JOHNSON CITY – What is the kinship between Appalachian and Hawaiian music? Jack Tottle, founder of ETSU's Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music Studies program, explores that improbable connection in the winter issue of Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine, published by the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services at East Tennessee State University.
The theme of the new issue is "Music in Appalachia."
Also in this issue, Jennifer McGaha writes about the relationship of the music of Old Crow Medicine Show to contemporary Appalachian soul.
Patty Loveless, a Kentucky native and member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1988, shares her personal thoughts about mountain music.
James Gifford tells readers about Jean Thomas and the American Folk Song Festival, and Danny Fulks explores Ohio-born Grand Ole Opry star Cowboy Copas, who died in the same aircraft accident that killed Patsy Cline.
Dr. Ted Olson writes about Stephen Vincent Benét's 139-line poem, "The Mountain Whipporwill," better known to many as the inspiration for Charlie Daniels' hit record, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."
West Virginian Edwina Pendarvis looks at the tangled roots of the popular song "Sweet Georgia Brown."
Both Wayne Winkler and Jeff Keeling examine the Johnson City Sessions from different perspectives. Winkler writes a comprehensive overview of those 1928-1929 recording auditions by Frank Walker, head of the Columbia Records "hillbilly" recordings division. Keeling explores how the site of the 1929 sessions, a different location from the 1928 auditions, speaks to the era's race relations.
Now & Then is available in Johnson City at the University Bookstore on the second level of ETSU's D.P. Culp University Center and at the Shamrock on W. Walnut St.; in Jonesborough at the Historic Jonesborough Visitors Center; in Kingsport at Wallace News on Broad St.; in Abingdon, Va., at Zazzy'z on E. Main St.; and in Asheville, N.C., at Downtown Books and News on N. Lexington.
The magazine may also be ordered online at www.etsu.edu/cass/nowandthen or by phoning (423) 439-7865.
