From the Mountains to the Sea with Jeff and Gerret Warner

Running Time: 96 minutes Event Date: 2018/07/20

"From the Mountains to the Sea is a two-hour live presentation with multimedia, focusing on the Anne and Frank Warner collection, one of the great treasures in the American Folklife Center archives, containing a wealth of material collected by the husband-and-wife team of folklorists from 1938 to 1966, as they traveled through rural America in search of old songs. This important collection contains such seminal field recordings as North Carolina farmer Frank Proffitt's rendition of the murder ballad "Tom Dooly." This field recording was adapted and recorded in 1958 by The Kingston Trio, whose version became a number one hit, won the very first Grammy in country music, and set off the folk boom of the 1960s. Frank Warner was also a popular folksinger, and the Warners' sons, Jeff and Gerret, got their start as musicians backing up their dad on his recordings and performances. They have been renowned performing musicians for more than 50 years. Career musicians and filmmakers, they created this two-hour live multimedia presentation about the Warner collection, featuring not only their own performances, but also the voices of the singers recorded by their parents across rural America, along with corresponding photographs of the tradition bearers and their homes. It is full of the warmth of the Warners and the country wit of their new friends. Jeff and Gerret grew up listening to the songs and stories of the traditional singers their parents met during their folksong collecting trips, and they offer valuable insights into the lives and adventures of one of the nation's most eminent families of folksong collectors. In so doing, they contribute immensely to our understanding of the Warner collection, one of the most important in the American Folklore Center archives. The event was co-sponsored by the Folklore Society of Greater Washington.

  For more information, visit the website of the Library of Congress