White Sulphur Springs is an easy five miles from the center of Mount Airy, a delightful small southern town near the Virginia border. It’s in Surry County, becoming broadly known for it’s fine wine. blue-grass music and general all-around pleasant way of life. The following article was recently published in The Mount Airy News. Enjoy.
OLD TIME MUSIC FANS FLOCK TO MOUNT AIRY
By Tom Joyce
Mount Airy became a “Mecca” this weekend, not for pilgrims making a religious journey but people drawn by the old-time music for which Surry County has become widely known.
“I think without exception, everybody I’ve talked to has been from out of town,” said Executive Director Tanya Jones of the Surry Arts Council, which sponsored the ninth-annual Tommy Jarrell Festival Thursday through Saturday.
Danny Shepherd of West Jefferson was one such individual attending the event that provided fans a little bit of everything in the way of old-time music.
“This is the first year I’ve ever been,” Shepherd said Saturday afternoon after flatfooting to a tune performed by a trio including fiddler Kirk Sutphin and associates Kevin Fore and Chester McMillian.
Shepherd said he also enjoys bluegrass, but has developed a preference for old-time music due to “just the good rhythm and being easy to dance to.”
While the two styles are similar, bluegrass emphasizes the melody through close harmonies and solos by the mandolin, fiddle, banjo or guitar. Old-time musicians play in a style that many would call “jamming,” which stresses rhythm — with no instrument gaining a particular dominance over the others.
“That beat’s infectious, I guess,” Shepherd said as Sutphin and company cranked out an instrumental version of “Cindy,” an old-time favorite.
All this was taking place at the recently constructed Old-Time Music Heritage Hall beside the Andy Griffith Playhouse — one of several venues hosting activities honoring Jarrell, who died in the 1980s. A legendary fiddler, Jarrell has been described as influencing old-time music the way Frank Sinatra influenced pop music.
And whereas fans of that genre once made pilgrimages to Jarrell’s home on Franklin Road to learn from the old master, they now come to Mount Airy each February to help perpetuate his legacy.
The weekend included jam sessions, a film presentation, an old-time fiddle demonstration, a dance in Jarrell’s honor, a youth old-time competition and the Tommy Jarrell Birthday Concert Saturday night at the playhouse which climaxed the festival. Jarrell was born on March 1, 1901 in the Round Peak area of Surry County, which has long been considered a hotbed of old-time music.
In addition to the heritage hall and playhouse, events were held at the Downtown Cinema Theatre as well as WPAQ radio, an old-time music broadcaster that offered festival visitors tours of the station Saturday afternoon.
Jones said the recent opening of the Old-Time Music Heritage Hall greatly enhanced this year’s offerings compared to previous festivals. “It’s broadened our scope of activities,” she said.
In addition to the music and dancing opportunities there Saturday, artwork and photographs of old-time musicians, including Jarrell, was available and local luthiers had instruments on display.
The heritage hall also is equipped with “audio guides” that allow visitors to hear biographies of various old-time artists whose pictures dominate the walls, in addition to examples of their music.
“They have all kinds of different opportunities to appreciate it,” Jones said of the old-time music highlighted by the festival.
“Folks come for an experience, and they’re getting an experience,” added the Arts Council official. “They don’t just come and look at something and walk away.”
Organizers were pleased with the weekend’s turnout.
“We’ve had good traffic all day long,” Jones said Saturday afternoon.
“Last night, the dance floor was overflowing,” she said of the Tommy Jarrell Festival Dance at the heritage center, which Jarrell’s son Wayne was assigned to call.
“And the room was packed — there was literally standing room only.”
Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.
