Recent Features
Fort Monroe and 'Contraband of War'
Since the 17th century, fortifications have guarded the peninsula that juts out into the Chesapeake Bay, where the Elizabeth, James and Nansemond Rivers converge. Fort Monroe has stood sentry the longest, since 1819 — a six-sided stone structure that will continue to be an Army outpost until 2011. From then on, its future is subject to much debate, but its place in African-American history is not, as Sondra Woodward explains:
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Old Jimmy Sutton Full Recordings
Retired tobacco farmer and songster Spencer Moore performs Old Jimmy Sutton for Jon Lohman.
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The Old Jimmy Sutton
A masterful songster recorded by two folklorists, fifty years apart.
When the late folklorist Alan Lomax set out on his now infamous “Southern Journey” in 1959, he stopped in Chilhowie, Virginia to record a tobacco farmer named Spencer Moore. Spencer was quite well known locally for his weekly appearances on the “Farm Fun Time” radio program out of Bristol, and for his spirited singing and guitar playing. Spencer enthralled Lomax with his playing, and with the sheer breadth of his repertoire. Spencer still lives in Chilhowie, and while he no longer farms tobacco, he plays regularly at weekly jams and dances throughout the region. No one can say for sure how many songs Spencer Moore knows, but suffice it to say that it is well into the thousands.
One of my greatest thrills as a folklorist was pulling up to Spencer’s house some fifty years after he was visited by Lomax. I recorded Spencer playing numerous songs from his vast repertoire, including Lomax’s favorite “Old Jimmy Sutton.”
In this tune, Spencer is essentially calling a dance. The tune is for dancing, for people enjoying each other and entertaining each other. And Spencer’s still doing that. At 88 years old, he’s going to fiddlers’ conventions and jam sessions all over southwest Virginia.
- Jon Lohman’s full recording of Old Jimmy Sutton
- Alan Lomax Collection at the Library of Congress
- Spencer Moore participated in an Alan Lomax tribute concert
Music Credits
Tracks:“Jimmy Sutton”
Artist: Spencer Moore
Album: AFC 2004/004, tape T857, tracks 3-5
Label: Alan Lomax Collection at the Library of Congress
Release: 1959
Tracks: “Jimmy Sutton”
Artist: Spencer Moore
Album: Unpublished recording
Label: Virginia Folklife Program at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
Release: n/a
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The authentic rebel yell?
The rebel yell. What did it sound like – that battle cry that terrorized union troops and rallied Confederates to battle? Historians have clues from letters and diaries but still have never agreed. Recently, though, a Richmond man released a CD of what he asserts is the authentic rebel yell. Producer Peter Solomon spoke with Waite Rawls, President of the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia.
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