Musicianer noun A musician, one who plays an instrument. “…1940 Simms Wiley Oakley 34 Wiley [Oakely] is extremely fond of music. He feels certain that he would have “been a real musicianer” if musical instruments to play upon had been available in his young days.
“Musicianer.” Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English, 1st ed., The University of Tennessee Press, 2004, p. 405.
Unlike Wiley, there was a plethora of musical instruments around in my childhood days and better than that, there were people who knew how to play them.
The traditional music of Appalachia has been the sound track of my life in the mountains of North Carolina.
My earliest memories revolve around the art of making music. I was blessed to grow up in a family where it seemed someone was always pickin’ and grinnin’ in the kitchen. I often fell asleep to the sounds of guitars, mandolins, and high lonesome harmonies.
My father, Jerry Marshall Wilson, was one half of the famed Wilson Brothers who won the North Carolina Heritage Award from the North Carolina Arts Council in 1998. After the grandkids came along we begin to affectionately call him Pap.
Pap was also raised in the mountains of North Carolina surrounded by music. His grandmother Carrie Coleman Elliott Wilson played piano by ear.
In the late 50s Pap was drafted into the United States Marine Corp. He served with a boy from Churchill, Tennessee who had a guitar and liked to play and sing. He gave Pap a few lessons and taught him to play his first song “The Lonely Little Robin.”
After Pap was discharged and back home in the mountains of North Carolina he made an earnest effort to play music. He and his brother Ray began singing and performing as The Wilson Brothers in the classic brother duet style that was popular at the time.
The brothers performed as a gospel duet for about forty years. They sang in countless churches and other venues. They had weekly programs on at least three different radio stations during their career. In 1973 they released their first album “Words of Life,” which was well received and is still played on the radio today. They made their last recording “Today, If You Will Hear His Voice” in the early 2000’s.
Pap passed his great love of music on to his children and to his grandchildren.
For many years my brother Paul played lead guitar for The Wilson Brothers. I learned to play the acoustic bass as an adult. My daughters, Corie and Katie, started out singing with Pap in church and eventually picked up their own instrument and learned to sing harmony from Pap and Paul.
Corie plays the guitar and mandolin while singing harmony with her sister, Katie, who plays the fiddle and piano while singing lead.
By late 2008 Pap was performing with Paul and myself. Once his grandchildren came of age they periodically joined them on stage. As time went swiftly by the younger generation took the lead with Corie and Katie stepping to the forefront while Pap, Paul, and I backed them up.
For many years we played as a group at churches, community centers, festivals, and other venues. During this time, as Pap’s health began to fail, we began calling ourselves The Pressley Girls.
In 2016 we lost Pap. It was a tremendous blow to our family, but we found great solace in playing the music he spent his life sharing with us.
Singing the songs Pap wrote and sharing the traditional songs he taught us is beyond rewarding.
Corie and Katie joke they really didn’t have a choice in learning to play and sing traditional music because they were totally immersed in it from birth. The girls were just toddlers when a cousin said to me “Do you know everywhere this family goes they take guitars with them? I mean it could be coming a tornado and someone would say ‘Did you get the guitars I think we’ve got time to sing one before it hits.’”
Although my cousin was being facetious, there is a certain amount of truth in his comment. The art of making music is as common as eating supper in our family.
The tradition of music in the mountains of North Carolina is something I’ve often studied on. There’s a creativeness present in the songs and playing; there’s certainly entertainment value; and often there’s a mournful soulfulness which evokes a sacredness that’s in direct relation to the towering mountains and deep dark hollers which make up the mountains of North Carolina and Appalachia at large.
Singing or playing a song I know my grandparents enjoyed makes my heart sing. Hearing my daughters sing or play a song my grandparents enjoyed almost makes my heart burst with happiness.
Corie and Katie have enjoyed traditional Appalachian music and folk dancing for their entire lives. The music they’ve made and the dances they’ve danced have made them a standout with older folks, but it never, not once, made them the cool kids at school.
