Instruments

Instruments.png

Old-time music and bluegrass are both characterized by the unique, but blendable, sounds of stringed instruments brought by early settlers. Scotch-Irish immigrants settled throughout the Appalachian mountains, with their fiddles and jigs, in early isolated communities like Highlands. Living difficult lives as border citizens between Scotland and England, and in Ulster, Ireland, the Scotch-Irish were some of the few settlers who could carve out a life in the challenging southern Appalachian mountains. Each wave of immigration brought new instruments and new melodies to learn. The banjo, in particular, was brought to the region by enslaved Africans and was quickly adopted as an instrument of choice by other locals. The period from the 1870’s to the late 1920’s witnessed different musical influences rise and fall in American popularity, showcasing instruments of traditional music such as the mandolin, banjo, and guitar. Each of these instruments became a part of the tapestry of Appalachian music due to their versatility, affordability, and transportability as other traditional instruments such as bagpipes and the piano proved to be too difficult to transport and maintain for rural mountain towns such as Highlands. And, in the event an instrument could not be acquired, the mountain folk often simply made their own.

Black Banjo Reclamation Project.