The 1998 North Carolina Folk Heritage Awards

"Singing is my life," says Bessie Killens Eldreth of Boone, one of this year's N.C. Folk Heritage Award recipients. Heritage Award honorees very often do live their art art that is rooted in the traditional and ethnic cultures of our state.

This year's honorees, like the preceding ones, span the state and represent the patchwork of cultural threads that form our heritage. Possessing skills honed from decades of experience, these eight Folk Heritage Award recipients rank among the most expressive artists to be found anywhere in the country.

"We look forward to the opportunity to honor this year's recipients and to thank them in person for their lifelong contributions to our state's cultural heritage," says Wayne Martin, Folklife director at the Council. "Their extraordinary artistry, which is shaped by the traditions of their families and communities, encourages North Carolinians to feel pride in the richness and diversity of our grassroots cultures."

The Folk Heritage Award Ceremony, free and open to the public and this year scheduled for May 26 at Stewart Theatre on the NCSU campus in Raleigh, is always a spirited, glorious event.

Brief biographies and photographs of the nearly 100 previous
Folk Heritage Award recipients are on the Council's web site in the Art & Artists area.

Bessie Killens Eldreth commands a repertoire of at least 200 songs, many of them preserved in memory and in her hand-written ballad books. To understand her feeling for songs and how she uses them is to understand her singing as a repository of traditional values and an important expression for her and for many mountain women.
A lifelong resident of Watauga and Ashe counties, Mrs. Eldreth has performed in many different venues, representing North Carolina's traditional culture in concerts and festivals as far away as New York City and Washington, D.C.

Arthur Smith is a legendary singer and composer of country, gospel and bluegrass music. Arthur Smith and his Carolina Crackerjacks pioneered the variety show format for television and for more than 30 years brought their down-home, fun-lovin' style right into everybody's living room from WBTV in Charlotte.
Mr. Smith is the composer of more than 500 songs, some of which have been recorded by such well known artists as George Beverly Shea, Johnny Cash and Randy Travis. His "Guitar Boogie" became a standard for aspiring guitarists, and his "Feudin' Banjos," later known as "Dueling Banjos" from the movie Deliverance, is still the best-selling song of its type.

When you stop at Louise Bigmeat Maney's shop, Bigmeat House of Pottery, on Rt. 19 in Cherokee, you will see Cherokee cultural preservation efforts happening on a daily basis. For Mrs. Maney, being a potter and preserving Cherokee life and culture go hand-in-hand - it is "one way to hold onto your roots," says Mrs. Maney.
Mrs. Maney traces her heritage as a potter through generations of Cherokee women. Known for her decorative use of traditional patterns, she has also created a new design using the Sequoyah alphabet. Her pottery appears in the Smithsonian Institution collection.

Stepping into Arliss Watford's workshop is like stepping into a museum of community history. On each wall, shelf upon shelf of woodcarvings spanning more than seven decades offer representations of African American life in rural Hertford County.
Mr. Watford carved toys as a child, later took up restoration and repair carving and felt surprised when people began collecting his work. "I just always had to be carving something," he recalls. "Not to sell to anybody but just to carve." His work has been touted as masterful examples of vernacular carving and has been showcased in a variety of exhibitions.

The Wilson Brothers, Jerry and Ray, are among the finest country gospel musicians in the mountains of western North Carolina. Hailing from Brasstown, their polished two-part harmony singing is in the tradition of the "high, lonesome sound" characteristic of mountain music.
From a religious family, the brothers' primary venues are revival meetings, prayer meetings, gospel sings and local radio broadcasts. The Wilson Brothers have been performing together for more than 25 years and have made an enormous contribution to the vitality of country gospel music in our state.

Ossie Clark Phillips reports that one day in 1924 when she was only nine years old, she began weaving while her mother was out working in the garden. Having observed her mother at the loom, she was a natural, and from then on was one of the family members who "kept that loom a-goin' all the time," bringing in the income that sustained her family.
Sixty-eight years later she retired as a professional weaver at The Weaving Room of Crossnore School. Mrs. Phillip's work has been widely exhibited. Her woven coverlets were presented to Mrs. Calvin Coolidge and Mrs. George Bush.

Visitors stopping by the North Carolina Extension Office in Raeford on Friday nights might hear a group of musicians playing the "old songs" led by fiddler Smith McInnis. He learned to play the fiddle at an early age by watching his father and uncles and now, at 83, has become a vital link to the musical heritage of southeastern North Carolina.
He still likes to learn new tunes, but especially likes the "old ones." He shares his skill and love of old-time music with audiences at festivals, conventions and community events. Mr. McInnis' talent and inspiration to others has led some to call him by the name of one of his favorite tunes, "The Hoke County Special."