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Audio Recording Musical performances, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia (16 July 1977), part 7; Interviews, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia (17 July 1977), part 1

About this Item

Title

  • Musical performances, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia (16 July 1977), part 7; Interviews, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia (17 July 1977), part 1

Names

  • Stanley, David, 1942- (Collector)
  • Johns, Fred
  • Burke, Judy
  • Easters, Melita
  • Rickman, Buddy
  • Tomlin, Ruby
  • Hall, Babe, Mrs.

Created / Published

  • Mystic, Georgia, July 16, 1977 - July 17, 1977

Headings

  • -  Folklore--Georgia
  • -  Personal narratives
  • -  Song festivals
  • -  Field recordings
  • -  Songs
  • -  Sound recording
  • -  United States -- Georgia -- Irwin County -- Mystic

Genre

  • Field recordings
  • Songs
  • Sound recording

Notes

  • -  Side A: Part 7 of a 7-part series of recordings of musical performances at the Royal Singing Convention, Mystic GA (Saturday, 16 July 1977): all singers perform "Savior, Savior"; a speaker tells about having car trouble and buying a VW Rabbit, hymn "Hallelujah, He Is Mine," number 54 in the hymnal Pure Gospel (James D. Vaughan, 1977); speaker mentions Cary Hilliard, "one of our favorite singers," but Hilliard does not appear; speaker says, "All right, Fred's gonna cut (?) us, I mean, he's gonna play us one," pianist Fred Johns plays a fast boogie, fieldworker comments, "sounds like 'Because, Just Because,'" then comment, "You Want old Fred to do the Generation Song?," adding "I don't want anybody to leave," Johns comments, "Well, this is gonna be new, I haven't done this one here since last year," and says to the fieldworker, "now brother, you better wait a minute," the fieldworker's log offers a visual description, Johns stands, slicks hair back (humor, Johns is balding) turns partly sideways, poses, and says, "you go ahead and take your picture," explains that the song is based on three different generations of women, "hold the doors," Johns plays the grandmother, hesitant, peering over glasses, which are perched on end of his nose (the tune is "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"), Johns hits some clunkers, the character of mother, very flowery, occasionally looks up, as if to someone standing next to piano, smiles, finally, the younger generation, played as a boogie-woogie version that concludes with "shave and a haircut"; a request for the Franks Quartet, Franks points to Johns and asks, "did y'all enjoy this young 'un," then about the next song, "we think that people get a blessing out of it," performing "Because He Lives"; Brother Leroy Carver asks everyone stand for "I'll Fly Away," saying that "meeting time tomorrow morning is 10:30, everyone meet us back here," offers a prayer, stating "good day, songs, inspiration, joy, peace, happiness, if there is one here tonight who is not a Christian, may these songs sink into their hearts and their lives," Amen (on piano), "Take somebody home with you"; end of performance segment from July 16, recording continues with interview with Fred Johns, discussion of cost of conventions, about meeting his wife at a singing convention, about conventions fading out, his wife, Jeanette Johns, reports "lot of towns don't have them anymore" and "I thought she was the prettiest thing I ever seen"; fieldworker describes the folklife project; conversation with Dale Spivey, president of the Jacksonville FL Convention, son of Idus Spivey (heard on part 5), how long presidents serve, "as long as he wants," regarding voting procedure, the convention is "open to vote"; about courting at conventions, people "follow them" all over the south, little chance of not seeing each other again, "just one big family," mention of National School of Music, Spivey mourns loss of gospel music on nickelodeons.
  • -  Side B: Part 1 of a 5-part series of recordings of interviews at the Royal Singing Convention, Mystic GA (Sunday, 17 July 1977): interview with Judy Burke and Melita Easters, entertainment in the area, springs (spring-fed ponds) and other places to swim, about excursion trains; conversation with Chuck Royal, reminiscence of Little Richard (Penniman) singing in the streets of Fitzgerald, "used to sing in the streets for money," about the artists Sam and Dave (Sam Moore and Dave Prater), how they brought copies of "Hold On" to radio stations; about a sawmill, legend about car going to top of hill when you're not in it, in Willacoochee, legend of wolf dens; hunting stories, foxes, arrival of coyotes, granddaughter's reminiscence of hunters, how hunters recognize their dogs' (hounds') voices; fieldworker's log comments, "failed interview with kid"; interview with Buddy Rickman, member of the Visionaires, discussion of the group's fixed-up step van, how he learned to play bass and joined the group, about other types of music, about Fred Johns and players who cut up, "having a good time," piano player of the Florida Boys, how Rickman himself cuts up, someone in the group is always going to cut up, other gospel events, other kinds of groups, the possibility of turning pro, "it goes right along with show business, I'd like to go full time one day"; about competitive aspects, no money prizes, "if you win, you get to sing at that convention"; about styles: contemporary, country-western, regular sacred gospel, but the traditional style is not dying out; interviews with (fieldworker's notes names Mrs. Ruby Tomlin and Mrs. Babe Hall, one is age 61), narrative of mules and wagons; Mattie Spearman on sacred harp singers who would come with tuning fork (for pitch), how Uncle Jimmy Roberts used to lead, no string instruments, just piano, still sung at Valley Grove Primitive Baptist Church, about old line vs. new line Primitive Baptist Churches, the new line allows for piano; personal narratives of meeting husbands, quoting other girls, "if you can take him, then you can have him, he ain't worth having"; about singing schools, man who played saw; better singers form groups; conversation with Mrs. Beckham of Jacksonville FL, this is "a voice that God gave me, it's a gift," about Freddie Johns, "a natural comedian, he don't mean a thing in the world by it, he keeps the spirit going."
  • -  The folklife project team produced multiple sound recordings with overlapping content at the Royal Singing Convention. On Saturday, 16 July 1977, David Stanley recorded performances and announcements on 4 audiocassettes (3 on two sides, 1 on one side, total 3.5 hours) titled "Musical performances, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia (16 July 1977), part [numbers]," identified by call numbers AFC 1982/010: AFS 21173 through AFS 21176 (side A). Also on Saturday, Thomas A. Adler recorded one open-reel tape (30 minutes) with test recordings that include portions of some performances, titled "Musical performances, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia (16 July 1977), technical test segments," identified by call number AFC 1982/010: AFS 20874. On Sunday, 17 July 1977, Thomas A. Adler recorded performances and announcements on seven open-reel recordings (about 3 hours) titled "Musical performances, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia (17 July 1977), part [number]," identified by call numbers AFC 1982/010: AFS 20875 through AFS 20881. Also on Sunday, David Stanley recorded interviews with participants on 3 audiocassettes (1 on one side, 2 on two sides, total 2.5 hours) titled "Interviews, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia (17 July 1977), part [numbers]," identified by call numbers AFC 1982/010: AFS 21176 (side B) through AFS 21178. Also on Sunday, William E. Lightfoot produced three audiocassette recordings (2 on two sides, 1 on one side, total 2.5 hours) titled "Interviews and selected performances, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia, part [numbers]," identified by call numbers AFC 1982/010: AFS 20997 through AFS 20999. In addition, Thomas A. Adler produced three video recordings (dates inconsistent in documentation, may have been 16 and-or 17 July 1977) carrying field project identifiers GA7-V1, GA7-V2, and a portion of GA7-V3.

