When one thinks “Americana music,” Virginia Wesleyan College may not immediately come to mind.

Square dancin' to old time music. | pic: wikimedia

History professor and musician Daniel Margolies is changing that with a series running now through January 20 called “Mountain Music to Warm Your Winter.”

Concerts and speeches will be held for students and the general public to learn about and witness “rural dance music, social and religious music, and early commercially recorded music.”

There has been a growing movement locally, with anyone in attendance last Tuesday at Colley Cantina’s open jam, or witnessing any number of recent gigs like Lac La Belle or Hymn for Her with Phillip Roebuck , knowing what I’m talking about. I meet more banjo, fiddle, or mandolin players every week and see more and more traditional music crop up at the same fast pace.

The music’s always been there. It’s, as they say, as old as the hills themselves. Perhaps it’s the internet that’s finally making it available to new audiences, or perhaps today’s listeners are just saturated with production at every speaker and subliminally need to get back to basics. Whatever the reason in old time music’s recent rise in popularity, I’m glad for it, and much appreciative that a historian and college are willing to recognize music and the culture surrounding the development of a genre as a legitimate form of study. And concerts to boot!

The series has a talented and diverse (within the same overall genre) lineup. Still on the calendar is Kari Sickenberger, a singer-songwriter and bandleader (Polecat Creek) who has been featured on “A Prairie Home Companion.” She will perform old time mountain ballads and lead a discussion on January 17.

On January 19, Elizabeth LaPrelle (who’s a William & Mary graduate) and Anna Roberts-Gevalt will perform a show entitled “Snow is on the Ground.” I haven’t seen Robergs-Gevalt before, but LaPrelle blew me away when she opened for Ralph Stanley’s last local performance (at the Roper Theater last year.) Her voice is as traditional as it gets. That doesn’t mean pretty. It means haunted. She pays a lot of homage to Southwest Virginia (her hometown is Rural Retreat) and weaves songs with theatrical and craft elements native to Appalachia (including collage, crankies, and shadow-puppets.)

Elizabeth LaPrelle performing “Three Little Babes”:

Lastly, on January 20, Milo Silva, who is billed as “the most accomplished morin khurr player in the United States today,” will perform a “Mongolian Long Song on the Horse-Headed Fiddle.” I’m not exactly sure what that means, which gives me all the more reason to attend and explore.

Click here for specifics on the show or contact Dr. Daniel Margolies at dmargolies@vwc.edu.