Here in Pickens County, SC

Written by Dot Jackson

New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music

From the ancient lament of the wind in the hemlocks and the joyful choir of peep-frogs in the spring, through fiddle and banjo, ballads, hymn tunes and plowman’s song, life on the mountain rim of South Carolina has moved to music.

As Americans from a variety of heritages shared cultural influences, musicians found new ways to play old tunes and harmonies, and a whole new musical vocabulary to be learned from new neighbors, on traditional and newly-fashioned instruments. The inevitable intermingling of musical influences created exciting new sounds – new American music.

“Roots music” of the region, from the sounds of nature and the prehistoric cane flute through traditional string band, gospel, Blue Grass, folk songs, rhythm and blues, shape-note singing, jazz, and a rousing “all-day-singing” on the grounds of a country church will resound through Pickens County during the New Harmonies residency. It is music that reveals the American story – people reshaping themselves in a new and changing world.

In recognition of the area’s vast musical heritage, the Smithsonian Institution with the SC Humanities Council brings its traveling exhibit, New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music to Southern Wesleyan University’s Central, SC campus (off SC 93 east of downtown Central). For seven weeks, starting March 3 and continuing through April 22 the extensive visual exhibit will be housed at Founders Hall, in theDiningCommonsBuilding. The exhibit is FREE and open to the public Monday through Saturday, 10am-3pm. The host for this exhibit is a partnership ofBirchwoodCenterfor Arts and Folklife, Southern Wesleyan University and thePickensCountyMuseumof Art & History.

Through a selection of photographs, recordings, instruments, lyrics and artist profiles, New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music will explore the distinct cultural identities of American roots music forms. The exhibition will examine the progression of American roots music, as rich and eclectic as our country itself. In other locales, musical genres profiled include regional specialties such as zydeco, tejano, and klezmer. Hands-on instruments and interactive musical electronics are a feature that children find especially exciting, in the exhibit.

Teachers are invited to use New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music as a highly-instructive, enjoyable and student-friendly field trip for classes; the Smithsonian has provided grade and age-appropriate Teachers’ Guides on line at www.museumonmainstreet.org.

The Smithsonian New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music Exhibit is further complemented by a variety of local musical performances. Among the FREE events on the New Harmonies calendar are a packed-with-performers “Roots of Southern Gospel” concert,  at Newton Hobson Chapel, Southern Wesleyan, on March 10;  a “Roots of SC Upcountry Folk Music” presentation, at the same venue, on March 17; “Kids’ Celebration of Old-Time  Music Tradition,” at Southern Wesleyan, Folger Auditorium on Mar. 31; “Music in the Mountains,” on April 13 at Hagood Mill in Pickens;  ”Dinner on the Grounds and All-Day Singing,” at McKinney Chapel, in Eastatoee, on April 14, and programs of a “Nothin; But the BluesFest,” in several venues in Clemson and Central, April 19–22.  For more information about the BluesFest and a list of fabulous performers go to www.clemsonbluesfest.com. There are many more events planned, throughout the county. A complete calendar accompanies this news release and will be online at www.carolinafolkmusic.org.

The Smithsonian New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music Exhibit and the associated local events are made FREE to the public due to the funding Sponsorships of The Smithsonian Institution, the SC Humanities Council, Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative, Blue Ridge Securities Services and the Pickens County Accommodations Tax, People’s National Bank and SC Bank & Trust. Support has also come from Pickens Saving and Loan and the Pickens County Library System.

The public is invited to the ribbon-cutting to “officially” mark the opening of this New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music on Saturday, March 3rd. The opening starts at noon with speaker presentations. Dr. Thomas L. Johnson, ofBirchwoodCenter, will preside at the occasion. Music will be provided by the Young Appalachian Musicians’ stage band “Sweet Potato Pie,” household instrument virtuosi (washboard, spoons, etc.) Robert Perry and Joda Snipes, and Donnie Foster’s old-time strings will round out the celebration.

“We are very pleased to be able to bring New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music Exhibit to our area,” said Pickens County Administrator Chappell Hurst. “It allows us the opportunity to explore this fascinating aspect of our own region’s musical history and we hope that it will inspire many to become even more involved in the cultural life of our community.”

“We are all aware of the significance of the Smithsonian, but not all of us have the resources to go toWashingtonto see these things first-hand,” said SC Humanities Council director Randy Akers. “I have talked with people at these showings, in other towns — I remember one older man said that he had never been able to go to see something like this, in its home base, and now, it has come to him. This means a lot to a community!”

The hosting partners and communities have been expressly chosen by the SC Humanities Council to host New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music as part of the Museum onMain Streetproject – a national/state/local partnership to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations. The exhibition is touring a succession of twelve communities, in Coastal, Lowcountry,Midlandsand Upcountry South Carolina, during the two-year period of 2011-2012.

New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music is part of Museum onMain Street, a unique collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, state humanities councils across the nation, and local host institutions.

To learn more about New Harmonies and other Museum on Main Streetexhibitions, visit www.museumonmainstreet.org. Support for Museum onMain Street has been provided by the United States Congress.

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