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ADRIAN MA, HOST:
This weekend, the mountains of southwestern Virginia are filled with the sweet, cacophonous sound of fiddles.
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MA: It is the Old Fiddler's Convention, which draws hundreds of mostly amateur musicians and thousands of bluegrass and old-time music fans from surrounding states. It's celebrating its 89th year, making it the oldest continuous festival of its kind in the U.S. And NPR's Frank Langfitt spent yesterday at the convention and is with us on the line now from Galax, Virginia. Good morning, Frank.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning, Adrian.
MA: Frank, what did you hear and see yesterday?
LANGFITT: Yeah, it's a really great scene. It's very authentic. It's in this downtown public park. It's run by the local Moose Lodge. People bring their folding chairs in front of this big stage. And in the back, under this big yellow tent, the musicians - they line up with numbers on their shirts, getting ready for the competition. Yesterday, there was a folk singing competition around midday. I met a girl named Ellie Massey (ph). She's 13. She had driven with her family more than 300 miles from east central Ohio, and she was practicing before she went on.
ELLIE MASSEY: (Singing) Just a few more weary days, and then I'll fly away.
LANGFITT: Ellie grew up singing and playing with her family. And you heard her there, accompanied by her grandfather, who's playing guitar, and her uncle on mandolin. And here's what Ellie had to say.
ELLIE: I love singing. I love dancing. I love - I just love bluegrass.
LANGFITT: Do many of your friends like bluegrass music?
ELLIE: Not a lot of them. Some of them make fun of me. I think it's funny. I don't get mad or anything. Now and then, everybody listens to pop or rock, but I listen to bluegrass.
MA: Hey, Ellie standing up for what she loves. I'm into it.
Frank, tell us how the competition works.
LANGFITT: Well, anybody can sign up, and this goes on for about six days. For instance, there's flatfoot dancing - people dancing on plywood boards, kind of kicking up their heels, sliding back and forth. And yesterday, they also had bluegrass and old-time band competitions. Now, I got to say, though, Adrian, the most interesting and fun part of this convention is away from the stage. There are hundreds of RVs, and there are jam sessions everywhere where people trade songs, musical tips. And I met three people playing together, just sitting on a bunch of plastic stools on the grass.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing) Now I'm sending this message to you.
LANGFITT: Now, these folks - they've been jamming together at festivals for more than three decades. This is Jeanette Williams. She's actually - she's a pro. She's an award-winning bluegrass singer.
JEANETTE WILLIAMS: This is our huge extended family. So folks from all over the country and all over the world come here, and to different music festivals like this. And we've made some lifelong friends through the music.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing) If you ever want to come back to me.
MA: Frank, how many people are attending this year?
LANGFITT: They said about 30,000 over six days. But I got to say, this is markedly down from in the past. I mean, since COVID, the crowds have dropped. Some say that it's competition from other festivals. Others note that older musicians - you know, they've passed away. Continuing to make an effort, though, to bring in young players like Ellie, Monday night is the youth competition. And they had more than a hundred kids there, ages 7 to 15.
MA: Before we go, can you just remind us about some of the heritage of this music?
LANGFITT: You know, old-time music goes back centuries. The fiddle came from Europe. The Scotch-Irish played it when they arrived here in the mountains. The banjo descended from West African instruments. So the music has this really complex history. It's a mix of different cultures. And what you end up with is this sort of distinctly American music tradition, which is really part of the DNA of central Appalachia.
MA: NPR's Frank Langfitt. Thanks for the fiddle dispatch.
LANGFITT: Happy to do it, Adrian.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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