Rivers Dispatch: Christmas in Clarksdale (in June)

Wade Walton, Dockery Farms (ABP-15 #26)_William R. Ferris Collection_20367We’re starting our holiday party in the stacks early this year with a track from the William R. Ferris Collection (20367). This tape, call no. FT-10407, was preserved in the Rivers Studio as part of a current Southern Folklife Collection digitization project, From the Piedmont to the Swamplands: Preserving Southern Traditional Music, funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Folklorist Bill Ferris celebrated Christmas in the summertime at Wade Walton’s barber shop in Clarksdale, Mississippi (pictured above). One of the patrons played a lively version of “Silent Night” before getting his hair cut. We’re not sure if the smoking monkey was involved, but one can hope. Happy holidays from the Southern Folklife Collection.
FT10407 SN HARPFT10407_William R. Ferris Collection_20367