Roger Green and the Annapolis Bluegrass Coalition at Davidsonville, Maryland 17 July 2010: It's a busy season for one of my favorite groups but the traveling's been tough. I ventured out to Davidsonville, Maryland last weekend to visit with the Annapolis Bluegrass Coalition. They were performing (once again) at Homestead Gardens. By mid-afternoon the outside temp was running in the upper 90's and my camera was overheating - overheating! That had never happened before at an outdoor show. I mention this because I've done a lot of shooting in Viet Nam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and other hotspots of the world. The official record here right now is 43 days of continual 90 to upper 90's heat. Just months ago I was writing about record snow accumulations. The world is going to hell in a handbag - or are we just whining more? Pity the artist - the show must go on. Musicians understand the term 'sweat equity' and know what it means to have to pay their dues. So the next time you're out there listening to your favorite group or you're out at Wolf Trap digging the Washington Opera Scene, tell your favorite artist how much you care for them and 'Feel Their Pain.'
Whether you embrace the word proudly or decry it as a derogatory epithet, the Hillbilly term, and stereotype, is cemented in America's mind.
Animal Planet recently announced the biggest debut in its history for a show called Hillbilly Handfishin'. If you're curious about what that is, we've got answers.
Les Stone is a photographer based in Claryville, New York who has worked extensively in the coalfields of Appalachia as well as Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Kosovo, Liberia, Cambodia, Panama, and Haiti. His images are powerful not only because they bring to our attention important and often overlooked people and events, but because they do so in …
Attention, all foodies! If you're looking for the best restaurants in Arkansas, this ultimate dining guide will have you covered.
Barns, shacks, houses, hillbilly dwellings, old washers and dryers, old trucks, abandoned buses, just plane old hillbilly photos
Osage Beach, 1996.
Whether you embrace the word proudly or decry it as a derogatory epithet, the Hillbilly term, and stereotype, is cemented in America's mind.
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This is a saga about a young man, his pregnant bride, her daddy and his shotgun. A typical Ozark hillbilly wedding.
Leroy Donald was the business writer for the Arkansas Gazette . On March 9, 2000, Donald was interviewed by John Thompson for the Arkansas...
It's been unbelievably hot and dry this summer in Arkansas , just replace Arkansas with your state, I know we aren't the only ones. Too h...
Appalachia and the Ozarks is a region in the United States that is characterized by it's rugged landscape, steep slopes, and mountainous areas. This region encompasses all of West Virginia and parts of Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri. Sadly this region is also generally know as an economically poor area and most of the residents who inhabit Appalachia and the Ozarks are stereotyped as "hillbillies." The residents of this area are highly isolated and there is few occupational opportunity beyond mining. San Diego, California has little to nothing in common with this region when it comes to culture, topography, and economic opportunity. A Glimpse into Appalachia Mountain Areas: Appalachia and the Ozarks region is famous for it's extensive mountain ranges which contribute to isolation and economic depravity. San Diego also is nearby a few mountain ranges but they enhance economic opportunity, beautify the landscape, and are not a barrier to residents. The Cuyamaca Mountains are located to the east of San Diego County and run northwest to southeast. The are part of the Cleveland National Forest and several small towns can be located within these mountains including Julian and Pine Valley. The Cuyamaca Mountains were known as a gold mining region during the gold rush era but once the gold rush ended the mining site was shut down and is now a museum. The Laguna Mountains run along a section of eastern San Diego County for approximately 20 miles. They are bordered by the Cuyamacas on the west and Colorado Desert on the east. There is a small village aptly named Mount Laguna within the mountains with a population of about 80. Cuyamaca Mountains Laguna Mountains Population Differences: The Appalachian and Ozark area is comprised of predominantly white residents who are conservative both politically and religiously. San Diego is much more diverse to say the least. This city is intermixed with Caucasian, Mexican, African-American, and Pacific-Islander residents. San Diego is also very politically liberal and supports a large gay community. Hillcrest, an area in San Diego County, is a well-known homosexual community. San Diego's population is predominantly Catholic (67%), followed by the Mormon Church (3.8%), Southern Baptist Church (2.2%), and the Presbyterian Church (2%). About 17% of the population is classified as other. Hillcrest- neighboring gay community Economics: The residents of states within Appalachia and the Ozarks are very poor and have the largest amount of poverty of any predominantly white area in the United States. San Diego is generally a wealthier area but still boasts a 14.3% poverty percentage in all of San Diego County according to www.city-data.com. There is not much educational or occupational opportunity in Appalachia past a high school diploma and working in the mines. In San Diego there is significantly more occupational opportunity and 35% of the population has a Bachelor's degree or higher and 13.4% has a Master's degree or PhD. Stereotyped "Hillbillies" in Appalachia Surfers
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Obviously based on the TV series this comic is dated October-December 1964 . The little star on the top left hand side indicates that it was distributed to the US Army or Air Force bases in the UK ( possibly Burtonwood ) .
