Phoeba Parsons Banjo Class; Interviews with Phoeba Parsons and Phyllis Marks; Banjo Class – 08/11/1986; Interviews – 08/14/1986

A C408

Artists: Phoeba Parsons and Phyllis Marks

Album/Event: Tape contains three separate events; The first event is a banjo class taught by Phoeba Parsons; The second is an interview with Phoeba Parsons on her life and music history; The third is an interview with Phyllis marks on her life and music history.

Contents:

Phoeba Parsons Banjo Class Tunes:

1. Bury Me Beneath the Weeping Willow
2. White House Blues
3. On the C&O Road
4. Minnow On the Hook
5. Cabin Creek
6. Unnamed Tune?
7. Old Napper (got cut off)
8. I Wish I Was a Little Bird
9. Silver Dagger
10. talk of who Phoeba liked learning from
11. Charming Little Girl
12. talk of Phoeba’s favorite fiddlers and how she learned to play banjo; teaching others how to play
13. Our Father

Phoeba Parsons Interview: Where Parsons grew up, music in her family, how she taught herself banjo, Parsons’ mother’s upbringing, Parsons’ parents dancing the sidestep and the backstep, “dancing them down,” dancing The Old Virginia Backstep, performs poems “How Many Leaves Are In a Tree” & “Hippity Hoppity,” earning money as a kid, Parsons’ mother singing and learning how to sing from her.

Phyllis Marks Interview: Growing up in Sand Fork, WV, playing Dusty Miller, Marks sings Dusty Miller, talk of her mom being a school teacher in a one room schoolhouse, going to school in Sand Fork, learning how to cook and can, having a telephone, her father dying when she was young, learning music from relatives, what kinds of things Marks sings, where she learned ballads, mother’s history, picking herbs and plants for natural remedies, mother using grape vine sap on her hair, remembering songs as Phyllis got older, Phyllis’s children, her husband Jesse’s work, Jesse learning shape note singing, and working in the oil boom.

Collected/Recorded by: ?

Date: Banjo Class recorded on August 11th, 1986; Interviews recorded on August 14th, 1986

Location: Elkins, WV

Notes: Tape contains three separate recordings; Phyllis Marks interview continued on tape A C407.

The Augusta Programming Collection contains recordings of events produced by the Augusta Heritage Center, beginning in the early 1970s. A number of people contributed to this collection, including Flawn Williams, Gerry Milnes, and Bob Smakula. The collection features recordings of Augusta concerts, cultural sessions, Master Artist visits, and more, which showcase a variety of musical and cultural traditions.