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Folklorist and musician Lamar Bascom Lunsford (1888-1973) was the creative force behind The Asheville Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. Started in 1927 as the the "Rhododendron Festival" it is thought to be the first "Folk Festival."

"The festival thrived. In 1932 an estimated 6,000 people were present on the second day. At the opening in 1933, there were 800 folk musicians and 10,000 people were expected. Many rare tunes and ballads had been heard during the two previous…

Largely overshadowed by the presence of John Powell and later Richard Chase, Annabel Morris Buchanan was the animating spirit of the White Top Folk Festival.
"Nationwide publicity about the White Top Folk Festival in newspapers and magazines helped…

"[T]he history of the White Top Folk festival cannot be understood apart from the conflicted personal and working relationship between John Powell and Annabel Morris Buchanan. To Buchanan, Powell was at once teacher, role model, co-worker,…

"News that Mrs. Roosevelt might attend galvanized the White Top festival planners. Blakemore widened the roads and had an architect design a rustic festival pavilion.The Lester brothers of nearby Glade Spring cut the shingles, erected the building,…

"The idea to invite Eleanor Roosevelt to the festival came from the event's founder and director, Annabel Morris Buchanan...
"In February 1933 she wrote to the soon-to-be first lady: 'I think you and President Roosevelt might find the mountain, with…

"The reception in Abingdon was grand, with people filling the train station platform, leaning over the rope lines, reaching out to wave at Mrs. Roosevelt with their hands, hats, and handkerchiefs."
["A First Lady in a False Kingdom," p. 189]

"Mrs. Roosevelt's arrival on the last day (of the 1933 festival) boosted the crowd beyond all records (by some estimates as many as 22,000 people attended). She arrived at noon and attended the special folk music program given by some of the contest…

Festival organizer John Powell instructs musicians W.B. Hunt, Emory Stroop, C.B Wohlford, Jess Johnston (with fiddle), Winston Wilkinson, Horton Barker, and Council Cruise (seated bottom right), on the fine points of traditional music

John Powell "coaching" a musician
"What sorts of music were they [John Powell and Annabel Morris Buchanan] looking for?
"[T]hey wanted old time "folk music of white mountaineers... .
"To get what they wanted, they knew they would have to exercise…