Music of the Coalfields Exhibit

Coming to The Collective for The King Coal 50th Anniversary Festival!

Music of the Coalfields: An Exhibit from the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

The exhibit will be on display beginning Saturday, September 16th.

From the WV Music HOF:

Even in the best of times, life in West Virginia was never easy. And music – always an important part of life in the Mountain State – has always been a direct reflection of that life. The dark, bittersweet melodies, many of which were borrowed from Irish and English tunes, were informed by dangerous, labor-intensive jobs; hardscrabble living; geographic isolation; a dismal economy; and, perhaps most importantly, the resilient spirit of the people.

But the music heard in the Southern West Virginia coalfields also resonated with the sound of Eastern European instruments, African- American spirituals and country ballads. In the early 1900s, when thousands of immigrants flocked to the coalfields for work, they brought with them a culture of their own. Hungarians, Italians, Poles, Greeks, Lebanese and African-Americans lived together in the coal camps, each with their own distinctive culture and music.

With many photos dating back to the early-1900s, there are rare photos of Maceo Pinkard, who penned “Sweet Georgia Brown,” the well-known theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters, regional promoter Ralph Weinberg (pictured with boxer Jack Dempsey) and a striking photo of Duke Ellington performing to a packed hall in Bluefield in the 1950s. Other photos feature the Ink Spots (which included Bluefield pianist Bobby Benson), a young, fiddling Sen. Byrd, Hazel Dickens, Aunt Jennie Wilson and Boone County psychobilly pioneer, Hasil Adkins.

•This exhibit is sponsored by:
Williamson Forward
Precision Heating, Cooling, and Electrical
CC Coffee and Tea Interest
The Sanger Gallery

Exhibit is free.