MTV may be “heck-bent” on exploiting misguided youth for profit. But "creekers" do exist. And so do people like me
I studied English Literature at university and one of the many books I read there was Walden by Henry David Thoreau. In America it’s pretty much a seminal work but it’s not widely read …
There are several kinds of lawn mowers, such as the reel, rotary, and robotic lawn mowers, all which function to trim your grass. We take a look at them.
Meet Herbert "Cowboy" Coward. Herbert played a small but crucial acting role in a little film known as Deliverance. If you don't recognize him, THIS is what he looked like in the movie. Herbert played the "toothless man", one of the villainous rapist Hillbillies. He was the one that spoke the infamous "purdy mouth" line. Herbert was discovered by Burt Reyonlds while he was working as a gunfighter at Ghost Town in the Sky. Nowadays, the Cowboys runs a small stand at a roadside flea market in Candler, NC where he sells "Squeal like a pig" ball caps and t-shirts There on his shoulder is is trained pet squirrel "Starsky" which he has had for thirteen years.
I recently had the honor of presenting at the paper session of the Society for Commercial Archeology's 2010 Conference, Odyssey in the Ozarks. It was the first time I'd ever done anything like this before, and I received great support. I'd like to acknowledge my father and brother for going on the Great Hillbilly Road Trip with me and Tim Hollis for so many great leads and information. Debra Jane Seltzer, queen of the roadside, actually sought out hillbilly imagery for me on her road trips and friends on Fickr like Jacob K let me utilize their photos for the presentation. The primary resources for the paper were "Hillbilly: A Cultural History of an American Legend" by Anthony Harkins, and "Tourism in the Mountain South: A Double-Edged Sword" by C. Brenden Martin. Additional sources included "Hillbillyland: what the Movies did to the Mountains and What the Mountains did to the Movies" by J.W. Williamson and "Land of the Smokies: Great Mountain Memories" by Tim Hollis. The following is excerpted from "Y'all Come Back Now: Hillbilly Iconography on the American Roadside." The Origins of the Hillbilly Stereotype The Hillbilly is one of the most identifiable characters in American Popular culture. The bearded, overall-clad bumpkin with a corncob pipe and a jug of moonshine is unmistakable. As I undertook the task of documenting this iconic image’s use along the Roadside, it became apparent that to understand its prevalence, I had to trace its origins. I found that the character we know now, evolved over time, becoming mainstream in the early 20th century and growing so much in the awareness of the average American, that by the 1960s travelers in the Mountain South expected to see hillbillies at every stop. One of the precursors of the stereotype can be found in the representations of the Arkansas Traveler story. The 1840 tale telling about a traveling politician who comes upon an old man fiddling in the rain, led to popular Currier & Ives prints and a musical version in 1847. Mountain feuds captured the nation’s attention after extensive reporting in newspapers from 1870 -1910. The infamous hostilities between Kentucky’s Hatfield and McCoy clans greatly contributed to the way the people of the Mountain South were perceived. The first appearance of the term “hillbilly” in print in The New York Journal in 1900 showed that the term already has negative connotations. Widespread distribution in America's growing media contributed to the hillbilly stereotype expanding in America’s consciousness like: • Hillbilly Films Moonshining and feuding were popular themes for silent films and by 1915 there were hundreds of moving pictures in this genre. • Hillbilly Music The first band to record using the name “Hillbilly” was Al Hopkins’ group in 1925 and ultimately this entire genre of music was called “Hillbilly music” until later in the century when it became known as Country music. • Hillbilly Radio Characters Bob Burns of Van Buren, Arkansas was famous for a homemade musical instrument made of stove pipe and whiskey funnel he called his “Bazooka”. His radio show about the people of Van Buren, included a hillbilly named Grandpa Snazzy whose likeness appeared on a number of postcards. The Lum & Abner radio