Minstrel of the Appalachians: The Story of Bascom Lamar Lunsford

266 Pages·2002·39.97 MB·English

by  Loyal Jones

Minstrel of the Appalachians

Minstrel
of the
Appalachians
The Story of
Bascom Lamar Lunsford
Loyal Jones
Music transcribed by
John M. Forbes
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY
Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant
from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Copyright © 1984 by Appalachian Consortium Press
Reprinted 2002 by The University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre
College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University,
The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College,
Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University,
Morehead State University, Murray State University,
Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,
University of Kentucky, University of Louisville,
and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.
Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
www.kentuckypress.com
Frontispiece: Bascom Lamar Lunsford in his sixties.
Courtesy of Jo Lunsford Herron
Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
from the Library of Congress
ISBN 978-0-8131-9027-3 (pbk: acid-free paper)
This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting
the requirements of the American National Standard
for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Member of the Association of
American University Presses
For the young Appalachians
Who have never known a minstrel
And who look beyond their mountains
For story and song.
May they come to know
That their kin
Hold enough magic
To charm a jaded world.
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Contents
Foreword
IX
Introduction
X111
1. Mountain Bred 1
2. Personal and Vocational Ventures 11
3. The Real Calling 27
4. Fulfillment 51
5. Mostly Personal 89
6. Bouquets and Arrows 117
Bibliography 145
Appendices 149
A Lunsford Sampler 191
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Foreword
From about 1880, articles, books, short stories, and novels have been written about
Appalachia by journalists, local color writers, and missionaries from the outside. These
papers have been too general, or too colored, or too specialized to reveal the delicate,
complex folkways and lifestyles of the "natives." At worst they have established no more
about the mountain people than cliches, stereotypes, and surface observations. By the
1920s some rather acceptable but sweeping studies had come forward, but, in the main,
cliches were burned in to the bone. So late as the 1970s I read in The New York Times a
review of an Appalachian book by a well-known critic, who, though he had chosen the
volume to review for his paper, couldn't bear to end the evaluation without adding, " ...
Civilization went round the Appalachian barrier and its miserable people." With myriads
of such remarks so often repeated it would seem that the sturdy people of the Southern
Highlands have been rubberstamped to death.
Can the wrongs be righted? Can the bell be untolled? Will the ages mellow and color
the scene? No. Only when the people take the offensive and write of themselves. Now is
the time for a good new beginning. The Mountains have been discovered again. This
time however there is a difference. Natives of the region have been going everywhere to
earn degrees in education and in the professions for many decades, seeing their hills from
afar and coming to know themselves, knowing their own identity. Upon returning they
are at ease with their nurture and culture. Their spirited writings in the forms of articles,
stories, studies are beginning to cast a true light on life in the hills. To them Appalachia is
the best place in the world to be from-and to come back to.
The present book is a good example of the new approach to life in the mountains. It
is written by a native of the area where the subject of the book, Bascom Lamar Lunsford,
grew up and flourished for 91 years. Although the author, Loyal Jones, covers a good
scope of time and space, he is not a generalizer. He focuses on Western Carolina from
before the Civil War to the present. Bascom's father, a teacher at Mars Hill, provides
Bascom and the other family members with a good basic education. Not satisfied with
the baccalaureate and a teaching career, Bascom goes on to graduate studies in law, and
finally is admitted to the bar of his state. Bascom marries a girl from nearby South Turkey
Creek, and when a portion of property comes to her, they move to the country. Their six
children grow up and go off to schools and colleges. Their country place becomes a
center for music groups, dance parties, and later it is sought out by traveling troubadours
and folk dance leaders.
Early in his life Bascom was given a fiddle by his father. Even earlier, he and his
brother had contrived a cigar-box variety of the rowdy American instrument, the banjo;
and they played together for fun and later for dances and parties. The banjo became
Bascom's favorite for singing, recording, and continual public appearances. This kind of