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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 1963)
Q TIIUHSDAY, UKCKMIIKK 5. 1363 MKUWIKD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEUFOKD, OREGON Folk Songs declaims Its Place in American Heritc By ROBERT D. CAREY Uniled Press International MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ark. -(UPI) The heartbeat of America has been called the pounding rhythm of the big freight trains that beat along the rails and the thump of the giant oil rigs gouging deep into the land. But here it is the songs of its people that rise above the tap roots of a nation. The foothills of the rolling Ozarks meet the rugged edge of the Ozark National Forest in this town of 983 called, aptly enough, Mountain View. And each Friday night the people come in to sing their songs, most of which can be traced backward through the stream of history as surely as any family tree. This weekly meeting of the Rackensack Folk Society and others like It in Arkansas are preserving a now revitalized form of American culture that only a few years ago seemed destined to pass into oblivion the folk song. Jimmy Driftwood, organizer of the society and a folk singer and writer of some renown, talked in the Stone County Court house where the Friday night gatherings meet. "This," he explained with emphasis, "is not a hootenany." "No sir," said Driftwood, whoso craggy face mirrors a lifetime in the hills. "These are folk songs sung by folk sing' ers, and there's a big differ ence." People Stream In The people rolled in. They came from nearby Timbo, or over at St. James or up from Old Lexington. Others came from isolated dwellings in the moun tains that have nestled there for a century or more. They came in battered jalopies overload cd with children and banjos or in sleek new station wagons and pickup trucks. They had come just to sing and listen. A listener is likely to hear such perennial favorites as "Butcher Boy," "May I Sleep In Your Barn" or "Irene Good night." He would hear some of the modern ones too, "Texas Rangers," "Kickin' Mule" and "Bile Them Cabbage Down." The revival of folk songs has been due in part to groups like Rackensack. Driftwood explained it: "For a while there in the late '50s the country's songs had no mean ing. And when your country's songs begin to lose their mean ing, then a part of what you believe in about the country may lose its meaning too." The rebirth of folk song pop ularity can be traced, in part to one of Driftwood s own songs, "The Battle of New Orleans," which has sold over five mil lion copies. Announcing... I im ploaiod to announce that there hat been a change of ownership of Southern Oregon Trailer Mart in Phoenix, Ore gon. For several yean, I man aged the Mart and now I take pride in announcing that 1 have purchased the business. Johnny Blount Let me take this means of welcoming both old and new friends and customers. Please pay us a visit and take a look through our complete supply store. Don't forget too, our year-end clearance is now in progress. SOUTHERN OREGON TRAILER MART PHOENIX, Oregon 535-1331 A young girl stood at the I shy voice sang of things long front of the room. An old man past and people long dead. The and a boy on either side of her faces of the mountaineers were strummed their guitars. A sad, 'silent and expressionless. The The Family Council kdltor. no'.: The Family Council consist, of Judge. . phytHatrlst, thrse clergymen, three edltur. and a women's editor. Earn a-tlcle I. a summary of a family disagreement presented to the Council. T'A Council deals with problems, major and minor, encountered by guidance counselors and social workers. Edited by Mrs. lima Denny. tCopyr'ght bs fjene?.; Veaturer 'Jorp.) Francis F. I love him, but some of his habits annoy me. Drew Y. If she loved me nothing about me would faze her. Frances F. Love may be blind, but it's not deaf. Drew and I are engaged and it's a real love thing. Still, he docs a couple of noisy things that drive me to distraction. Is it fair for me to expect him to use a toothpick instead of squeaking his tongue to get his teeth dean? And he cracks his knuckles, sneezes, coughs, yawns all so loud. Drew V. She docs things that arc goat-grabbing, too. But I can I bear to find fault with her because, in general, she's such a wonderful pal. The lit tle nuisances don't matter when they're surrounded by so much charm and kindness. She combs her hair every five minutes, chews three sticks of gum, is scared of mice. So what? I love the girl. The Council We commend Frances for keeping a clear head on her shoulders through out her "courtship daze." It's easy to overlook the persnick ety disadvantages tied in with the glorious prize ot a good husband. A personal note as analogy: The Council Editor moved to a charming new apartment. It was only after living there a year, when the novelty had worn off, that she noticed it was at the end of a block which ran steeply uphill. Huffing up the hill