Fiddlin' Archives - Bluegrass Today

Fiddlin’ film now on iTunes and Amazon

Fiddlin’, the feature-length documentary film about the Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax, VA, is now available on two major streaming services online. Both Amazon and iTunes have added the film to their catalog today, allowing viewers to either purchase or rent the film to watch in the comfort of their homes.

The project is a collaboration by two sisters from nearby Hillsville, VA, Julie Simone (Director and Writer) and Vicki Vlasic (Producer and Writer), who wanted to convey the special atmosphere that surrounds the festival each year. For 84 years, the Galax Moose Lodge has run the event, which includes competitions for all the instruments used in old time and bluegrass music, plus both old time and bluegrass bands. The list of contestants, who must pre-register several months in advance, often runs to well over a thousand people.

And many thousand more descend on the city of 6500 people during the first week of August, known locally as Fiddlers week. Hotel rooms are booked up many months before, and every restaurant puts on extra help to serve the friendly faces, many of whom return year after year. The action takes place at Felts Park, right on Main Street, a 28 acre facility set up for both rough and RV camping, with a covered grandstand for 3,000 music lovers, and lawn chair seating besides.

Of course the music is great all week, with a steady stream of competitors crossing the stage, but it’s the sense of community in the campsites that is the biggest draw. Galax veterans travel many hours to spend a week with friends, often folks they have met at previous conventions. The State Police keep the area safe and under control, and families and friends camp side-by-side with everyone from Granny down to the littlest baby in tow. Most folks cook their meals outdoors, and it smells like the world’s biggest barbecue all week long.

Almost every visitor is also a picker, and jams break out as soon as the tarps and campers are set up. You can spend hours just roaming these camp sites and hear every kind of acoustic folk music you might imagine. You’ll find old timers, preserving the traditional mountain music they learned from their elders, and irreverent youngsters pushing against the boundaries. Bluegrass and old time musicians congregate separately, but take part in the same Galax experience side-by-side, of every age, and at every hour.

All this is what Julie and Vicki set out to capture on film when they came with a crew in 2015 for the 80th annual convention. The story is conveyed in a mix of interviews with pickers and campers, plus scenes of music in the campground and on stage.

Since being released, Fiddlin’ has won 15 awards at film festivals, including 7 audience choice awards and 2 best cinematography prizes.

Now audiences everywhere can watch via online streaming on any device with either an Amazon or iTunes app, including smart TVs and those hooked up to an Apple TV or Roku unit. It can be purchased on either system for $9.99 to watch indefinitely, or as a 30 day rental for $4.99.

Here’s a look at the trailer.

Everyone who enjoys bluegrass, old time, or mountain music should watch this film. I expect to do so tonight.

Fiddlin’ film is taking Galax on the road

We’ve told you before about the documentary film, Fiddlin’, made by sisters Julie Simone and Vicki Vlasic, about the Old Fiddlers Convention in the town where they were raised, Galax, VA. The convention has been held there every year since 1935 when the local Moose Lodge was looking for a new fundraising project. The 84th annual event was hosted last weekend, with many thousands in attendance.

If you’ve ever been to Galax for fiddlers week, you’ll never forget it. The tiny town welcomes a doubling of its population in early August, when there’s not a hotel room to be found, nor a place to park from Sunday to Sunday. All the stores and restaurants stock up, and the streets are cleaned and sparkling. Everyone in town is proud to serve as hosts, and you find them on the streets waving and greeting visitors.

The pickers come from all over the known world to compete, jam, and hang out with friends in the campground. By the time the weekend rolls around, the park is literally bursting at the seams, with RVs and rough campsites crammed into every corner, and locals and visitors alike vying for decent seats in the stage area.

Julie and Vicki’s goal with this project was to capture that level of fun and excitement on film to share with other lovers of bluegrass and old time music, and to expose the culture and simplicity of life in this little Appalachian town.

Later this month, they will be taking the film on the road for six weeks of theater screenings, paired with special musical performances and Q&A sessions at several stops.

To celebrate the tour, the filmmakers have released this new trailer.

Fiddlin’ will be available on popular video-on-demand services starting in October, but if you would like to enjoy the theater experience, check the dates below.