show ran for 24 years and led to six movies - Norris Goff and Chester Lauck created the radio series based on characters in Waters, Arkansas. The Stereotype comes of Age With the onset of the Great Depression, America cartoonists used the hillbilly character as a source of humor and inspiration for perseverance against great odds. In 1934 artist Paul Webb created a cartoon called the "Mountain Boys" based entirely on his interpretation of hillbilly stereotypes of the time. His characters were widely reproduced on everything from matchbooks to a 1938 movie called Kentucky Moonshine starring the Ritz Brothers. Even more popular was the Snuffy Smith character created by Bill DeBeck. Originally introduced in 1934 in the Barney Google comic strip, the Snuffy Smith comic continues to appear in funny pages today. The most influential comic, however, was Al Capp’s Lil’ Abner with a circulation over 60 million readers. Before the comic ended in 1977, the heavily licensed characters of Dogpatch appeared in a Broadway musical, two feature length films, on records and on just about every product imaginable. The Golden Age of the Hillbilly Because of the exposure of the hillbilly character in all forms of popular media, by mid-century the entire nation was familiar with the stereotype. The Hillbilly character reached it zenith in the 1960s due to the popularity of rural based TV shows, most notably the Beverly Hillbillies. The CBS sitcom premiered in 1962 and reached 6 million viewers a week. The show was created by Paul Henning who was intrigued with mountaineer culture, (he wrote for the Andy Griffith Show, created Petticoat Junction & produced Green Acres.) Rural-themed shows all faded from network television by early 1970s, with Hee Haw being the last to be dropped by from network airwaves. The Roadside Hillbilly While the 1960s marked the peak of the hillbilly stereotype in American popular culture, the character was a major part of roadside well before then. Although the stereotype has been used throughout the nation, roadside use of the character was most extensive in the tourist areas of the Ozarks and Southern Appalachians. Tourists in the Mountain South expected to see Hillbillies and roadside entrepreneurs took full advantage of those expectations by feeding motorists a steady diet of hillbilly iconography. Homespun Valley Mountaineer Village opened in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in 1951, made an effort to authentically re-create mountain culture, rather than perpetuating stereotypes. It re-created a mountaineer settlement with log cabins, an operating still, a mill and live hillbilly music every night. Hillbilly Village opened in Pigeon Forge, Tenn, near Gatlinburg in 1954 and is still open today! Hillbilly Golf in Gatlinburg, Tenn opened in 1971. Players ride an incline to the top of the hill to get to the start of the course, an idea borrowed from the incline in Chattanooga, the hometown of the attraction’s original owner). Due to the popularity of Al Capp’s Lil’ Abner, Dogpatch became a common name for rural themed roadside destinations. The first was Dogpatch, Kentucky as the Lil’ Abner strip was originally set in the Bluegrass state. It opened in 1950; the gift shop relocated in 1970s to be closer to the interstate and remains in this location today. Dogpatch Village in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri was established in 1947 as a gas station and restaurant that sold souvenirs and evolved into a shopping attraction themed around the “mythical Ozark mountain pioneer lifestyle.” Dogpatch USA Opened in 1968 in Marble Falls, Arkansas on 825 acres. Al Capp was partner in the attraction and got a portion of the gate. Capp, a Connecticut Yankee, had never visited the Ozarks, but thought the site was ideal for re-creating Lil Abner’s home town. The attraction had 300,000 visitors the first year but never more than 200,000/year after that. The unsuccessful addition of a Winter resort in 1972 help doom the park, as did the end of the Lil Abner comic strip in 1977. Management issues and a number of lawsuits forced it to close for good in 1993. Today it sits vacant, crumbing into the Ozarks. Several Dogpatch restaurants opened as well, including one in Munsing, Michigan that has been open since 1966. The popularity of Snuffy Smith comic strip led to