Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Recovering Marginalized Voices from Earl White and Arthur Grimes: Contemporary Black Musicians and Dancers in the Old-Time Music Community
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
The dominant population in old-time music community is white. While there are a few contemporary black musicians and dancers, not much scholarly work has been done on them. This paper recovers two black musicians’ narratives marginalized in the old-time community. Both Earl White, a fiddler and also a founding member of the Green Grass Cloggers, and Arthur Grimes, a dancer known for his work with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, were born in North Carolina in the 1950s and began to dance in the 1970s when the old-time community experienced a revival movement. Through analyzing their narratives, this paper questions the notions of equality and openness that are largely shared in the old-time community today. The black people have made historically a great contribution to the music and the community. How can we consider that the community holding up equality and openness can be truly equal and open without the participation of the black people? Faced with this contradiction in the community, both White and Grimes argue that people have to be educated more about the black contribution to the old-time music tradition. Therefore, this paper looks at an ideal community of old-time music that both of the musicians illustrate. Methodologically, this research uses interviews with White and Grimes, other musicians and dancers in the community, and cites other scholarship on black musicians. This paper gives us a better understanding of the diversity of the music, the music community and of Appalachian culture in general.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Shohei Tsutsumi, born in Japan, is an old-time musician and a graduate student of Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University. He graduated from Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan in March 2016 with a Master of Arts in American Studies. He submitted a thesis titled “A Contradiction in the Old-Time Music Community Today: Challenges by Contemporary Black Musicians” to Doshisha University.
Recovering Marginalized Voices from Earl White and Arthur Grimes: Contemporary Black Musicians and Dancers in the Old-Time Music Community
The dominant population in old-time music community is white. While there are a few contemporary black musicians and dancers, not much scholarly work has been done on them. This paper recovers two black musicians’ narratives marginalized in the old-time community. Both Earl White, a fiddler and also a founding member of the Green Grass Cloggers, and Arthur Grimes, a dancer known for his work with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, were born in North Carolina in the 1950s and began to dance in the 1970s when the old-time community experienced a revival movement. Through analyzing their narratives, this paper questions the notions of equality and openness that are largely shared in the old-time community today. The black people have made historically a great contribution to the music and the community. How can we consider that the community holding up equality and openness can be truly equal and open without the participation of the black people? Faced with this contradiction in the community, both White and Grimes argue that people have to be educated more about the black contribution to the old-time music tradition. Therefore, this paper looks at an ideal community of old-time music that both of the musicians illustrate. Methodologically, this research uses interviews with White and Grimes, other musicians and dancers in the community, and cites other scholarship on black musicians. This paper gives us a better understanding of the diversity of the music, the music community and of Appalachian culture in general.