It was only after Pap passed away that the girls fully realized what they’re doing is more than having fun. Every time they take the stage or sing around the family circle of guitars they are continuing the legacy of music which was laid before them when they were children sneaking from their bed to lay in the floor and be lulled to sleep by the sounds of guitars, mandolins, and high lonesome harmonies just like their momma was when she was a child.
Tipper Pressley
Written in 2019 for the North Carolina Arts Council’s campaign “Come Hear North Carolina.”
Today’s Thankful November giveaway is a cd by The Pressley Girls When It Ends In A Walk. Leave a comment on this post to be entered. *Giveaway ends December 2, 2024. To pick up your own copy of the cd go here.
Last night’s video: I Cooked the Dried Hominy and It Was GOOD-So Good!!
Tipper
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I really enjoy your music. song I grew up singing.
This is one of my favorite posts you have ever written!
Happy Thanksgiving….would love to be a fly on the wall at your house watching and listening as your housefull of family talk laugh and most likely someone will sing or play something.
❤️ My daughter and I play music together I hope it lasts for generations!
I was looking in an old hutch at our home today and found my Pa-in-laws very old mandolin. It’s not in pristine shape and needs new strings for sure, but I’m want to try to get new strings and learn how to play a tune or two on it. I love the sound of a mandolin, always have ever since the first time I heard one played.
i very much grew up in the same environment when i was little…there was always music being played when i was a child…usually gospel with a little bit of occasional country/bluegrass threw in. I learned to play enough guitar to accompany myself and play along in church etc…in those days in that area, EVERYONE who showed up for church that played automatically came in with instruments, be it guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, autoharp, mouthharps (harmonicas), jaw harps, bass, dobro, or whatever (even cymbals and tambourines) and was EXPECTED to “tune up” and play for the singing…this was in churches where “choirs” were non existent unless you counted the congregation.. You went up for “congregational singing” and all musicians were playing along…even if you were “visiting” a new church where you didn’t know a soul you took your instruments with you and if someone asked if you played you could say “yep got it in the truck” and go get it…always felt like if you wasn’t asked if you played they weren’t very friendly and welcoming…i really wish i could have raised my kids in that type of environment but alas it didn’t happen…i moved away (married a city boy) and moving out of the area i moved into a place where that type of culture and “jam sessions” didn’t seem to happen
There is a video from a few years back, when you all did a virtual morning song for the John C Campbell Folk School, that I listen to again and again. Thank you all for sharing your gift with the world!
I love listening to the Pressley girls sing. I watch all their videos, and especially love the ones where they sing and play.
Thank you for sharing this with us, Tipper. I wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving. ❤️
What a sweet story of love and music and ties that bind. Made me smile.
Enjoyed today’s post. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 🙂
It’s the same in my family and I feel the same way. I’m not sure if life would be worth living if there was no music or singing! Hope y’all have a good Thanksgiving 🙂
My father’s family were musically talented but for the most part it was vocally. Daddy talked about a family band with instruments but that was way before my time. The Great Depression and WW2 came along messed all that up.
My family’s greatest claim to fame was a first cousin Arthur Lee “Red” Smiley Jr. Not many will remember him and most will never even have heard of him.
Would really enjoy the Pressley girls CD.
My musical talent consists only of playing the radio and picking my nose. But I listen very well.
This is Wilson history. You could take posts and other writings and make a book out of it. I am sure lots of folks would like to read about it.
Our family has members that are very musically inclined. Our youngest daughter has been a band director for over 20 years and her students love her, she is also in the Treasure Coast Orchestra for many years, in fact they just honored her. I had an uncle who was into country music. We have a grandson who is learning the guitar, and grandson-in-law in a rock band and wants to pursue music production and a great-grandson who loves to beat on the drums. People who can play instruments, sing and read music are blessed indeed. Your family are very talented and blessed.
Your daughters harmonize absolutely beautifully. The way they sing the song, There Is A Time, seems so multidimensional, I don’t know how they get that much soul out of two voices. Needless to say I’ve got it on my Spotify playlist.
