©2011 www.nelsoncountylfe.com : Photos By East Nelson Photographer Victoria Mininger : Kim & Jimbo Cary, one of the acts this past Saturday night at the Nelson center, take the stage to commemorate the influence of Irish music here in Nelson County.

Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia

By Woody Greenberg

Where does our music come from?

In the case of Nelson County, the traditional music – played on fiddles, banjos, guitars, dulcimers, harmonicas– and variously called “old-time,” “bluegrass” and, later, “country,” was a melange derived from various European and African influences – English ballads, Irish and Scottish fiddle music, religious hymns and African-American blues. But it is music that was brought here by people, and one of the groups with the greatest influence on its evolution were the Irish who came here in the 1840s and 50s to escape the great potato famine and English rule and, in the process, built our railroads, tunnels, turnpikes and canals.

Clann Mhór, Gaelic for “The Great Family,” is a local organization devoted to researching and preserving the contributions of Irish immigrants to this region, and its focus of late has been on the workers who built the Afton Railroad Tunnel, engineered by Claudius Crozet.

Kevin Donleavy, one of the group’s members, is particularly interested in the musical legacy of the Irish who came to Nelson County, and helped organize a concert of Irish music for The Nelson Music Project that happened this past Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Nelson Center in Lovingston.

The King Golden Banshee Band plays a variety of traditional Irish music on guitars, fiddles, tinwhistles, flutes, banjos and bodhráns (a framed drum descended from old Irish war drums). Songs such as “Danny Boy,” “Old Apples in Winter,” and “The Lakes of Pontchartrain” tell stories that come down from the old country. Irish dancers also performed, as well as local folk musicians Kim and Jimbo Cary.

Donleavy says Cecil Sharp, an English music teacher who became interested in doing field work on folk songs that had crossed the Atlantic with the Irish, Scottish and English who came to America, came to Nelson County in 1918 and interviewed Fannie and Alex Coffey in White Rock, Philander Fitzgerald in Afton, Dol Small in Nellysford and Maria Tomes, an 85-year-old former slave of the Coleman family in the Rockfish Valley area. Sharp annotated the notes of the songs he heard while his secretary, Maud Karpeles, took down the words.

Irish dancers perform this past weekend at the Nelson Center in Lovingston as part of a concert put on to show the influence of Irish music in Nelson.

Later, in 1950, Karpeles returned to Nelson and recorded songs sung by Florence and Napoleon Fitzgerald, descendants of Philander Fitzgerald. Donleavy believes that their songs may have come from the Irish railroad workers who worked on the Afton Railroad Tunnel in the 1850s.

Donleavy and the King Golden Banshee Band helped keep those Irish influences alive at the Nelson Center Concert.

Proceeds went to Clann Mhór and the Nelson Music Project of Oakland Museum.

Please help spread the word. The November and December dates will be a great chance to do local holiday shopping. Lunch will be available from Relay for Life (chili) and Invisible Chef, and there will be live music. If you know of any vendors who would like to participate, including arts and crafters, please have them contact George Krieger at 263-8074 to register. There is no fee.

Event Date: Saturday 21st of November 2009 10:00 AM

Location/Address: The Nelson Center – Route 29 – Lovingston, VA

Contact Telephone Please call 434-263-8074 for more information

This post was submitted by George Krieger.

© 2009 NelsonCountyLife.com

Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia
Congressman Tom Perriello (D-Va5) fielded questions from a packed crowd at Thursday’s town hall meeting in the Nelson Center. Though most of the questions centered around proposed health care legislation, issues such as tort reform and stimulus plans were also discussed.

© 2009 NelsonCountyLife.com

Sorry, folks. No viral angry mob YouTube videos to post.

Event Date: Monday 2nd of March 2009 07:15PM

Location/Address: The Nelson Center

Contact Telephone Please call 540/353-3036 for more information

This post was submitted by Lisa Harbin.