwest and Northeast), its popularity has eclipsed the indigenous
old-time traditions of these regions.
 There is
a particularly high concentration of performers playing Appalachian folk music
on the East and West Coasts (especially in New York City, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, and the Pacific Northwest). A number of American classical composers,
in particular Henry Cowell and Aaron Copland, have composed works that merge the
idioms of Appalachian folk music with the Old World–based classical tradition.
Appalachian old-time music is itself made up of regional traditions. Some of the
most prominent traditions include those of Mount Airy, North Carolina and
Grayson County/Galax, Virginia (Tommy Jarrell), West Virginia (the Hammons
Family), East Kentucky (J. P. Fraley and Lee Sexton), and East Tennessee (Roan
Mountain Hilltoppers).
Notable North Carolina traditional banjo players and makers include Frank
Proffitt, Frank Proffitt, Jr. and Stanley Hicks, who all learned to make and
play fretless mountain banjos from a family tradition. These players, among
others, learned their art primarily from family and show fewer traces of
influence from commercial hillbilly recordings. The Proffitts and Hicks were
heirs to a centuries-old folk tradition, and through the middle to late 20th
century and they continued to perform in a style older than the string bands
often associated with old time music. Their style has been recently emulated by
contemporary musician Tim Eriksen.
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