Profile managers: Liz Shifflett [send private message], Sandy Patak [send private message], and Mindy Silva [send private message]

Music Culture of the Mountains

WikiTree celebrated its 14th anniversary with "WikiTree Day" on 5 November 2022. The celebration began on 4 November, with a day of symposiums,^[1] one of which was a presentation by Sandy Patak, founder and co-leader of WikiTree's Appalachia Project. The presentation featured Denton King and his songs, leading off with "I'm an Appalachian".

I'm an Appalachian - Music Culture of the Mountains
Presenter: Sandy Patak	I'd like to first say Happy 14th Anniversary to WikiTree. And I'd also like to thank WikiTree for allowing me to be here to present something that is very very near and dear to my heart, Appalachia. I am on a mission to discuss Appalachia with anybody and everybody, whether they want to hear it or not, because I think it's an important topic and an important region that is really misunderstood.
Guest: Denton King

Denton King

Singer/songwriter Denton King, author of the opening song for the presentation, "I'm an Appalachian", was born and raised in central West Virginia. He "uses his writing and singing talents to display the simple gifts of Appalachian life" - although he said he doesn't really write songs as much as he makes up songs. His first was when he was about 8. "When I was just a kid," he said, "I made up a song and I played it for my Mom on a little ukulele... She really was impressed. I could tell by the way she reacted to me, and it really was a very positive experience for me. It kind of was something that I've continued to try to fulfill. The little bit of praise that she gave me really meant a lot."

When Sandy asked what got him started in songwriting as an adult, Denton said he'd always just "played around with it, but I never got serious about it. The first song I got really serious about, and recorded..." - which led to the backstory for that song - "Mr. Manchin" (uncle to Senator Joe Manchin).

Denton's son came home from a field trip to the capital, disappointed that he hadn't met A. James Manchin, Secretary of State of West Virginia - a flamboyant character.^[2] So Denton wrote a song about him, then went to the capital to play it for him. And Manchin then had him play it for Governor Rockefeller and after that they decided to release it. "That was in the days of 45 [rpm] records, so I had to have a flip side. So I wrote 'Call Me West Virginia' for the flip side."^[3]

When asked what he would write about Appalachia today, he said he had been working on a song about Christmas earlier in the day, but typically he would write about a character. "Somebody impresses me in some way that I want to emotionally write about.... Typically, I think I write with an [air quotes] Appalachian Orientation [air quotes], but it might not be about Appalachia, or a character from Appalachia necessarily."

The interview was packed with information, one topic: What is "Appalachian Music"? It is not a Billboard-recognized genre - probably "Americana" comes closest - but has both influenced and been influenced by other genres: bluegrass, county, gospel, and more. After noting that "I'm not an expert on Appalachian Music, or any other music for that matter," Denton said that "my music comes out of the fact that I've experienced certain people that inspire me, and happens that most of those people have been from the Appalachian region, or a situation that occurs, and I have to think that the music reflects a culture that is interacting in a world that God made, not man-made, and I think there's a wholesome pureness about it we aren't seeing in a lot of other music these days.... There's probably a lot of difference in what we think of as old-time Appalachian music and music that you may hear today. That we don't have Appalachian Music as a genre, as you said.... Maybe your movement will crystalize 'Appalachian Music' - modern Appalachian Music."

Sandy's interview with Denton, as well as the chat, talked about good examples of this genre and the instruments you'd hear in Appalachian Music (see Recommendations, Instruments, and Comments below).

When asked what instruments he played, Denton replied, "I play guitar. I can't say I'm a guitar player. I play guitar. And the musicians that I play with will tell you that's a stretch of their imagination."

"That's what I really love about this type of music," replied Sandy. "It's come as you are." She noted also that people played what they had, such as a washboard or spoons - even stomping their feet.

"I remember watching my Dad play his fiddle," said Denton, "and dancing at the same time to put the percussion into the song. They didn't call it performing, they called it showing off.... The performance was showing off; playing the fiddle for other people to listen was just 'playing the fiddle'."

