American Patchwork: Songs and Stories of America
Season 1 • Episode 5: Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old • Watch with subtitles
Episode 5: Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old
August 3, 1990 • 58 min
Examining the talents and wisdom of elderly musicians, singers, and story-tellers, who perform not for fame or fortune but to preserve and share their culture. Stories told by Janie Hunter (80) of Johns Island, SC; ballads sung by ex-coal miner and union organizer Nimrod Workman (91), of Chatteroy, WV; fiddle tunes and tales of moonshining and feuds from Tommy Jarrell (83) of Toast, NC; and footage from the Alabama Sacred Harp Convention in Fyffe, AL, in which people of all ages gather to sing old-time shape-note hymnody.
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