Bascom Lamar Lunsford
Bascom Lamar Lunsford Championed Mountain Music and Dance
Episode Description
Celebrated as “the Ministrel of the Appalachians,” Bascom Lamar Lunsford was born in Madison County, North Carolina. He learned to fashion fiddles from gourds at an early age and later mastered the 5-string banjo. A lawyer, teacher, fruit-tree and honey bee promoter by trade, Bascom would record over 300 sides of mountain music from memory for the Library of Congress. Bascom started the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in Asheville in 1928, which is now the longest continuing folk festival in the nation.
The Podcast
The “Down the Road on the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina” podcast highlights bluegrass and old-time music stories, performers, and traditions across the mountain and foothills counties of Western North Carolina. Hosted by Laura Boosinger and produced by Kim Clark of WNCW-FM, the podcast is a joint effort of the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, the North Carolina Arts Council, WNCW-FM, and the American roots music journal No Depression.