People would gather. Not just in church, but on the front porch, in a barn, at a local meeting hall. And just jam. In the 1800s, these gatherings were not only the entertainment but were how you learned the songs, the instruments. "Some of the old square dances that they would get together and dance and play music" was where people learned new things. "Typically somebody that had a little bit of talent, somebody that could play the fiddle or the banjo - the guitar came along a little bit later," said Denton. "They learned from each other, and that's still being done today,"

People come together and someone starts off something and people join in.

I think that the easiest way to define "Appalachian Music" - or mountain music - is to listen to Denton's songs. As the band Alabama says, "Oh, play me some mountain music, like grandma and grandpa used to play".^[4] Denton King is still playing it.

Songs

Playlist from the presentation, which started with "I'm an Appalachian" and closed with "Thank You".

I'm an Appalachian

play song/video

Sandy: How does one come up with that song, "I'm an Appalachian"?

Denton: Oh wonderful.

Sandy: Did you just think that's what I am and that's what I'm going to do?

Denton: Well, I just think the people... I wanted to do something that would bring some positive results to the Appalachians. We have been... the people of Appalachia have been made fun of, they've been looked down on, but we have intelligent, creative, athletic people here in the Appalachians. And I just wanted the people from this area to have something positive to lean to. Any way I can do that, I want to try to make it happen. So I thought a song that reflected some positivity about this area and the people would be something of value. So that's where it came from.

Conclusion: This song really resonates. So much so that the Appalachia Project wants to adopt it as their theme song! We hope that our work can help with that - changing the narrative about Appalachia.

West Virginians Coming Home

play song/video

Sandy: So what's the story behind the song? Why'd you write it?

Denton: I hoped that I could do something to encourage West Virginians to come home. Many, many West Virginians left in the '50s, '60s, and even the early '70s. But there was a time there when it looked like a trickle was starting to come back. And I was hoping... to encourage more West Virginians to come home [and] to reward those people who did come home. You're coming home!

Sandy: This definitely sounds Appalachian to me because of the noises, the instruments, the "clickity-clack", things like that that you've added into it [and which were taken out in a country version, played much slower], turning it into pure county... which took it to a completely different mindset for me. Because I didn't feel that rush. With you singing it - they're coming home, they're coming home - I really felt it.

Denton: Well, I did have other people ask to record it, and I have heard other recordings.... In all honesty, what really makes ours really good is the fact that it was all family. The harmonies in the background, that's my sister Harriet and brother Drexell doing the bass, brother Randy was singing a stacked vocal with me, and Sherry, who is Harriet's daughter, was singing a high background voice, and brother Ed was playing guitar.

Back to My Hillbilly Ways

play song/video

Sandy: We've got about a minute to discuss... and I hate to shorten you on this, because I know this gentleman was very special to you. So why did you write this song?

Denton: Well, let me just say that the house there that you saw is where I had my jam session the other night, with Raymond Blagg's son Bob Blagg, who was also a coach for me in high school, and a brother-in-law. But I wrote Hillbilly Ways to basically say, hey, there's nothing wrong with being a hillbilly. You can be a hillbilly with class. And Raymond Blagg inspired me to think that way. He left this area back in the early '50s... for economic reasons, and he went to Columbus, Ohio.... And he lived in a very nice part of the city. He decided he wanted to make a smoker for cooking. So he took an old refrigerator, and he converted it into a smoker, and he had it sitting in his back yard, where it was plainly obvious to see. Of course, we think of hillbillies as leaving things on the front porch and such. But anyhow, people kind of made fun of him for a while because he had that old refrigerator turned into a smoker, but after a while he had three or four of his neighbors asking if he would make them one!

In short: He had left the area but he didn't leave behind his hillbilly ways, his hillbilly ingenuity.

Denton: Well - I say he was a hillbilly with class. He had all kinds of ability to do all kinds of things.... and he had ways of doing things.

Mountain Gospel Banjo

play song/video

Denton: That song came about mainly because I felt like I needed a song for the banjo. I was jamming along with a fella at that time who was really good on a banjo - Sterling Thayer - and Sterling was able to do what I wanted to hear and I wrote the song for him to play. He did a wonderful job.

The song's refrain: "Your fingers have to move like lightning when you play banjo for a mountain gospel band."

