ETSU Professor Emeritus Jack Tottle spoke in Cambridge, Mass., at Harvard University’s recent “Fire on the Mountain” bluegrass music symposium. His topic during the morning session was “African American Influences in Bluegrass Music.” He also touched on the importance of Washington, D.C., in the evolution of bluegrass and on the role currently played by the ETSU Bluegrass, Old-Time and Country Music Program, which he founded in 1982.

Participating musicians included Harvard student and Abingdon, Va., resident Clint W. Miller, North Carolina fiddling virtuoso Bobby Hicks, Kentucky’s “newgrass” pioneer and mandolinist Sam Bush, and California banjo virtuoso Alison Brown, whose husband, Garry West (co-owner with Alison of Compass Records), discussed today’s market for bluegrass and related acoustic musical styles.

In addition to Tottle, academic speakers included Matt Glaser, artistic director of the American Roots Music Program at the Berklee College of Music, Boston; Michelle Kisliuk of the University of Virginia; and Neil Rosenberg of the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

An early afternoon session featured Lynn Dudenbostel, a luthier – instrument maker – from Maryville, and Harvard student Forrest O’Connor, who presented his undergraduate thesis on instrument building.

Also during the afternoon, Tottle moderated a session with Hicks, Bush and Brown, during which the three talked about their careers and played a variety of tunes. Tottle says they “awed the enthusiastic audience both with their virtuosity, creativity, and the wide range of (their) musical visions.”

Attendees at the symposium included Raymond McLain, director of Morehead (Ky.) State University’s Kentucky Center for Traditional Music and former director of the ETSU Bluegrass, Old-Time and Country Music Program. Also present were the founders of Rounder Records and members of the Boston Bluegrass Union, which sponsors the popular Joe Val Festival and also conducts bluegrass outreach in area schools.

The day-long event was sponsored by the Harvard Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology; Harvard’s Office for the Arts, Office of the Provost and Undergraduate Council; and the Harvard College American Music Association.

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