John Hoyle Hoe Down
At our October 11th, 2016 meeting, John Hoyle Chapter American Heritage Committee members Harriet Bannon and Suzanne Williams and guest Denise Baxter-Yoder presented a program featuring banjo, flute, fife, lap harp and vocals that harked back to pre-Revolutionary Days when European music was first brought to America by early settlers and adapted to their own taste.
Moderator Bannon told us early American music was primarily about the fiddle and banjo, but music was played on anything that could beat a rhythm. Old tunes were passed from generation to generation, especially in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Many of the songs tell stories of murder most foul.
With the rise of the merchant class in America, settlers wanted dances less formal than the aristocratic line dances done in Europe. Contra-dances (such as square dance) evolved from this desire.
Musicians Williams and Baxter-Yoder strummed and sang their way through a sampler of types of early American music.