Thank You

Sandy: This next song is the only song that you requested that we play. And the reason you said you wrote it: There are no songs about Thanksgiving.

play song/video

Sandy: I think that video really shows modern Appalachia. I think it shows that we are changing the narrative, through music.

Denton: Well, I thank you for putting brother Randy's picture right at the end. It was his favorite of all that we did. He constantly wanted me to do it more often than I did it.

Sandy: Did you think that it was just about, a Thanksgiving-only song? I would not have thought that, until you told me. To me, that kind of classifies the heart of what most Appalachians think - they're thankful for what they have, they're thankful for their families..., their friends - and their four-legged friends. We are a thankful bunch.

Denton: Well, yeah, I think we should be more grateful, more thankful, and it shouldn't only be at Thanksgiving. I had a lady that asked me for permission to play it - she lived in Ohio - and she played it at a number of old folks homes. She said that they loved it, and they really loved that business about the four-legged friends.

Sandy: Don't we all! ... How old is that song? When did you write it?

Denton: That song was from the "Songs to Be Heard" album, so I think that we did that in the early 90s.

Sandy: Well with Thanksgiving fast approaching, if anybody wants a Thanksgiving song, there you go.

Q&As

There was time for a couple of questions. And an answer:

Sandy: For those of you who guessed that nobody wanted to carry a piano over the mountains, you are correct - nobody wanted to carry a piano over those mountains.

Question (from Diane [George] Highsmith): What is your favorite song that you have written?

• Oh. well, I'm not even sure. I've written a lot of songs that I haven't recorded. Of the songs that I've recorded, I'm kind of partial to Hillbilly Ways. I love the sweetness of the song. And I like the way that the musicians came in in the back. I don't know if you could hear it early on, but brother Ed put a guitar lick right at the beginning. A very simple guitar lick, but it just sets the song off perfectly. It's a great opener to it. I just like that song because of the way it was done. It was one of the first songs that we as a family did in the studio, and I remember at one point in time saying "take 19" because we kept making mistakes in it.

Question (from George again): What is your preferred guitar?

• Well, I have a guitar that I bought back in the '80s, I think, that I still play. I love the sound of the guitar. I believe that you buy a guitar for the sound that you hear out of it, not for the make or model that's written on the top. Mine happens to be a Yamaha. I like that guitar, and I've had it for years.

Question (from Samuel King): ​What would you write about Appalachia today? And HI GRANDPA.

• Laughing as he reads the question - coming from my only grandson. Hi Samuel. My favorite grandson, I tell him. What would I write about Appalachia today? Well, I would find a character - and you might well be the one, before it's over. I don't know. I honestly don't know what song I would write. I was writing today, before this show, I was writing a Christmas song, actually. It kind of stuck in my mind. I don't know if I'll do anything with it or not, but I was in the process.

Question (from Drexell King): Will Songs to be Heard be released to any music apps?

Sandy: Where can we find your album "Songs to be Heard", that's hard to find. That has a couple of songs on it that go way back.

• I think they're on the Internet. I think you can find them on Spotify, I believe.

Sandy: The songs from this presentation... "I'm an Appalachian" that we played at the beginning, are on Spotify. Do a search for Denton King. We'll get back to you on that one. See below for a link.

Question (from Donna): ​What song do you like to perform that's NOT written by you?

• Uh. When I get out and jam, or am performing, I don't typically do just my songs. I do a lot of different songs. And um... [searching for an answer]. Well! [found one] The other night when we were jamming, the very first song that came to my mind for us to jam to, and everybody kinda knew, was [singing softly] at my door the leaves are falling, old north wind will come. That one. I can't say that there's any particular special one. I love a lot of the gospels - gospel songs, like "Amazing Grace" and "How Great Thou Art". Those are songs that I really like to do.

Question (from Pam Fraley): ​Where can we buy a CD?

• I don't know. It's been a while since both of those albums were released. They were on Amazon. I would send them to Amazon and and they would in turn send them to people. But that hasn't happened for a while. If you want one, we can send them to you. Get in touch with Sandy. She'll let me know and we'll get 'em to you.

