Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 14, 1993 TAG: 9309140330
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
So it's no surprise when John Hollandsworth, judged the best musician for the past two years at the Galax Old Fiddlers' Convention, says of the awards:
"It worked out OK, I guess. It's nice to be recognized by your peers."
Hollandsworth has more pluck than he's letting on.
True, he hasn't won much money for being Galax's best-in-show - only $135 this year, which will scarcely maintain his supply of strings, picks and cassette tapes.
With every right to strut and crow, having bested hundreds of other old-time and bluegrass musicians at arguably the biggest and most famous shindig of its kind, he chooses a diffident tone.
"We don't play music just to do contests," he said. "They're important, but the majority of the people go [to Galax] to meet their friends."
"The best music is made around the campers. At jam sessions you play to have fun."
Under the hot lights and judges' gaze, it's different. "I take my play on stage seriously. I'm probably my own worst critic."
It's a matter of respect for the song, the heritage and regional tradition of old-time music, that makes Hollandsworth want to play and play well.
"If another person never heard me play again, I wouldn't care. I just like doing it," he said. "I don't think I could ever get tired of playing."
Some days, when he's alone at home, Hollandsworth intentionally avoids his autoharp. "I know I won't get anything else done."
His favorite times are the evenings when fellow musicians drop by, break out their instruments and fill the Hollandsworth living room with melodies and song.
Most people who know Hollandsworth recognize him from his postal delivery route in downtown Blacksburg. Some others may have seen him performing with his band, Mountain Fling.
Hollandsworth, 39, doubts he'll ever make enough money from performing or contests or selling tapes of his music to quit his day job, but that's OK.
"We're real satisfied with what we're doing now. We basically make enough money on recordings to fund the next one."
His relationship with the autoharp began as a child. At family gatherings in Floyd County, relatives would play music and Hollandsworth sought to join in on an instrument "nobody else was playing."
Autoharps are good for filling in those musical gaps; they're more rhythmic than prominent. They're accessible instruments, too, for the novice. "If you want to just strum and play chords, you can do that," Hollandsworth said.
Earliest autoharp players placed the box on their laps. But it didn't project sound much beyond the instrumentalist. "It's kind of a quiet instrument," Hollandsworth said.
The Carter Family - oracles of old-time and bluegrass music - popularized playing the autoharp "Appalachian style," holding it on the chest so the sound traveled forward toward a microphone or an audience.
"The techniques are still evolving," said Hollandsworth, who wears finger picks to play melody and rhythm on his custom-made autoharp.
The instrument itself can be personalized to the player, he said. There's no standard arrangement of chord bars. "It's like moving around the keys of a piano to suit you."
Hollandsworth said he enjoys applying his own style and interpretation to the traditional format of old-time music. "That's a very strong part of what we do. We're very aware of the music we play. We try to research it - the history of it."
"Practically all the time I'm walking around listening to tapes. There are thousands of songs out there you'll never hear on the radio. Not even on the bluegrass stations.
"It's a unique feature of the Appalachian Mountains. I can't think of another part of the country that has such a strong musical tradition."
Hollandsworth learns music the way he plays - by ear. "I don't read music," he said.
Hollandsworth's wife, Kathie, plays hammer dulcimer, piano and bass, but he said their shared affinity for music didn't strengthen their relationship until after their marriage.
"We both played music as children. But it was a long time before we actually played music together.
"We did all the things other people do. Get a house. Get a job. Settle into a family routine."
The Hollandsworths have three children: a daughter, 13, and twins who are 12. "For a couple or three years there, we were mostly just changing diapers."
Gradually, however, the time and the inclination to play together grew. "I've worked on it a lot in the last 10 years," he said. "We got more focused."
From playing in church and at retirement homes, the Hollandsworths progressed to forming Mountain Fling with two other musicians and performing commercially, at coffeehouses, weddings and receptions. "It's the hardest thing to find people who play your kind of music and who can get along," he said.
Through trade journals and attending fiddlers' conventions, he has joined a strong network of players. "That's the good thing. We have so many friends now across the country."
More than a few come to Galax each year. Hollandsworth spent a week there in his pop-up camping trailer. "There's a lot to put up with. Nobody goes to bed; they just play all night. But people go back each year."
Other traveling friends are likely to cruise in from Interstate 81. They find Hollandsworth at his frame house, in a stand of trees surrounded by a split-rail fence and rhododendron.
"Seems like there's always some people here playing music," he said, laughing.
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