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I well remember as a child I was very enthused with this type of music; it was music played from the heart, not for renumeration in the form of the dollar. Even today I enjoy the true folk music of early America. The ability of these early musicians to memorize a tune after having heard it played only once was fantastic. The story is told that a famous violin artist gave a public recital to show his ability with the violin.
In the audience was a man who after each piece was played, would say in a loud voice, "I can play that tune". Annoyed by his loud voice, he was invited to come on stage and play, the agreement being that the violin artist would play a tune and that then this man would play this same tune back. After the rendition of the first tune, the man from the audience successfully repeated it in detail, to the amazement of the famous violinist. The man from the audience then played his tune, but the famous violinist, not having the music, was unable to repeat. It then became certain that the country fiddler was in fact the better of the two musicians.
When I was eleven years old, my uncle Jimmie Smith showed me a home-made fiddle made by one of my cousins when he eas eleven years old. My uncle then said to me, "Hugh, you have been in this shop for some time. Now I want you to make for yourself a fiddle a little better than the one your counsin made". This was my first attempt to make something useful. The fiddle being complete except for strings and bow, my mother and I took this fiddle to a music store to get strings and a bow. The owner was very impressed to see what an eleven year old boy had made. He proceeded to string and tune the fiddle. I will never forget his remark, "You know this thing will really play". He then made me a present of the strings, a bow, and a book of instructions on how to play the fiddle. Although I was able to make the fiddle, I did not have the ability to play it; I was all thumbs.
Many interesting stories are told about names of towns, mountains and rivers. Many towns took the names of the first settlers in that area; Batesville from the Bates family, Lynchburg from the Lynch family, and a never-ending list of family names. Mountains from the early settlers in that area, Carters mountain from the Carter family, Dudleys mountain from the Dudley family, another never-ending list of family names. Rivers, etc., from many sources one of the most common was the names of animals, fox, wolf, deer, elk, and hundreds of others. A very interesting story is told about a creek in Albemarle County, Virginia, called Mechunk Creek. It seems that Thomas Jefferson and Dabney Carr, as young boys, were walking along this creek when Dabney Carr found a very unusual piece (chunk) of wood (most likely petrified wood). In crossing the creek on a log, Dabney Carr fell off and lost his chunk of wood