Sandy: And we do know that the "I'm an Appalachian" CD, the collection, is also on Amazon Music too [in addition Spotify - and Emily mentioned in chat that "some songs are on Apple Music"]. See below for links to Spotify and the YouTube playlist for the collection.

Question... a repeat of George's: ​What is the most favorite song you have written

Sandy: We already had that one - Hillbilly Ways, right?

• Well, yeah. I thought that was the same person, same question. But Hillbilly Ways. Maybe. I don't know. It's kinda like, well, I've heard people that write songs say it's like each one of them is your child and you can't really favor one over the other. That's kind of the way I feel about the songs. I like Hillbilly Ways, but I like 'em all, really. I don't think we did justice in recording all of them. There's two or three that I feel like we could have done better in the recording. But as far as the song itself is concerned - they're all my favorite.

Sandy: So we're just going to have to come see you live. Well, I want to thank you for spending this hour with us, and talking, and going deeper into your songs. I wish we had about two more hours and we could play each song on the album and take a little bit of a deeper dive into them. But I can't thank you enough because your songwriting and your music, and also you coming to present today, helps us change the narrative about Appalachia and makes us proud and I think the best thing to say is - everybody repeat after me - "I'm an Appalachian".

Denton: I'm an Appalachian. Thank you for letting me be on with you, I appreciate it. I appreciate all the work you're doing to make Appalachia a better-looking place in the eyes of the world. Because it is a wonderful place to live.

People and Quotes from the Slide Show

The opening slide show included pictures of Appalachia Project members, Denton King's family, and Appalachia, along with quotes about Appalachia. To help figure out who the WikiTree members were, see Appalachia Project Member Photos. Denton noted that the second slide was the house where he was born, in Webster County, West Virginia - and that it was now totally gone.

Selected Quotes

• Going to the mountains is like going home.
  ~ John Muir
• The pull of our roots can be such a strong force, no matter how far or wide we may roam.
  ~ Lauren McDuffie
• Appalachia, in fact, is a very matriarchal culture. We revere our grandmothers and mothers.
  ~ Anthony Harkins
• Every man is a quotation from all of his ancestors.
  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson^[5]
• The Scots-Irish were just one of the groups that found a home and a haven in the Appalachian Mountains.
• If I lived in North Georgia on up through the Appalachians, I would be just as crazy about the mountain laurel as I am about bluebonnets.
  ~ Lady Bird Johnson
• Appalachia was Appalachia, regardless of boundaries someone had set an eternity ago.
  ~ John Grisham

Among the things discussed in the chat were instruments heard in Appalachian Music - Sandy started that one, by asking us to guess what instrument you won't hear - and recommendations for where to hear good mountain music.

Instruments

• washboard
• spoons
• mouth harp
• mountain dulcimer (aka lap dulcimer)
• fiddle / violin
• dobro
• banjo
• mandolin
• ukulele
• guitar

Recommendations

• the song, "Nose on the Grindstone", by Tyler Childers^[6] (recommended by John Vaskie​)
• the movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou?"^[7] (a favorite of many)
• the book, Albions Seed^[8] (recommended by Mags)
• Ken Burns' TV series, "Country Music"^[9] (recommended by Mags)
• the song, "Barbara Allen" (came over with the pioneers who settled into the Appalachian area)^[10]
• Jackson's Mill Jubilee (aka the Stonewall Jackson Festival that Sandy mentioned, around Labor Day)
• Swannanoa Gathering in Black Mountain near Asheville is coming back in 2023... "we should meet up" (in a comment from Karen Lowe)
• entertainer, Billy Strings^[11] (George's favorite bluegrass entertainer)
• album, by Bill Monroe^[12] (from J Paul Hawthorne​)
• the "Daily Antidote of Song", by the Washington Revels, that runs at noon ET daily^[13] (in a comment from Karen Lowe)
• the song, Four Strong Winds^[14] (from one of the unanswered questions, from George)

Comments from the YouTube Chat

And what a great group we had in the chat. Here are some of the comments/discussions.

