Classical music, despite Ross’ concerns, is reflexively thought of as urban, enriching, skilled, and worthwhile, much like medicine is. Ever.Īt the heart of the matter, though, is the division between rural and urban sensibilities that reinforces those kinds of stereotypes. None of the schlock creates any sense of reverence. As wonderful as the film A Mighty Wind is, the joke that is rich for folk music fans–and the film’s creators are clearly fans themselves–is two-dimensional in the eyes of everyone else.

People these days see a bumper sticker that says “paddle faster, I hear banjos” and wink, though it’s hard to imagine that all of them have really seen the movie and could reflect accurately on the reference The joke is so evergreen that the punchline lives in the absence of its antecedent. The banjo in Deliverance will be remembered long after the movie is forgotten. It’s true that classical music in movies is rarely sympathetic to the art form – “alleged geniuses compose NFL highlights music” writes Ross. In the folk world, however, schlock never creates any sympathies, misplaced or otherwise. It’s a statement that could far more easily be applied to folk and old-time music. Typically, such scenes give a klutzy picture of musical life and come loaded with corrosive clichés.” Support Radiolab today at /donate.Hoedowns, Reels and Frolics: Roots and branches of Southern Appalachian DanceĪlex Ross wrote recently in the New Yorker that “when classical-music fans hear that a new Hollywood production has a scene set at the opera or the symphony, they reflexively prepare to cringe. This episode was reported by Tracie Hunte and produced by Annie McEwen, Tracie Hunte, and Matt Kielty. Mix by Jeremy Bloom. Special thanks to Jim Mayo, Claude Fowler, Paul Gifford, Jim Maczko, Jim Davis, Paul Moore, Jack Pladdys, Mary Jane Wegener, Kinsey Brooke and Connie Keener.

And along the way, we uncovered a secret history of square dancing that made us see how much of our national identity we could stuff into that square, and what it means for a dance to be of the people, by the people, and for the people. But does that mean it should be THE American folk dance? That question took us on a journey from Appalachian front porches, to dance classes across our nation, to the halls of Congress, and finally a Kansas City convention center. People have been doing the square dance since before the Declaration of Independence.

Hoedowns reels and frolics