Today’s repeat post is a beautiful homage to your family’s legacy: the love of family & place expressed through traditional music woven together with traditional skills all echo the natural music of your beloved hills & hollers.
Wishing you & yours, and your readers, a peaceful & blessed Thanksgiving.
Music was and is a big part of my dad’s family. Listening to your family touches my heart. So many familiar hymns and tunes that I remember them singing and harmonizing with such natural skill. Beautiful. Thank you for this opportunity.
Such a great post! We grew up in such a similar environment. Mom played the piano, so from our births, there was always music in our home: either Mom and Dad singing as she played, or all four of us singing together. Thanks for the sweet reminder of growing up in a home filled with the sound of music. Have a great Thanksgiving! Your friend in SC♥️
My family roots go back to Monroe County, in the Ball Play region of eastern Tennessee near Madisonville. While I have never lived in Appalachia, I have long loved the music of the mountains! I play the Mountain Dulcimer (mostly for my own enjoyment, and not very well). If I had grown up in a musical tradition, perhaps I could have become a musicaner! I enjoy listening to the Pressely Girls music, as well as videos of Pap and Paul. I wish the girls would do more music for us, but understand the demands that being mothers put on their time!
I understand totally the importance of playing music. When you play music, all your cares and woes go somewhere else and you cannot have anything else on your mind but the enjoyment of hearing the music.
While I do not come from a family of musicians, I do come from a family of music lovers. Growing up, the kitchen radio was on 24/7. Get together involved playing records and dancing. Music is my constant companion now in the car and while working in the kitchen.
Enjoying the blog! Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Beyond beautiful writing !!! Beyond beautiful legacy !!! So very much to be thankful for !!!
Your family is truly blessed. What an honor it would be to have such musical talents.
The music program is a major factor in which church I favor joining when we move to a new location. A good teacher in Sunday School runs a close second. Preachers usually come and go so if he’s good or bad things will change soon in that area. A good pastor has become more important to me as I have aged. (There’s a difference in pastoring and preaching. Some preachers lack compassion.)
Your families music is such a blessing!
Music is like a soothing ‘balm’ for the soul. Your souls are definitely well ‘balmed.’ I am thankful for the musical heritage I grew up in even though in later years everyone got scattered and the music gatherings were no more. Beautiful post Tipper. Blessings to each of you.
That was a beautiful post
I’m thankful for you all!
Music stirs memories and soothes the soul. My brother played guitar, and I played piano. I had other family memories that played guitar, banjo and the fiddle. When we used to have family reunions, they would bring their instruments and play for us. It was a wonderful time. They are gone on to heaven now, but those memories are near and dear to my heart. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post, Tipper.
Happy Thanksgiving to my Granny Wilson and brasstown North Carolina, God bless her and all her family,
My families were musical on both branches: the Smith-O’Kelley and the Alexander-Moss. All were mountain people, and all played string music. I soaked up enough of that to make me unafraid to try. On guitar, I know three chords in three keys. I have had the most fun playing banjo ukelele and a little self-taught piano. My first musical performance was on the radio in Anderson, SC, playing spoons with “Boyd and Raymond” on a 15-minute weekly show when I was in 4th grade. One of them played guitar, the other mandolin. My dad played guitar with “The Stumphouse Ramblers” out of Walhalla way before I was born. I heard they played at barn dances mostly. It was he who taught me those three chords.
Your family has so much talent starting with Pap and Granny and was inherited through two more generations. I hope the grandbabies will follow in their mom’s musical footsteps. No one in my immediate family ever picked up a musical instrument or sang for a crowd. My first cousin managed the careers of John Michael Montgomery, Doug Stone, and Ricochet. Another first cousin was given credit for Patty Loveless’s first album. Patty’s uncle married my aunt so my cousins were always getting together to practice in the basement to see who could make it to Nashville first. I wasn’t one of the participants.
Nothing better than playing music with your friends and family. Blessed Thanksgiving to all.
First time commenter here, though I’ve been a subscriber for several years.