• M. Gaulden: If you cut me I would bleed the sound of bluegrass music.
• MsChica: Mags, that would be my father! I couldn't separate him from his bluegrass roots
• Karen Lowe: I would bleed old-time. Close, but slightly different. :)
• M. Gaulden: Old time came out of bluegrass. Ken Burns Country Music.
• Karen Lowe: ​@M. Gaulden you know it! common roots for sure
• Karen Lowe: I went to the best music jam once with Irish musicians and Appalachian (mostly western NC) traditional players were swapping tunes, talking about how they morphed over 200 years & across the Atlantic.
• J Paul Hawthorne​: I have an old Bill Monroe album from my dad. I love Bluegrass.
• Diane Highsmith​ [George, actually, Diane's husband]: I love bluegrass and Irish music.....perhaps my favorite bluegrass entertainer is Billy Strings.....phenomenal guitarist!!
• M. Gaulden: ​Read Albions Seed. It covers how the borderlands [of] England and Ireland influenced how we talk, sing, play, etc.
• Karen Lowe: I really enjoy contra dancing which is all Irish/Scottish/English influenced Appalachian string band music
• Karen Lowe: There's a lovely song series from the Washington Revels called the Daily Antidote of Song that runs at noon ET daily. Lots of Appalachian and Smithsonian Folk Center connections, plus Black gospel
• Karen Lowe: ​Pretty sure I won't be able to stop chatting until Q&A time.
• M. Gaulden​: On the front porch. My Grandad they had nothing else to do, no TV or radio, just music on the front porch.
• Karen Lowe: "Make your own music, put your fingers to the wood. Don't have to be Segovia, do the best that you could. The only thing that matters is it makes you feel good, that's how we did it not long ago!"
• John Vaskie​i: have my dad's banjo and dobro. Can't play either one, but maybe someday.
• Linda J: ​Trying to learn the dulcimer.
• M. Gaulden​: I have a lap Dulcimer I mess around with.
• Karen Lowe: ​hammered dulcimer or the little plucked one?
• Linda J: ​Mountain dulcimer which is plucking
• Greg Clarke: ​as a piano player myself - I've moved them before - not fun!
• Zachary Cheevers​: is hamboning related to Appalachian music?
• M. Gaulden: [Hamboning is] an African-American style of dance that involves stomping as well as slapping and patting the arms, legs, chest, and cheeks (clapping).
• Karen Lowe: ​When Daughter was tiny we would go hear David Holt hambone. He sewed drum triggers into coveralls and did hambone in his Thunderwear!
• Karen Lowe: ​the Swannanoa Gathering in Black Mountain near Asheville is coming back in 2023. Fiddle Week, mando/banjo week, song week, Celtic week, old-time week, contemporary folk week.... we should meet up 🙂
• Karen Lowe: ​a friend has a women's group called the Ukeladies
• M. Gaulden​Ken Burns, "Country Music" series really dives deep into Appalachian music in the first few episodes.
• M. Gaulden: I am going to use that, My orientation? Why it's appalachian.
• Karen Lowe: ​I like it! An Appalachian orientation shows your roots but you're free to make your own music and not be stuck in time.
• Judith Fry​: I was born and raised in Texas but this music has always touched/been in my soul and blood. Dad was from SE KY, and moms family from Ohio and WV. I love a good fiddle.

Just a quick note - LOTS more comments than the selection shown here, with folks sharing their roots and family surnames - and making cousin connections. We were a talkative bunch, but would quite down a bit during the videos of the songs. "Mountain Gospel Banjo" and "Thank You" had lots of us tearing up - including Denton.

• John Tyner​: love sandy moving to the music!!
• John Tyner​: i am clapping along!!
• M. Gaulden​: Denton you sound so original and warm, like home.
• Emily B Holmberg​: Making me want to move back home
• Pam Fraley: ​This one is making me 😭
• Karen Stewart: ​😢Me, too. Pam
• Diane [George] Highsmith: ​I can picture this music in the little white church house that was the school during the week....think Little House on the Prairie
• Margaret Tull: ​This music resonates in my soul! Makes sense since I have ancestors from almost every county in Middle and East Tennessee and surrounding areas of Virginia, NC, and KY
• D Brower​: Reminds me of my dad's family from Greene TN & later VA. They used to get together and play gospel. They've all passed now but it was always a special time for them.
• Diane [George] Highsmith: ​love the mountain scenes....Blue Ridge Mountains, Great Smokey Mountains!!
• M. Gaulden​: I have a church register that recorded my 2great grandfather playing a mouth harp in accompaniment to hymns.
• MsChica​: This makes me miss my dad so much! I think I'm getting teary eyed.
• Donna: ​Hope my mom is sitting on a porch back in the holler playing her guitar and mandolin.
• Karen Lowe: ​@John Tyner have I told you I have an Anglo concertina? It means I have to arrive at the jam first since everyone has to tune to me.
• MsChica: ​@Karen Lowe-866 My dad was a bluegrass and country music performer

