COLUMBIA, S.C. — It’s Bluegrass Day at the South Carolina State Fair. Today, people are gathering to celebrate folk music with local artists while trying to spread it to younger generations.
“I just love the sounds of the banjo, the mandolin, the bass and all of it together,” Jim Cozzolongo, a Fort Mill resident, shares.
Cozzolongo is enjoying his first time visiting the State Fair on Bluegrass and Old Time Music Day.
“Bluegrass music did not evolve technically. It came from old timey music, gospel music, blues music, but it was basically forged by a select handful of few people,” Flatland Express Bluegrass Band member Chris Boutwell explains. “Bluegrass music expanded after World War II basically, into people who liked it so much. They copied it, but they knew that there was a certain way to play it and a certain way not to play. And most of them that played it realized that the timing had to be really good. The musicianship had to be as the best it could be and not just not just everybody playing at one time.”
Now, Boutwell explains it’s characterized by the type of instruments being played and the vocal harmonies.
“I think a lot of these folks walking by, especially the young ones, have no sense of what it was all about from back in the day,” Cozzolongo says.
It’s part of the reason why Flatland Express is playing for fairgoers, Boutwell says.
“This particular area hasn't been a real hotbed, although there's a lot of people that like it, but a hotbed for actually bringing those players in,” Boutwell shares. “There's a number of current players that live in South Carolina, but they usually play elsewhere in their bands that might go to other cities, maybe other places in the north.”
But sharing the music locally is how it’s passed on, Ashley Carder says.
“The old fiddle tunes that I learned, they were more often than not just something that was passed down from one person to another,” Carder remembers. “You don't learn them from books, you don't learn them in class, you learn them from hanging out with other musicians, and it's just passed down from one generation to the next.”
Carder says he’s been working to do that, which has earned him a Folk Heritage Award from the McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina. Executive Director Jane Przybysz says keeping that music alive within the state is important.
“As our entertainment becomes more and more global and accessible via the internet and we are streaming things, I think there is still a place but also maybe even a hunger for in-person, kind of play space music traditions and craft traditions that, you know, create an opportunity for a community to come together and sort of celebrate what's there,” Przybysz says. “You know, what's there, what defines their history and their communities and their cultures.”
All while enjoying fellowship, says Hugh Fanning.
“Our dads played in a group together. We grew up next door to each other. So that was kind of the beginning of us playing. So we kind of went our separate ways after we grew up and then kind of came back together,” Fanning explains about the band. “It’s just the camaraderie between the guys and learning from each other because everybody brings something different. It's just the energy between everybody, you know, that kind of makes the group what it is.”
Carolina Bluegrass Style is next up, performing on the Pepsi Stage until 8:30 p.m.
When it comes to the award, Przybysz says the applications are open for next year’s Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award recipients, with nominations closing on Nov. 7.