each day, she's having second thoughts on the move. The momentum of "love and desire" can blind one to drawbacks and debits . . . Another example: We know a home-owner who fell in love with a house because of the old - fashioned coffee grinder (big red wheels and all) which came with the kitchen. Several pots of coffee after the title was transferred, he got around to checking the termites, bro ken furnace, leaky roof . . . nuff sed? Within the large shel ter of love and acceptance, Frances and Drew can speak up about peeves. "Only your best friend will tell you," ran the old ad slogan. So why not start now to be both best friends and lovers? women sat in neat, homemade , on the aisle stood up and danced dresses and balanced babies on a quick jig sort of a cross !f.P- !l f -Jf!,6 between the Charleston and the WC1C UI HI IU1UI1U1 1, CSV ern shirts. A few wore overalls and some smoked pipes or hand- rolled cigarettes, Bunny Hop. She was joined by several more including a spry fellow that looked near 70. The "A whole new generation of hardwood floor shook with Americans are enjoying these songs," Driftwood said. "These ballads have meat on their bones. They tell stories of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, the westward trails of the pioneers and before that of their life in Europe." Arkansas has done much to advance the preservation of this heritage. The two major annual folk singing festivals in Arkan sas, those at Eureka Springs in the autumn and the one here in the spring, will be joined by a third next year at Little Rock. They have drawn thousands of out-of-state visitors over the years. All Ages Sing The music swung into a quick er mood. Four men armed with a banjo, two guitars and fiddle played the lively "Eighth of Jan uary." The people clapped and hummed. A middle-aged lady rhythm. Driftwood, a former school teacher, likes to recount the background of the songs he sings and writes. He said the lyrics would change as the people moved westward from Europe then across the Great Plains. They would make their nightly sings around the campfires cor respond to the settings first along the Atlantic Coast, t h e n Kentucky through Tennessee, and still different words to incor porate settlers in the Deep South and those farther West. With each stop the flavor of the ballads changed to fit the present. And when nothing in the past fitted that which was happening, a new song was composed and sung by some un named poet. Many were not written down for centuries, be ing sung only by the old to the young, year after year. i n 'mi. sifi jtfi .aVlSs!''! I tinviiJL'" A ir"--''' ' '-Sit.i .if ,tl held in STONE COUNTY SINGS It's tune-up time in front of the Stone County Court House as youngsters and oldsters gather tor weekly song-fest. recently Ark. (UPI) Mountain View, Christmas Gifts For State Hospital To Be Delivered Dec. J 4 Christmas gifts assembled by the J a c k 8 o n County Mental Health Association for patients will be taken to the state hos pital al Salem on Dec. 14. It will be necessary for all contributions to be at the point of departure, 602 Catherine St., hy Friday, Dec. 13, it was an nounced. If assistance is need ed for delivery, call the chair man of the committee, Mrs. Herbert Giftord, 7T2-6mo or 773 7220. Gifts for Fairvicw Home will be accepted, if requested. They should be marked as to whore the gifts are to be delivered, 99 Million Consumers Read a Daily Newspaper Each Weekday These readers make up the largest audience available to any advertiser in any medium. A recent study of this national newspaper audience shows that it in cludes 80 percent of all men and women over 21 . . . and 72 per cent of all teen agers, age 15 and over. This huge and consistent readership can be depended upon by advertisers because the daily newspaper is a habit with most people . . . an established part of their everyday lives. For the national advertiser, this amounts to almost the total market for a ny product. For the local advertiser, this massive readership symbolizes the local reach of his own local newspaper - into almost 9 out of 10 homes every day. No matter what the product or service an advertiser wants to sell, more people can read about it in the pages of the daily newspaper. "Tht Daily Ntwipaptr And Id Reading Public," Audio and Survtyi Co., Inc. ' ""f till FINEST CARPETS, (;,' &M WALL TO WALL INSTALLATION J; J $mM AND CARPET REPAIRS r I . $f RvlyJ phone call will bring one of our experts to your home with carpet kj&2&M!i& samples and a free estimate. ill 11 1 ii 11 v ir aii 11 11 r 1 m&itmt&Jt'c ' 1 n II If If II II M III II II 3 ff?2i.ft3ifj3 S- 1 J lira 132 South Central "Downtown Medford" 779-2251 p J ?f-l --'-s- -as-as-as-a-a a San mm s-s-s Mi a M-alsslls-apj-jii..Ujp , ,,-1 ,,-,H-.fa;. TA inn mi it-, in .in. J.,:.' r.?m c5) ir (f n n ' ' "" ",lmmf-ml ft U - V f i . -4 rT"- . ' V M t rSt ' ' 1 r hsL.t V-V JK ' 1 " Prinled in the interest ol more erfeclive oder.iiing by Medford Mail Tribune 7. i . J