Had a summer home then full time home very close to you just across the road from Martin’s Creek School! I very much enjoy your website/videos, and especially this one about your family’s musical heritage. Thank you for all of the hard work and soul you put into everything you do. What a blessing!
Music is just one of the talents your family shares with viewers, readers, and listeners. Thank you for opening up a window into your lives. You have touched and enriched thousands of lives. You and your family have certainly blessed me. God is using you in a mighty way.
This was a truly beautiful post, Tipper. Y’all have one of your richest heritages I’ve ever heard of. I wonder what instruments Woody and Ira will take to. 🙂 Thank you for sharing this with us.
So beautifully written. Thank you, Tipper.
I think you are on to something here Tipper, like maybe your own book? I can’t put it in words but your post today has that feel to me. Your story could be a sort of a sequel to “Dorie”. And the story of how a family in Wilson Holler went international is worth the future having as it is one stellar example of an enormous social change. Don’t want to stress you as I know you keep a full plate. If the thought has any appeal, I think I know what you will do – you’ll ask the Lord about it. And that’s best. We have today’s prize CD so you can pass me over if drawn and bless someone else.
Love hearing your back story. You definitely have a talented family. I guess music will be involved in your thanksgiving meal. I’m going to cook all day getting ready for tomorrow. Only 7 of us , but thankful to be together.happy thanksgiving everybody !
Music is very important to me. I love most genres, but especially love worship music. Hope you and your family have a blessed Thanksgiving!
Musicianer is a fantastic word and although it exists, google has “redlined” under it to indicate it’s a mistake…. Tipper, I hung on every word you wrote this morning. I like it best when you let it all out and pour forth your thoughts into beautiful words just cascading like a beautiful waterfall! I got a kick out of the cousin saying youd take guitars with you everywhere and y’all Wilson’s would play before the “big one hits” as you waited… I’ve seen people tote liquor bottles and smokes everywhere they go and I’d say toting guitars (and Bibles) is the intelligent and good way to go on a trip!!!! If I took a guitar with me, I’d look silly cause I can’t play anything but spoons, a metal triangle and tambourine…lol God bless you all as you ready your hearts in Thanksgiving for what we DO have to be thankful for. Be blessed y’all!!! My heart goes out to the ones in NC and TN with no home or a cold, torn up home and one’s who’ve been buried and their families are searching for them still. How about the WV boys who built a road in a week and the Amish who’ve shown up to help? Our government does not care about our people and it’s a very sad thing to comment…
Thankful for You. And thankful for the truce. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Ring them bells!
What a beautiful life and story. I did not grow up in a family of musicians, but I have hope from some talented grandchildren.How beautiful to just be together as a family and sing. It is well with my soul literally.
Love to hear the stories about your family and music.
I had an uncle, my mother’s brother, who would play the guitar and sing bluegrass music. Also, I remember the radio playing bluegrass and everyone singing alone. I played the piano at church and at home. I learned some old-fashioned hymns that my mother liked to hear. My youngest brother took guitar lessons and toured with a group, The Sounds of Liberty, at Liberty University in the early nineties. He now leads his church’s music department.
Todays post is my favorite so far for Thankful November! Like all it’s about family & music. Thank you for sharing your family & the Appalachian Heritage. Today will be my family’s Thanksgiving, there will be 17 of us gathering here.
Didn’t realize the girls also played mandolin and piano respectively. Beautiful music is such a wonderful ingredient of the richness of Appalachian culture.
Your posts are like banana pudding, just keep getting gooder and gooder
What a sweet legacy. I wasn’t fortunate enough to have a musical family. Not a one except waaay back I had an Great Great Uncle who played with the John Phillips Souza band which is pretty exciting to think about!
I really enjoy Thankful November, it has me remembering and being thankful for my life and my family. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you for sharing this article! Music is an art form that has immediate connections to memories, friendships, and expression. My grandmother-in-law was in assisted living, and one of her friends there had lost all memories due to Alzheimer’s except music memories. If a person started singing a hymn, she would join in — remembered the hymns and the words. Music really is a powerful and impactful gift!
