Date: March 19th 2010

(You have received this message as you have previously joined or requested to join our mailing list. Information, including unsubscription instructions and our physical mailing address and phone number are located at the bottom of this message) THIS IS A COUPLE OF STORIES FROM THE HAMMONS' WHICH HAVE BEEN TRANSCRIBED FOR UP COMING MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION OF THE HAMMONS' LEGACY. WE HAVE BEEN ENJOYING THEM GREATLY AND HOPEFULLY YOU CAN TOO. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO HEAR THE SPOKEN PART; THIS IS JUST HARD COPY. The first one is Sherman Hammons telling about his [famous fiddler] Uncle Edn Hammons and the journey from down at White Oak on the Williams River here in Pocahontas County WVa. I am assuming that Sherman [b. 1903] is in his mid-teens and is extremely excited that Edn [b 1875] would come up to visit his brother, Parris Hammons [b. 1858?] to spend a few days. For Sherman it was all about getting to listen to the powerful fiddle music which was far far better than multi-vitamins for a growing boy! Uncle Edn and Shoes Sherm 3202 diller final fix S: Well, me and Uncle Edn started up, he lived at White Oak, now he said, I 's down there and stayed overnight, " 'Pon my honor," he said, "I have a notion to go home with you in the mornin'" Well I said "do please Uncle Edn by George go" and he had a, he had a pair a canvas shoes, Edn did, and he said "I b'lieve I'll wear my canvas shoes." Well, I said he wore about the same, about nine or ten. Got on up there about, well, got up there about the Needle Branch, what they call the Needle Branch, and, uh, " 'Pon my honor" he says "the shoes is a'hurtin'" he said, "Let's swap." I said "You reckon I can wear them?" "Yes, 'pon my honor" he said, "I think you can", he said, "Let's trade." Well, down I took and put the shoes on. I walked about a mile in them things and they began to draw to my feet, just a, just seem like they got smaller every step,and afterwhile I swear them things got to hurtin' me s' bad that I didn't even have no feelin's. I said I'll be danged if you won't ha ve to either take 'em or I said we're gonna have to go back because I ain't one of the two. And I pulled them damned things off and walked, I know I walked two or three miles barefooted, and they turned my feet, just drawed 'em as white, just right white. And I never, never would wear a dang canvas shoe after that. Yeah he said, he said " 'Pon my honor, you know one thing" I said "What is it?" "'ell, you take a shoe that'll fit one Hammons, it'll fit another!" I said, "I'll be damned if these fit me." ********** The second short story comes from Sherman's brother, Burl who was literally one of the greatest fiddlers anywhere. Burl told us one time, "My dad told me one time when I was young: 'Now Burl, you are going to have to make up your mind -- either you are going to work or you are goin to fiddle BUT YOU CANT DO BOTH'!",Of course to use the word "work" in that "context" meant holding a "job when someone else told you when to show up and when you could leave - basically owning you". It was 18th and 19th centuries mountain outlook on the world. Pre-New Deal and mostly avoiding the Industrial Revolution, etc. Of course everything comes with a cost, but they decided to pay that cost to maintain their "self respect" and "control over their lives". Burl was telling me stories about one old man in that "Williams River mountain country" by the name of George Davis. We are calling this short story "the man who went barefoot all the time". In the same breath, Mr Davis proceeded to tell about his little feist dog finding a rattlesnake in the snow that day and he SAID he had proceeded to kill it. I shall tell no more; just hold your water. The Fellow Who Went Barefoot All the Time/Burl3401 DLLRfinalfix Diller: Burl? B: What? D: What's 'at, what about that guy that went barefooted all the time, what was that, what uz his name? B: Ol' George Davis [??]? D: Yeah. B: Ol' George Davis . . . D: An' that little feist he had with him. . . B: He'd tell what all hit'd do? D: Yeah. B: And the snow was out there, now did you ever see the snow about that . . . ….and we seen somebody comin', his britches rolled up ya know, and I said ta Clyde, I looked down, we started up, up the railroad . . . no, we uz going up through the bottom instead of the railroad, and I said "Tell me", I didn' know him ya know, and I said, "Tell me who that is. Can you tell me?" .. "It looks like he ain't got no socks on." An' I said, "hmmh. . ." and Clyde said, "that's ol' George Davis ain't it?" And I said, "I don' know him." Clyde said, "That's ol' George Davis, he's got the dog with him." D: Got? B: Yeah he said, "He's got that dog with him." And me and Clyde walked on an' afterwhile he just set there and I looked down boys an' I seen he didn' have no shoes on, and I said " yu sore feet?" An' he said "No, hell, no" he said. "That's the way I go all the time . . . " D: Said what? B: "No," he said. "Hell, that's the way I go all the time," he said. "I can't wear shoes," he said. An' his feet was as black, they was just like a bear's foot now boys. I tell you the truth, they looked just like a bear's foot, an just right on up through there, an' it-z kinda cold too. "kinda cold too"...One can always expect for Burl to speak that way since he was the master of the "understatement". In those mountains and in those days, when the snow was on, the temperatures ran from "kinda cold" right down to "severe" like -20F and much lower at times. Mr Davis' legs were black 6 inches or more above his ankle. The coldest I have heard of was -44F on Cheat Mountain; I remember - 27F on 9th January 1982. I just happen to remember the date. Again, I hope you enjoy these two stories. As I have been working on all this material, mountains of good memories have just rolled in day after day. blessings diller -- The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription: You are subscribed to the following: Yew Pine Mountain Music / Dwight Diller Email Newsletter Using the following email: example@example.com You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by clicking on the following link (URL): DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW UNLESS YOU WANT TO UNSUBSCRIBE http://www.dwightdiller.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/u/newsletter/ DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE UNLESS YOU WANT TO UNSUBSCRIBE If the above link (URL) is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address. 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