Milnes, Gerald

PERSONAL: Male.

ADDRESSES: Office—Augusta Heritage Center, Davis and Elkins College, 100 Campus Dr., Elkins, WV 26241. E-mail—gcm@augustaheritage.com.

CAREER: Folklorist, musicologist, and musician. Davis and Elkins College, Augusta Heritage Center, Elkins, WV, folk arts coordinator. Has performed on numerous recordings of traditional music, including Elk River Blues, Augusta Heritage Records, 1986; Old Time Music, Oxbow Productions, 1988; Vintage Wine, Marimac Recordings, 1993; Banjo Legacy, Augusta Heritage Records; and Hell up Coal Holler, Shanachie, 1999. Appeared in film Matewan. Producer of videos Helvetia: The Swiss of West Virginia; Fiddles, Snakes and Dog Days; and Signs, Cures, and Witchery: Appalachian Cosmology and Belief 2001, both in conjunction with Augusta Heritage Center.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Granny, Will Your Dog Bite, and Other Mountain Rhymes, illustrated by Kimberly Bulcken Root, Knopf (New York, NY), 1990.

Play of a Fiddle: Traditional Music, Dance, and Folklore in West Virginia, University Press of Kentucky (Lexington, KY), 1999.

Contributor of articles to periodicals, including Goldenseal.

SIDELIGHTS: Gerald Milnes has devoted his professional life to the music and culture of Appalachia, and West Virginia's folk heritage is the topic of both his videos and his books. In his first book, Granny, Will Your Dog Bite, and Other Mountain Rhymes, Milnes collects the folk songs, rhymes, and riddles of Appalachia in a collection aimed primarily at children. With roots in England, Ireland, and Scotland, the mountain rhymes are a bit of Mother Goose combined with American imagery. Most relate the daily life of both adults and children, and are accompanied by the watercolor illustrations of Kimberly Bulcken Root. The book's first edition includes a cassette on which Milnes plays the banjo and fiddle.

Writing in the New York Times Book Review, George Ella Lyon commented, "All in all, everyone involved in the collaboration that makes a book—not to mention all those story tellers and front-porch fiddlers Mr. Milnes visited to collect his material—has given us a real gift." Barbara Chatton noted in the School Library Journal that the rhymes and songs in Granny, Will Your Dog Bite, and Other Mountain Rhymes were written by and for adults, so many of the topics deal with "drinking, courting, and other topics not usually in the realm of children." Chatton also noted, "Anyone interested in language or folk traditions will find much delight in this collection of traditional mountain rhymes." A Publishers Weekly contributor called the effort a "zesty collection" and thought that the book's "achievement" rests "in its cumulative portrait of a hardy, proud people and their rich, idiosyncratic and often heroic appreciation of life."

In Play of a Fiddle: Traditional Music, Dance, and Folklore in West Virginia Milnes champions the old-time music and culture of West Virginia's Appalachian region, an area that has maintained a cultural identity and folk traditions stemming back to the first settlers, who brought with them Celtic, Anglo, Germanic, and African traditions. In the process he discusses the legacies produced by many of the region's best-known performers and families, including the cantankerous Scott Bailey, whose family once staged his mock hanging, and Jack McElwain, who performed at the 1893 World's Fair. He also provides a wealth of information about the legendary Hammons and Carpenter fiddling clans. In addition to delving into the many cross-cultural influences on the area's music, Milnes relates the origins and history of the Appalachian or mountain dulcimer. Writing in the Oral History Review, William Mansfield called this section "one of the book's most valuable." Mansfield noted that "Milnes's book is enjoyable to read and useful to anyone interested in traditional music from the rural South in general, and West Virginia in particular." Writing for the Green Man Review, Jack B. Merry noted, "It really is apparent that the author is a musician, as he understands the musicians and their music as no mere academic could! The result … is the most enjoyable book filled with great tales, interesting local history, and enough observations on dance and music to satisfy any musician." In a review in the Charleston Sunday Gazette Mail, Paul Gartner commented, "Like an heirloom quilt, Play of a Fiddle is stitched together with patience and was obviously a labor of love."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Ethnomusicology, winter, 2002, Carl Rahkonen, review of Play of a Fiddle: Traditional Music, Dance, and Folklore in West Virginia, p. 171.

Horn Book, July, 1990, review of Granny, Will Your Dog Bite, and Other Mountain Rhymes, p. 135.

Journal of American Folklore, fall, 2004, Matthew Branch, review of Signs, Cures, and Witchery: Appalachian Cosmology and Belief (video), p. 457.

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 1990, review of Granny, Will Your Dog Bite, and Other Mountain Rhymes, p. 1463.

New York Times Book Review, February 10, 1991, George Ella Lyon, review of Granny, Will Your Dog Bite, and Other Mountain Rhymes, p. 35.

Oral History Review, winter-spring, 2001, William Mansfield, review of Play of a Fiddle: Traditional Music, Dance, and Folklore in West Virginia, p. 162.

Publishers Weekly, November 16, 1990, review of Granny, Will Your Dog Bite, and Other Mountain Rhymes, p. 58; October 18, 1999, review of Granny, Will Your Dog Bite, and Other Mountain Rhymes, p. 86.

School Library Journal, February, 1991, Barbara Chatton, review of Granny, Will Your Dog Bite, and Other Mountain Rhymes, p. 90.

Sunday Gazette Mail (Charleston, WV), April 4, 1999, Paul Gartner, review of Play of a Fiddle: Traditional Music, Dance, and Folklore in West Virginia, p. E9.

ONLINE

Augusta Heritage Center Web site, http://www.augustaheritage.com/ (February 1, 2005).

Green Man Review Online, http://www.greenman review.com/ (February 1, 2005), Jack B. Merry, review of Play of a Fiddle.