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1-800-804-7466


The American Traditional Culture Series:
Documentaries of the American South
& Other American Folklore Subjects

Produced in collaboration with Daniel Patterson and the Curriculum in Folklore at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Bobby McMillon
The Ballad of Frankie Silver
In 1833 Mrs. Frances Silver was hanged in Morganton, North Carolina, for the ax murder of her husband Charles. For a century and a half the case has lived on in newspapers, pamphlets, memoirs, petition, folksong, and legends. (50 mins.)
Frail Joines
Being A Joines: A Life in the Brushy Mountains
The hunting tales, stories from World War II, and religious narratives of the master tale teller John E. Joines from Wilkes County, North Carolina. (55 mins.)
Peg Leg Sam Jackson
Born For Hard Luck
A portrait of the last Black medicine-show performer, Arthur "Peg Leg Sam" Jackson, with brilliant harmonica songs, tales of hoboing, buck dances, and an authentic live medicine-show performance filmed at a North Carolina county fair in 1972.
Emmanuel Church
Emmanuel Church - Remembering
An oral history of the people of an Episcopal church in Virginia told with humor and heart by five talented storytellers. (36 mins.)
It Ain't City Music
It Ain't City Music
Filmed at the National Country Music Contest in Warrenton, Virginia —the oldest country music contest in the nation, where musicians and their families and fans have been coming for years. These people share values and a lifestyle that finds its expression in country music.
(15 mins.)
The Shakers
The Shakers
Traces the growth and decline of this remarkable religious sect through the memories and songs of the surviving Shaker sisters in New Hampshire and Maine. (30 mins.)
The Landis Family
A Singing Stream: A Black Family Chronicle
The story of a remarkable African American family from the rural South. With interviews and stories, and scenes from daily life, reunions, gospel concerts and church services. (57 mins.)
Louise Anderson
When My Work Is Over:
The Life and Stories of Louise Anderson
Louise Anderson the gifted African American storyteller who played Dark Sally in Ashpet, tells her family stories and folk tales, and recites poetry. (39 mins. Closed Captioned)

Extensive study guides are available for Being a Joines, Born for Hard Luck, and A Singing Stream for $4 each. (Ordering Information)