Long Journey Home: A Century Affair - The / Var - Long Journey Home: A Century Affair - The / Var [CD]

In May of 1925, the small Appalachian town of Mountain City, TN hosted a fiddlers convention. And it turned out to be an iconic gathering, remembered 100 years later by some of the most well-known and loved masters of modern mountain music. The result is Long Journey Home: a Century after the Mountain City Fiddlers Convention.

This was all the brainchild of noted folk musician John McCutcheon. McCutcheon is no stranger to centenary projects. He released This Land: Woody Guthrie's America to celebrate Guthrie's 100th birthday in 2012. A couple of years later came Joe Hill's Last Will, honoring the legendary labor songwriter. And finally, To Everyone in All the World was a tribute to Pete Seeger's 100th birthday.

"My first and forever love is traditional Appalachian music," noted the multi-instrumentalist. "And the 1925 Mountain City gathering brought together many of the most well-known artists of early country music. "Seems like everyone was there: Fiddlin' John Carson, Uncle Am Stuart, Clarence Ashley, GB Grayson, the Hill Billies, the Fiddlin' Powers Family, and more. The photograph taken that day makes it look like the Woodstock of early country music."

McCutcheon's plan was to gather a bunch of his friends to put a new twist on the music played by those stars of 100 years ago. And it was an easy ask. "My first call was to Stuart Duncan, probably the most well-known fiddler in Nashville. Tim O'Brien signed on. Old Crow Medicine Show not only said yes, but offered their studio to record many of the cuts. IBMA Fiddler & Vocalist of the Year Becky Buller, blues man Sparky Rucker, guitar phenom Molly Tuttle, Jake Blount, Bruce Molsky, and Cathy & Marcy's Old Time Coalition all agreed to participate. Also included is Mountain City native Kody Norris, the wild banjo duet of Tray Wellington & Victor Furtado, the Earl White String Band. It was an overflowing of talent and generosity. I even added the tune that first brought Mountain City into my world, Clarence Ashley's Cuckoo."

And it's also about the future. All the musicians agreed that all profits made from this recording will benefit Mountain City's Arts Center, continuing to celebrate and proliferate the culture that thrives so proudly today.