Tagged: Swannanoa

When traditional Appalachian musician Anna Roberts-Gevalt first showed ballad singer Elizabeth LaPrelle a crankie, Elizabeth was speechless.

“I really freaked out,” LaPrelle said. She was astounded not only because she had never seen one before, but also because it was such a powerful tool for storytelling.

In 1991, the campus of Warren Wilson College outside Asheville, North Carolina hosted the first Swannanoa Gathering. From dulcimer workshops to Celtic music traditions, the multi-week, summer intensive featured instruction on just about all aspects of folk art. The first Gathering drew just under a hundred people. Now more than 1,000 flock to Warren Wilson College annually to participate in the program. Jim Magill, director of The Swannanoa Gathering, joins host Frank Stasio to talk about how the small folk culture series grew into a state tradition that draws iconic artists like Janis Ian, Tom Paxton and Patty Larkin to the mountains of North Carolina.