A Showman and a Scholar: Bascom Lamar Lunsford and the Preservation of Traditional Appalachian Music
Date
5-23-2025
Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Degree
Master of Arts in History - Thesis (MA)
Chair
Joseph Super
Keywords
Appalachia, Southern Appalachia, music, folk music, traditional music, folkways, ethnomusicology, folk revival, music festivals, folklore, folklorists, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Virginia, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, John Lair, Alan Lomax, Gertrude Knott, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, banjo, banjos, fiddle, fiddles, square dance, dance, dancing, traditional dances, square dance, Appalachian dances, Scots Irish, Scots-Irish, Asheville, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, Cecil Sharp, Maud Karpeles, culture, traditional culture, music ways, cultural preservation, music preservation, bluegrass, old time music
Disciplines
History
Recommended Citation
Grist, Benjamin, "A Showman and a Scholar: Bascom Lamar Lunsford and the Preservation of Traditional Appalachian Music" (2025). Masters Theses. 1324.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/1324
Abstract
Appalachian musical culture is well-known in the modern day. Between old time, bluegrass, country, and clogging, people around the world know and enjoy the musical traditions of the mountains. However, in the 1920s, Appalachian culture was in serious danger of going extinct. A mix of industrialization destroying local economies, an influx of rich outsiders moving to the region, and the people of Appalachia trying to distance themselves from their impoverished lifestyles, traditional Appalachian music and culture was being crushed on one hand and abandoned on the other. Realizing that the region's musical traditions were disappearing, several scholars tried to record and preserve the dying traditions. Several performers tried to keep the tradition alive by continuing to play and sing the old songs. Bascom Lamar Lunsford did both. By combining his skills as a showman and a scholar, he was able to reinvigorate and popularize Appalachian music like no one else before him. By preserving songs in multiple archives, going on speaking tours across the country, setting up folk festivals across Appalachia and beyond, and teaching the old dances to the younger generation, Lunsford not only preserved Appalachian musical traditions but made the traditions a part of a living culture.
