Museum of Appalachia

Have you been to the Museum of Appalachia?  We never had until last week - oh, my - it is wonderful!  Being a little over 400 miles south of us, the trees were in bloom, the grass was green and it felt like spring!

Our older son just finished studying Mark Twain - and the museum has the Twain family cabin on the premises.  

I just loved every cabin: the handhewn logs, the extremely primitive furniture and the make-do accessories the people of Appalachia created. 

 Maybe you can tell it was drizzling slightly while we were there, but it dampen our enjoyment of the Museum.

 How surprised I was upon entering one cabin - a guitar player.  Do you know who this is?  Once she started to talk to us I knew I'd heard her before.  Do you get the magazine A Simple Life?  Eliza Jane Alexander was featured on a disc that was sent out with the Christmas 2011 issue.  

Before long, Eliza Jane was joined by Curly Cottrell (also featured on the disc) and their friend Mandolin playing Randall. 

They played several songs for us and we enjoyed all of them immensely.  

Curly learned to play the fiddle by ear and doesn't read "a lick of music".  Two of our children play the violin and one the bass so this was pretty cool to them.  Curly asked the kids if they knew the difference between his fiddle and their violins.  He said his fiddle has "strangs" and their violins have "strings"!  

If you are ever in Knoxville, Tennessee stop by and see if Eliza Jane and Curly are there - they'll play a song for you.

~Ann