a 1960s attempt to start a Snuffy’s Shanty fast food franchise. There were a couple locations in Florida, but it is unclear if they ever had much success. Wilsons Restrunt & Motel, was on the “the quiet side of the Smokies” in Townsend, Tennessee used a Moonshine still and plywood hillbilly characters to attract roadside visitors. The restaurant at the Hillbilly Inn in Branson, Missouri had a reputation for serving the finest in Ozark home cooking is apparently still open as a karaoke bar. The Mountaineer Inn of Asheville, North Carolina opened in 1939, with a more recent addition in back built in '60s or '70s. The 40 foot tall neon Mountaineer is one of four neon signs including one of Mammy Yokum from Lil Abner. Today the motel is still open, affordable, and remarkably unchanged. While the neon figures of the Mountaineeer Inn may be the most striking examples of roadside hillbilly imagery, the figure has proven to be a successful outdoor advertising icon, attracting would-be customers for decades. While certainly less abundant than in the hey days of the 1960s, the stereotype can still be found from Niagara Falls to Washington State. The iconic Hillbilly appears to be firmly entrenched in American popular culture. Since 1977 there has been an annual Hillbilly Days festival in Pikeville, Kentucky put on by the Shriners. Successful new restaurants like Shiners in Clayton, Georgia and Hillbilly Hot Dogs in West Virginia still pop up with the same stereotypical iconography used throughout the last century. Examples are still seen in contemporary media, even The Cartoon Network currently has a show called “Squidbillies” based on hillbilly squids living in North Georgia. Even Mountain Dew brought back Willie the Hillbilly from their 1960s ads and packaging. When used in a derogatory manner, the hillbilly stereotype is still considered offensive, yet it can also be used as term of regional pride symbolizing independence and resourcefulness, traits I’ve hopefully inherited from my own Appalachian family.
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This custom built Huck's Hideout playhouse will make your kids the envy of the neighborhood! Designed in the traditional Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer style, our Hillbilly House has that timeless, adorable look that many other playhouses could only dream of having! Our house is built with a recycled wood frame, wall and roof, but is completely clad outside with hand crafted foam -- right down to the smallest wood grain detail -- and hard coated with a child safe industrial coating. The whole thing has been hand painted by our artisan painters with high end exterior grade paint. Our artisan carvers and painters have worked for Disney, Sony, New Line Cinema and many other studios and effects companies! The interior of the house is 4' wide by 5' deep. The house stands just over 7' tall. Options: Huck's Hideout Only: $12,750 Huck's Hideout, 5' Tall Deck and Ladder: $14,750 Huck's Hideout, 5' Tall Deck, Ladder, Slide and Back Entrance: $16,500 Huck's Hideout, 5' Tall Deck, Ladder, Slide, Swing Beam and Two Swings: $18,250 All options are + tax where applicable. Price DOES NOT include shipping. The house ships tarp-covered, on a flatbed truck FOB Fresno, CA. Shipping prices vary from state to state, but can range from $1200 to $3000, depending on location.
Okay, I may be a little obsessed, but here is the Glowing Hillbilly lit up at dusk.......I think I may have photographed him at every possible time of day now..... BTW, this shot is best viewed very large to see the Hillbilly's weird details Asheville, NC
The Appalachia's mountains are some of the oldest in the world and feature one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. The area has seen massive exploitation of both people and nature in the name of the industrial revolution. Beginning on Thursday 9th April 2009 at 8:00PM a new four-part series premieres, on Nashville Public Television , our local affiliate of the Public Broadcasting Corporation; and continuing for the next three Thursdays. Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People, travels through time and terrain to uncover the depth of the Appalachian story. Academy award -winning actress Sissy Spacek narrates.
This is dated 1980, but I'm guessing this brand was around before that.
