We’re pleased to present the 13th edition of THE HEART OF THE MOUNTAINS, Blue Ridge Country’s ongoing bimonthly digital issue. This edition features MUSIC MAGIC of the Mountains. These stories, chosen from the BRC archive that now goes back 34 years, recall some of the most memorable and most-sought-out pieces in the magazine’s history:
• 12 Brightest Stars: Our Mountains’ Best. The signature musicians who have come out of the Southern Appalachians have made their marks in country, pop, bluegrass, the big bucket of Americana and more. We profile a dozen of the most memorable and lasting, complete with suggestions on classic collections of their work.
• Bascom Lamar Lunsford: Minstrel Man. We explore the life and times of a man who dedicated himself to finding, cataloguing and playing the traditional tunes of the mountains. His powerful personality and strong opinions made for many bumps along the way.
• Dave Loggins: Making American Before There Was Americana? Known best for his lone hit—“Please Come to Boston”—this East Tennessee native has a broad and deep catalog of both hits for others and of his own recordings. And, oh by the way, he wrote the Masters Golf Tournament theme music.
• Ralph Stanley: American Legend. His music career nearly ended with the death of his brother Carter, and thus of the Stanley Brothers. But hard work, deep modesty and the popularity of the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou” combined to bring new popularity and fame to a man from the mountains of southwest Virginia.
• The Carter Fold: The History of a Family. The Carter family history is made up of roughly equal parts of strife, uncertainty and beautiful-melody songs. Over several generations, those forces continued to make their mark on country and old-timey music.
• Bluegrass, Newgrass. The music from our region is marked by constant evolution with a strong respect to the past. These interviews with Sam Bush, Rhonda Vincent, Bela Fleck and others lend insight into that process and the delightful musical results.
This is the 13th in our ongoing HEART OF THE MOUNTAINS series. If you have not already, we invite you to enjoy the rest of the series and more in our digital archives found here.
Please note, we’ve digitized these pieces just as they appeared in their original print form. Please remember that as a result, all quotes and references to “present day” things such as artifacts and other items are contemporaneous to the time of publication rather than the current time.