Play of a fiddle
Subtitle: traditional music, dance, and folklore in West Virginia
By: Gerald Milnes.
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Lexington, Ky
Language: eng
Number of pages: 211
Subjects: Folk music -- West Virginia -- History and criticism.
Description: Shedding new light on a region that maintains ties to the cultural identities of its earliest European and African inhabitants, Gerald Milnes shows how folk music in West Virginia borrowed rhythmic, melodic, and vocal forms from the Celtic, Anglo, Germanic, and African traditions. These elements have come together to create a body of music tied more to place and circumstance than to ethnicity.

Milnes explores the legacies of the state's best-known performers and musical families. He discusses religious music, balladeering, the influence of black musicians and styles, dancing, banjo and dulcimer traditions, and the importance of old-time music as a cultural pillar of West Virginia life.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [183]-193) and indes.
Discography (p. [194]-195).