A Showman and a Scholar: Bascom Lamar Lunsford and the Preservation of Traditional Appalachian Music

Appalachian musical culture is well-known in the modern day. Between old time, bluegrass, country, and clogging, people around the world know and enjoy the musical traditions of the mountains. However, in the 1920s, Appalachian culture was in serious danger of going extinct. A mix of industrialization destroying local economies, an influx of rich outsiders moving to the region, and the people of Appalachia trying to distance themselves from their impoverished lifestyles, traditional Appalachian music and culture was being crushed on one hand and abandoned on the other. Realizing that the region's musical traditions were disappearing, several scholars tried to record and preserve the dying traditions. Several performers tried to keep the tradition alive by continuing to play and sing the old songs. Bascom Lamar Lunsford did both. By combining his skills as a showman and a scholar, he was able to reinvigorate and popularize Appalachian music like no one else before him. By preserving songs in multiple archives, going on speaking tours across the country, setting up folk festivals across Appalachia and beyond, and teaching the old dances to the younger generation, Lunsford not only preserved Appalachian musical traditions but made the traditions a part of a living culture.