Medium

  • audiocassette

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Call number: AFC 1982/010: AFS 21176
  • MBRS shelflist: RYA 0987
  • Field project identifier: GA7-DS-C9

Source Collection

  • South-Central Georgia Folklife Project collection (AFC 1982/010)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that some of the materials in this collection are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions, and are therefore free to use or reuse. For example, the fieldwork in this collection is in the public domain in the United States.

However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

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Credit line: South-Central Georgia Folklife Project collection (AFC 1982/010), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Stanley, David, Fred Johns, Judy Burke, Melita Easters, Buddy Rickman, Ruby Tomlin, and Babe Hall. Musical performances, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia 16 July , part 7; Interviews, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia 17 July , part 1. Mystic, Georgia, - July 17, 1977, 1977. Audio. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1982010_afs21176/.

APA citation style:

Stanley, D., Johns, F., Burke, J., Easters, M., Rickman, B., Tomlin, R. & Hall, B. (1977) Musical performances, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia 16 July , part 7; Interviews, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia 17 July , part 1. Mystic, Georgia, - July 17, 1977. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1982010_afs21176/.

MLA citation style:

Stanley, David, et al. Musical performances, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia 16 July , part 7; Interviews, Royal Singing Convention, Mystic, Georgia 17 July , part 1. Mystic, Georgia, - July 17, 1977, 1977. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1982010_afs21176/>.