This spring, I have given a number of presentations about my book, Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics. These have included invited talks at the Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies Conference in Asheville, the Celebration of Scholarship at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio, and the Breaking up Winter Weekend at the Cedars of Lebanon State Park in Tennessee.
On April 28, I appeared on the front page of the Asheville Citizen-Times in an article about the Old Farmer’s Ball, the local dance that takes place every Thursday on the campus of Warren Wilson. The story (and an accompanying video) are available online here.
Last month, I attended the annual conference of the Southeast Regional Folk Alliance at Montreat, North Carolina, where I received the SERFA President’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Music and Culture in the Southeast. I was recognized for my forty-plus years as a dance caller, my twenty-five years as the coordinator of the Old-Time Music and Dance Week at the Swannanoa Gathering, and for the publication of Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics. I felt truly honored.