Bascom Lamar Lunsford (b. March 22, 1882 d. Sept 4, 1973), the Minstrel of the Appalachians, was the founder of the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival and world renowned musician in his own right. Lunsford is a bit of a North Carolina legend, not only for his work with the festival, but also as a pro-Bono(free) lawyer and farmer, and his collecting and recording of over 700 folk songs and music. Lunsford was was known for his fiddle, and was inspired to play the instrument from his uncle Os Deaver (2). Lunsford was also influenced by professional folklorist Robert Winslow Gordon, a Harvard educated man who would go on to establish the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress (3).  Lunsford’s antics in folk music quickly preceded him, and he began meeting folklorists and famous celebrities from all around the world. This includes President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, King George and Queen Elizabeth (4), and even a group of traveling Russian folk musicians who came to see him perform. Lunsford was a cultural icon up and down the Appalachians and his work with the festival only strengthened that. Now America’s longest running folk festival, the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival is one of the strongest anchors of Anglo-folk heritage in North America.

Bascom Lamar Lunsford care-free while playing the fiddle for square dancers in a mountain home (1)

References

1: Saturday Evening Post, 1948, Box 6, Folder 78, Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, D. H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Asheville, NC.

2:Jones, Loyal. Minstrel of the Appalachians : The Story of Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1984. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed May 4, 2017). Pg. 27

3: Jones, Loyal. Minstrel of the Appalachians : The Story of Bascom Lamar Lunsford.  Pg. 29-30

4: We The People: Asheville Folk Festival Preserves Old Times and Dance, Issue Date: Jan. 1945, Box 6 Folder 24, Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Asheville, NC. 

Header Image: Header Image- Asheville Citizen Times, 1970, Box 6, Folder 40, Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, D. H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Asheville, NC.