Tutorial by Dwight Diller, YewPine Mountains of Pocahontas County, WVa

Those were the early days when "Augusta Heritage Workshop" was the culmination of a dream which the local residents of Randolph County had worked on for several years. It was seen as a place where West Virginians would have an opportunity to be reunited with skills developed by the earliest frontier settlers in the 18th century, carried through all of the 19th century into the 20th century. The date here was July/August 1975. As the only Music instructor, I was hired to teach the traditional approach to the banjo and fiddle plus the context for our indigenous Music . The class ran steady for 5 weeks. It was such a precious vision by the local folks to utilize West Virginians to share hope with other West Virginians.

Then, suddenly, it was gone. The College grabbed it up. Traditional 'artists' soon dwindled to one or two on the staff. The cultural heritage meant and still means nothing. We West Virginians won't fight to protect who we are as a people. As with all of our other natural resources, we continue being third world .

The title, TUTORIAL, is to give students an opportunity to compare my way of playing tunes separated by some years. I crowded as many on here as I could. After these 45 years of teaching banjo and fiddle, I felt this would help with the learning curve.

As an afterthought, Music, not music, arises from the Musician forming her/his Music around their own personal internal "pulse". As with fingerprints, there can never be any overlaps in playing a tune. And, in fact, a Musician's Music will vary while the tune is being played in response to the change which comes from her "pulse". Thus to claim to teach bow strokes of another musician is faulty at best. Sadly, present day students insist demand this as a learning technique even from an instructor who knows better. Our dialect is the first place to seek out our personal "pulse". An honest Musician's Music will always reflect his dialect.

Tracklist

1.	Fall Of Richmond #1	3:43

2.	Fall Of Richmond #2	2:49

3.	Fall Of Richmond #3	2:56

4.	Arkansas Traveler #1	2:29

5.	Arkansas Traveiler #2	1:55

6.	Abe's Retreat #1	2:49

7.	Abe's Retreat #2	2:29

8.	West Fork Girls #1	2:05

9.	West Fork Girls #2	2:16

10.	Yew Piney Mountain #1	2:20

11.	Yew Piney Mountain #2	2:24

12.	Piney Woods #1	2:43

13.	Piney Woods #2	2:31

14.	Shootin Creek #1	2:01

15.	Shootin Creek #2	1:43

16.	Sally Anne #1	3:06

17.	Sally Anne #2	2:28

18.	Callaway [Lee Hammons]	2:58

19.	Callaway (Maggie, Burl, Sherman Hammons)	2:49

20.	Boatman #1	2:06

21.	Boatman #2	1:37

22.	Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine #1	2:29

23.	Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine #2	2:22

24.	Cripple Creek #1	2:42

25.	Cripple Creek #2	1:48

26.	Cluck Old Hen #1	1:49

27.	Cluck Old Hen #2	1:44

28.	Turkey In The Straw #1	2:36

29.	Turkey In The Straw #2	1:57

Credits

released February 23, 2016

David Nemec from Naugatuck CT was a student at Augusta in 1991. That fall he came to Pocahontas County with a huge mixing board, and we recorded 3 albums in one week: Red Rooster, O Death, Piney Woods. . These were the first of the dozen or so albums he recorded and freely produced.

All money from the Music on this site goes directly to Dave. Much of my career in the Music belongs to him, first, and then the hundreds of others from 1968 to the present who helped do what I could never ever have done. I owe it all to them.

BTW, Yew Pine Cultural Traditions, b March '03, was a vision which came about as a result of what Dave did to help me in my career. The charter and other info is on the website. YPCT is working to bring to the surface and preserve the heritage of Pocahontas County that it may be made available to the local folks as well as others.

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