Fieldwork Photography from SC, 2000-2002

Here is a Picasa slideshow of photos from fieldwork I did over the course of a couple of years before I started working in Charlottesville in 2002. At the time, I was doing a lot of contract fieldwork, mostly for the South Carolina Arts Commission. I 've also done similar work for the Mississippi Arts Commission, the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Federation, and other such-like organizations.

For more on the SC projects, visit my original website. There's a pdf of a published report on my folk cultural survey of Edgefield, Abbeville, Greenwood and McCormick Counties. Other photos are from Columbia, and Lexington County. (Originals all on file in Columbia.)

Good morning, central Virginia!

Hey all:

All of a sudden with a lot of time on my hands . . .

I will be spending a lot of time in coming weeks getting my own archival files and folklore collections in order. In particular, I'm going to begin digitizing all my old Hi-8 video footage from fieldwork in Tennessee and Maryland's Eastern Shore. Also, some VHS footage from North Carolina and Georgia. Then I'm going to start posting highpoints of the video on YouTube, and embed mp4s on my website, formerly the site of the Southern Council for Folk Culture.

And playing guitar.

That picture of me playing the old 12-string dobro is, by the way, from last year's Spirit Walk in Charlottesville. I'm in character as 1920s cowboy singer Billy Vest, who hailed from Afton, Virginia, and recorded on Columbia Records back in the day. He had an amazing story. He met and played with Jimmie Rodgers; the Carter Family; Gid Tanner, Riley Puckett and the Skillet Likkers; Darby and Tarleton, and was even in the movies with Gene Autry and played in his band.

Normally I wear my boots inside my pants. And that 1970s leather pimp jacket from Mexico I'll never wear ever again, I promise. Mostly because it got rained on and shrank, which didn't improve its looks any.