Harper, read my other comment about my sister in law Kathy. She died in 2016 at 62 years old from a very rare brain disease (@ 350 known cases). Her mind and health went down in a matter of months. Her mind had gotten very bad, when out of the blue she began singing “Sheltered In The Arms Of God.” She sung it perfectly. I will go to my grave believing God helped her do this and it this was her way of telling her family and loved ones to not worry about her. She soon died after doing this. I have head it said, songs or music is one of the last things people with dementia forget.
The legacy of music is a wonderful blessing. My sister and I and my husband both have grown up with that legacy which continues to this day. My sister teaches and performs, my husband taught guitar for many, many years and my husband and I have been performing in a band for over 30 years. We have a grandson that plays guitar and our other grandchildren sing and dance at recitals and school events. We always remember who and how we got involved in music from our past family members!
My Daddy enjoyed playing a few songs he knew on a cheap guitar. My sister can take the ivory off the keys of a piano, as for me, I have trouble even playing a radio. My wife’s family had the musicians. My father in law and sister in law played and sang together, Kathy started singing with her Daddy when she was 3 years old. He had a small non professional band that would get together and play nearly ever Saturday night. They would often play in churches, for benefits and like to especially go to nursing homes and sing and have a devotion with the ones in the home. They got no pay for any of this. He often spoke of the Wilson Brothers and tell about how good they were. At the time I didn’t know who they were, but I do now. I will spend hours listening to Pap and the others with him singing those good old time hymns. Nowadays this helps comfort me on my bad days. Today’s new style of religious music does not appeal to me, I want no part of it. I think I remember reading Tipper say Pap didn’t push his professional career in country music because of being a Christian and having to play in the places it would require. My father in law said the same thing, I am a Christian, I could not play in night clubs on Saturday night and then go to church on Sunday.
What a legacy in your family when it comes to music! How I enjoyed hearing your musical family history in this post Tipper. I would love to win the girl’s CD! Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!
I do enjoy reading your writing. Makes me feel like I was part of the family. I have one daughter who is truly gifted at piano. I’ve seen her play Bach after listening to it and just working it out for 15 minutes. My other daughter wants to learn fiddle or mandolin. That one will almost always request “The Pressley Girls!” When we have alone time in the car. If I win this cd it will surely live in her cd player 🙂
Music is a part of my soul. When I first enter my kitchen in the morning I hear the hymn “Love Lifted Me” in my head and sing it aloud. I think it is a message from God. My grandmother born in 1890 played the fiddle “by ear” at dances before she married, but rarely played again after starting her family of 10 children. I played violin in school and had to play a tune once and it was mine. The teacher chastised the class for not practicing like I did. I haven’t played violin since high school. I took piano and guitar in the Jr College later but never continued after the classes ended. I now get a song in my head and find it on you tube and sing it to get it out of my head. I love to hear the stories of haw you folks sing and play the beautiful music as a family. Thank you for sharing your beautiful family with us. Blessings to all.
So thankful I accidentally came across The Pressley Girls and Celebrating Appalachia one day while scrolling through You Tube. It only took minutes to fall in love with your family but I have spent countless hours soaking up every video since then. Thank you for sharing stories everyday of your lives and these beautiful mountains. Happy Thanksgiving!
My sentiments exactly, Libby! I was “hooked” immediately and have learned so much from Tipper over the last year and a half about Appalachia and the amazing people who live there. Having her in my life is a blessing that I’m grateful for every day! Happy Thanksgiving!
Jackie
This may be one of my favorite posts you’ve shared! I am so moved to tears by the words.
I would love to play mandolin, but at almost 60 I don’t know if my hands would let me, so I play mountain music and hymns full of stringed instruments. You’ll never know how all y’all bless my soul…. and I would venture to say Katie and Corie are the cool kids NOW! God bless all y’all!
Miss Tipper, Matt, and girls, keep sharing the stories of the mountain people in need and the links to help. May we NEVER FORGET this as long as the is need there. Helping as we can and as God provides the means!
Your writings truly truly make me feel like I am there and a part of your family as I read them. Thank you!
Me too, Kelly!