8/27 – 8/31 Little Theater – Rochester, NY
9/3 – 9/4 Guild Cinema – Albuquerque, NM
9/5 Laemmle Royal – Los Angeles (Q&A and live performance)
9/8 Proctor’s – Schenectady, NY
9/13 The Lark – Larkspur, CA
9/13 – 9/15 Speed Museum – Louisville, KY (Q&A to be announced)
9/14 Gateway Film Center – Columbus, OH
9/18 – Murmrr Theater – Brooklyn, NY (Q&A and Live performance)
9/20 – 26 Twin County – Galax, VA
9/20 Foxy Loxy Cafe – Savannah, GA
9/21 Central Cinema – Knoxville, TN (Q&A and Live performance)
9/21 Kiggins Theatre – Vancouver, WA (Live performance)
9/24 SIFF Uptown Cinema – Seattle, WA
9/24 Maple Theater – Bloomfield TWP, MI
9/24 – 9/25 Guild Cinema – Albuquerque, NM
9/26 Alamo Drafthouse – Winchester, VA
9/29 Film Noir Cinema – Brooklyn, NY
10/4 – 10/10 Varsity Theater – Ashland, OR
10/10 Black Bear Americana Music Festival – Goshen, CT
11/9: Rowland Theater – Philipsburg, PA

More details on these showings, along with ticket information, can be found online.

Fiddlin’ film heads out to the festivals

The film festivals, that is.

Fiddlin’, a documentary project about the culture and the people at the Old Fiddlers Convention, held in Galax, VA each year, is finished and will be entered in a number of film festivals starting this month. The brainchild of a pair of sisters from nearby Hillsville, who recall the convention from their youth, the film was directed by Julie Simone, and produced by Vicki Vlasic.

They recently shared some thoughts with us about the project, which was funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign, a grant from the Rogovy Foundation, and donations from a number of private producers.

“We began this journey more than two years ago and as women filmmakers, we sought out and recruited as many women as we could to join the team. Our producers include Jill Mazursky, Jill Sorensen, Una Jackman, Rita Edlein, JoAnn Weisel, Lynn C. Levy and Jacqueline Esther Williams – 9 of our 13 producers are women. Our daughters and nieces worked as crew and our production intern is Brooke Ballard, a film student at Chapman University. We, of course, did not exclude men from the project and have great men in both producer roles and as working crew including our sons and nephews. To say that it was a ‘family affair’ would be an understatement and we are so grateful to all of them.

In addition to the magical music of our Appalachian musicians, the film was scored by composer, Nicholas Pike, who has written music for more than 25 films. His original music adds a powerfully emotional element to the film’s story. The film could not have been completed without the magical touch of editor, Janice Hampton, who also has an impressive list of credits to her name including the recent documentary, For the Love of Spock, Hairspray, Rocky II, 41 and many others. The final team was rounded out by music editor Jonathan Miller, and sound mixing at the incredible sound stage of John Ross.

The true heroes of the film, of course, are the musicians who gave their time and opened their hearts to us on camera. While the list is extensive, I would like to especially thank Wayne Henderson, Presley Barker, Dori Freeman, Kitty Amaral, Eddie Bond, Karen Carr, Martha Spencer, Annabelle Watts, Ivy Phillips, Uma Peters, Girl Peters and Virginia’s state folklorist, Jon Lohman. For fans of old time and bluegrass music, there will be many familiar faces in the film, including moments with Bill Monroe and never before seen footage of Doc Watson.”

Vicki and Julie are planning to take Fiddlin’ to as many film festivals as will accept them, hoping to both appraise the audience for the project, and to find a distributor who might help get it shown in arthouse theaters and possibly into one of the several popular television services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu.

A promo trailer is now available which is being used in their applications for film festivals, the first of which is coming up at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival in California, March 13-18.

Julie and Vicki feel that making this film involved a certain conspiracy of fate, with all the many parts falling into place just as they needed to.

“We have been very fortunate in the process of making this film and the stars aligned at many points on our journey, from getting permission to film at the Old Fiddler’s Convention in Galax, to meeting Leon Frost who in turn introduced us to Wayne Henderson. We practically stumbled onto then 11 year old Presley Barker and were captivated by not only his remarkable ability on guitar, but his sweet, humble nature. We were invited into the homes of Leon Frost, Karen Carr, Eddie Bond and to Willard Gayheart’s shop where we met more and more great musicians and heard their stories.

Wayne Henderson mentors many of the youth who are seen in the film and helps raise money for scholarships for them through his own festival. His relationship with young Presley is especially endearing and to see the two of them on stage together in the final moments of the guitar awards ceremony will capture your heart. As I mentioned, the stars aligned. In a documentary, you have no script and you don’t know how the story will end. In this case, we could not have scripted a better ending.”

It looks like this crew has captured a piece of the magic that anyone who has ever attended the Galax festival has witnessed. There are plenty of other long standing fiddlers conventions, but Galax is something unique to itself.

To keep up to date with festival screenings, you can follow the Fiddlin’ team on Facebook or Instagram.