DIRTY LINEN MAGAZINE REVIEW

Fiddles, Snakes and Dog Days
Old-Time Music and Lore in West Virginia
Video Cassette - 60 Minutes
Augusta Heritage Center - AHV-97 [(1997)]

They're called the 'state treasures' of West Virginia and they've got
stories to tell that may not be remembered generations from now. They're
folk artists and their handed-down spoken traditions are as culturally
vital as the old-time music played on their porches.

This documentary begins with various folk artists discussing the perils of
dog days: how birds and snakes go blind, hawks whistle, snakes become
poisonous and how a black chicken's intestines can thwart the worst of
snakebites during summer's brutal heat. From there, there are conversations
about placing rattles inside fiddles, how fiddles were once considered an
instrument of the devil and ultimately, the evilest of all creatures:
snakes. Some tell a story of how a young girl fed a snake daily and when
the parents killed the snake out of fear, she soon died. Many of these
stories are related by several folk artists, etching the impression that
these tales are indeed gospel -- no jive is shucked here. Even so, there's
the incredulous story about how a mother black snake will open her mouth so
a couple dozen offspring can all slither inside. Throughout the film, the
sense of West Virginian life is never lost. While one series of shots will
show the seemingly untouched countryside, another series shows
practitioners of Appalachian flatfooted dancing.

In between, there're wonderful snatches of music from fiddlers Melvin Wine,
Lester McCumbers, Glen Smith, Leland Hall, and Eugene Wright. A brief
fiddler's history is also presented, touching upon the legacy of Uncle Jack
McElwain and Edden Hammons. The film concludes with the masterful fiddling
of Augusta's programming/grants specialist Jimmy Triplett, hence
symbolizing how the younger generation is ensuring that their inherited
mountain traditions aren't buried by the information age.

Dan Willging, Denver, CO