Demonstrations
Shelby "Ray" Dellinger
Instrument builder and traditional musician
Bakersville, NC (Mitchell County)
Ray Dellinger was born and raised in a musical family in the Green Cove community of Mitchell County. He has been playing mountain music most of his life and has been building instruments for the past ten years. Asked when he first remembers hearing mountain music, Ray replies, "When I was big enough to hear it." Most of his family played music. His grandfather played fiddle and was known as one of the best in the area. His mother went to shape-note singing schools as a child, and Ray remembers her singing around the house.
Read more about Shelby "Ray" DellingerRobert Dotson
Flatfoot dancer
Sugar Grove, NC (Watauga County)
Robert Dotson, a1992 North Carolina Folk Heritage Award recipient, was born in the early 1920s in the Sugar Grove community of Watauga County, just west of Boone. He, and his wife Myrtle, practice and promote the traditional flatfoot dancing of the region. "We had an old-time Victrola that you cranked up and put a record on that, and I danced to that," says Robert. "And my mother was a dancer, too. And we'd have apple peelings. People would come and we'd peel apples awhile. And then, when you got through with that, we'd dance."
Read more about Robert DotsonDoug Elliott
Storyteller, naturalist, craft demonstrator
Union Mills, NC (Rutherford County)
Doug Elliott was raised in Maryland where he developed a passion for the natural world that eventually brought him to the North Carolina mountains where he has lived for almost thirty years. Doug interviewed, befriended, and apprenticed with a number of older tradition bearing mountain folks. Today, Doug gives public performances, workshops, and other presentations using knowledge and experience collected from these tradition bearers.
Read more about Doug ElliottPeter Blum
Tinsmith
Elkin, NC (Surry County)
Peter Blum, a third generation tinsmith, lives in Surry County and has worked full-time as a tinsmith for twenty years. He learned this family trade more than fifty years ago. "I was trained by my grandfather and father," says Peter. Peter's grandfather handcrafted many objects for historic Old Salem when it was being developed. His father was a master tinsmith at Old Salem for twenty-two years.
Read more about Peter BlumEric Ellis
Bluegrass banjo player
Wilkesboro, NC (Wilkes County)
Eric Ellis was born and raised in Wilkesboro in a musical family. He has become one of the premier bluegrass banjo players in western North Carolina. His grandfather played music with Dock Walsh, a Wilkes County recording artist in the 1920s, and his father maintained that interest in music and played guitar.
Read more about Eric EllisLula Bolick
Potter
Lenoir, NC (Caldwell County)
Lula Bolick grew up in the Seagrove area of Moore County, a member of a large family of traditional potters. "I'm a fifth generation potter," she reports. "My great-grandfather started in the late 1800s where I grew up in Moore County." Her father, M.L. Owens, was a well-known potter in the community. His brothers were all potters, and eventually most of his children became potters. "There were eight children in our family," Lula says, "and we all do pottery but one sister."
Read more about Lula BolickR.G. Absher
Bluegrass and Oldtime Musician
Elkin, NC (Surry County)
R.G. Absher was born in West Jefferson, in Ashe County, and he has lived in western North Carolina most of his life. He first remembers paying attention to the sound of a banjo at nine years old when he heard the soundtrack for the movie Bonnie and Clyde. He got interested in playing music himself and started learning from friends and older musicians in the area. R.G. spent time with Al Wood, a banjo player from Alexander County, Fred Weaver, an oldtime two-finger banjo player from Alleghany County, and Bill Young, a finger-style guitar picker who also played rock-a-billy.
Read more about R.G. AbsherDavy Arch
Cherokee storyteller, lecturer, craft demonstrator
Cherokee, NC (Qualla Boundary)
Davy Arch tells Cherokee stories, presents lectures on Cherokee history and culture, and demonstrates carving, flint knapping, and mask making. He adapts his programs for audiences of all ages. Using artwork from different mediums, he describes both Cherokee history and contemporary Cherokee life. He is a founding member of the Cherokee Potters Guild.
Read more about Davy Arch