Some of the comments that were posted when the chat was opened up for questions made me realize we had more King family in the chat than just Denton's grandson, Samuel. Nephew Drexell posted, and Matthew King shared that his favorite song is "Call Me West Virginia".^[3] And you could tell family was posting even without the King name (although that was a give away). For example, Divergent Silly Silver asked "​What was Grandpa Drexell like?"

And then it was time to say goodbye - and I'm an Appalachian!

• Maggie M​: Wonderful!
• Diane [George] Highsmith: ​Loved this hour!!!!
• Pam Fraley: ​Great presentation Thanks Sandy!
• Pam Fraley​: And Denton
• M. Gaulden: ​Loved This! Brought me home!
• Karen Lowe: Loved this so much! Thanks Sandy and Denton!
• Karen Lowe: I'm an Appalachian
• janine leigh isleman-goodson: ​Thank you Denton and Sandy
• Pam Fraley​: I’m an Appalachian!!
• John Tyner​: wonderful presentation Sandy and Denton
• Lee Ann Robinson: ​Great show - thank you
• Diane [George] Highsmith: ​Thank you Denton for your time and the interesting insight

Bottom Line...

What did I take away from this fantastic presentation that left me with tears in my eyes, memories of family on my mind, and joy in my heart? The hope that the universal language of music can bring about positive change for how the world thinks of Appalachians. ~ Liz Shifflett, Appalachian News editor^[15]

"I'm an Appalachian - Music Culture of the Mountains" Sandy Patak video

Footnotes & Links

1. ↑ The schedules have links to videos. Unfortunately, the symposium videos were only available for 30 days, so the video of "I'm an Appalachian - Music Culture of the Mountains" is no longer available.
   • WikiTree Day Schedule (5 November)
   • Symposium Schedule (4 November)
2. ↑ Wikipedia: A. James Manchin.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Call Me West Virginia " is one of the songs on the CD, "I'm an Appalachian", Denton King Family & Friends. It is on YouTube's Playlist for Denton: play song. See below for a link to the YouTube playlist for the collection.
4. ↑ Mountain Music - Alabama - You Tube
5. ↑ The full quote, from Emerson's Prose and Poetry ― "Every book is a quotation; and every house is a quotation out of all forests, and mines, and stone quarries; and every man is a quotation from all his ancestors."
6. ↑ YouTube: Nose on the Grindstone, by Tyler Childers.
7. ↑ IMDB: O Brother, Where Art Thou?
8. ↑ David Hackett Fischer, Albions Seed: Four British Folkways in America (on Amazon).
9. ↑ Ken Burns, Country Music (on PBS).
10. ↑ Wikipedia: Barbara Allen.
11. ↑ Wikipedia: Billy Strings.
12. ↑ Wikipedia: Bill Monroe.
13. ↑ Revels DC: Daily Song.
14. ↑ YouTube: Four Strong Winds, by Bobby Bare.
15. ↑ I was in the chat as one of the Appalachia Project's co-leaders, as the project's editor for the Appalachian News, and for myself. This space page started off with the idea that it would be a special issue of the project's newsletter, but quickly became much more. Sandy's already thinking of next year, so the project may collect several pages like this in the coming years! In the meantime, keep an eye out for webcasts on Sandy's Ancestry Roads!

See also:

• Playlist from the presentation
• Presentation
• Top Songs - Denton King - YouTube
• Amazon - I'm an Appalachian
• Denton King on Spotify
• Sandy Patak, Ancestry Roads