THE 12TH YEAR OF CONTINUOUS CELEBRATION OF MARYLAND’S LIVING TRADITIONS

& A Tribute to 2012 NEA National Heritage Fellow

Mike Auldridge

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1ST, 2012

MONTGOMERY COLLEGE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER

with

THE MARYLAND STATE ARTS COUNCIL

presents

Maryland TraditionsALTA AWARDS

Achievement in Living Traditions & Arts

2012

By Culture We Thrive

PROGRAM

A LETTER FROM THE GOVERNORDear Friends:

Welcome to the 6th annual Maryland Traditions Achievement in Living Traditions and Arts Awards Ceremony. Congratulations to the 2012 Heritage Fellows and recipients.

Since 1974, the Folklife Program at the Maryland State Arts Council has documented Maryland’s expressive traditions to ensure that our culture stays vibrant and strong. As we join together today, we celebrate the people, places and traditions that exemplify outstanding stewardship

of Maryland’s rich and diverse folklife.

The individuals we recognize are accomplished artisans who are dedicated to sharing their skills with younger generations; the places we recognize help sustain our vibrant and dynamic communities; and the traditions celebrated today help give shape to our identities as Marylanders.

For nearly 40 years, we have recognized individuals who infuse our lives with the artistry of our ancestors, bridging our past with a promising future. As we look toward that future, we are grateful for their contributions. Best wishes for a memorable event.

Sincerely,

Governor Martin O’Malley

About Maryland TraditionsMaryland Traditions is the folklife program of the Maryland State Arts Council, with additional funding provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. Since 2001, Maryland Traditions has seeded a network of regional partners engaged in documenting and celebrating folklife in Maryland. Folklife is cultural knowledge handed down from generation to generation through word of mouth or by example. It may be verbal, musical or visual, occupational or religious. It may be indigenous or have found a welcoming home in Maryland in more recent times. Through fieldwork, grants, public programs, archives, apprenticeships, awards and publications, we carry out our aim of sustaining living traditions.

Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center The Center’s mission is to improve cultural literacy and build bridges between the arts and varied academic disciplines for the campus and surrounding community. The CAC provides a comprehensive program which presents and examines traditional and contemporary indigenous, American, and international cultural expression. In order to achieve this goal we incorporate a diverse array of events, including art exhibitions and theatrical, dance and musical performances that represent a wide range of cultures.

OPENING WELCOME Dr. Tony D. Hawkins Dean of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, Montgomery College Siobhan M. Quinn Director, Cultural Arts Center Montgomery College Cliff Murphy Director, Maryland Traditions

TRIBUTE TO JOE BYRNE PE R F O R M A N C E OLD BAY CEILI BAND | Baltimore-DC In honor of 2008 ALTA Recipient Joe Byrne, the late proprietor of J. Patrick’s Pub, Baltimore

PRESENTATION OF THE ALTA | PL ACE SPARROWS POINT STEEL MILL AND

ITS COMMUNITIES | Baltimore County PR E S E N T E R S Louis Diggs and Elmer Hall Sparrows Point Oral Historians & Authors

PRESENTATION OF THE ALTA | PEOPLE CARROLL COUNTY RAMBLERS | Carroll County PR E S E N T E R Cliff Murphy Director, Maryland Traditions PE R F O R M A N C E Carroll County Ramblers

PRESENTATION OF THE ALTA | TR ADITION J. GRUBER’S HAGERS-TOWN TOWN AND COUNTRY ALMANACK | Washington County PR E S E N T E R Michelle Stefano Program Coordinator, Maryland Traditions FILM Produced by Maryland Traditions and the New Media

Studio, University of Maryland Baltimore County

NE A NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWSHIP PERFORMANCE PR E S E N T E R S Theresa Colvin Executive Director, Maryland State Arts Council Barry Bergey Director, Folk & Traditional Arts, NEA

Julia Olin Executive Director, National Council for the Traditional Arts

PE R F O R M A N C E Tribute to Mike Auldridge 2012 National Heritage Fellow | Montgomery County

PEOPLETHE CARROLL COUNTY RAMBLERS are a family bluegrass group based in Taneytown, Maryland (Carroll County). Founded by Dottie and Leroy Eyler in 1961, the group has mentored generations of bluegrass musicians throughout the Maryland/Pennsylvania/Virginia/West Virginia quad-state region. Their style is best described as “traditional bluegrass” and their original songs chronicle local history, the everyday fabric of family life and are reflective of Dottie and Leroy’s family heritage as mid-Maryland sharecroppers and railroad workers. When Leroy Eyler passed away in

1995, and Dottie Eyler retired from performing in 2010, daughter Bonnie Eyler (bass, vocals) and son Dale Eyler (fiddle, vocals) became the group’s leaders. For 51 years, the Carroll County Ramblers have been staples of bluegrass festivals throughout the mid-Atlantic region and were featured performers at the 1976 Maryland Folklife Festival.

PLACESPARROWS POINT STEEL MILL AND ITS COMMUNITIES are being honored as a vital ‘place’ of enduring importance in the industrial heritage and story of Maryland. For 125 years, hundreds of thousands of steel workers and associated personnel have known Sparrows Point Steel Mill (Baltimore County) not only as a place of employment, but as “home” – the center of community life, with special importance in the company towns of Dundalk and Sparrows Point. Created by the Pennsylvania Steel Company in 1887, and taken over by Bethlehem Steel in 1916, the mill became the world’s largest center for steel

production and shipbuilding. Though its future is unclear, the mill remains a significant place that grounds a living heritage amongst former workers and community members. This community’s stories and traditions have been carefully documented by oral historians Elmer Hall, Louis Diggs, and the Dundalk Patapsco Neck Historical Society, who accept the ALTA on behalf of the Mill’s communities.

TRADITIONJ. GRUBER’S HAGERS-TOWN TOWN AND COUNTRY ALMANACK J. Gruber’s Hagers-Town Town and Country Almanack is the oldest almanac in the US that is still produced by heirs of the original founder, John Gruber. Established in Hagerstown (Washington County), it has been providing agricultural, meteorological and astrological information for the mid-Atlantic region since 1797. The Almanack, which also contains folk remedies, local poetry and traditional community wisdom, is currently edited by the great-great-great-great great grandson of John Gruber, Charles W. Fisher, Jr. Millions of copies have been sold and distributed, impacting a significant amount of agricultural communities. It is

said that The Almanack has made Hagerstown widely known throughout the US and has given Maryland an ‘epicenter’ of farming and agricultural life. At its core is the tradition of forecasting next year’s weather by using centuries-old astronomical calculations, a process that is still continued by mathematician, Professor William O’Toole III of Emmitsburg.

ALTATHE MARYLAND TRADITIONS ALTA AWARD The Achievement in Living Traditions and Arts (ALTA) Award was created by Maryland Traditions in 2007 to recognize outstanding stewardship of Maryland’s living traditions. The award is named in honor of folklorist and community leader, Dr. Alta Schrock (1911-2001), who was a native of Garrett County and among the first Mennonite women to receive a PhD, taught biology at Frostburg State University and also founded publications, events and lasting institutions designed to share and safeguard her region’s traditional art forms. Her achievements in cultural conservation include the creation of The Spruce Forest Artisan Village, Penn Alps, the Journal of the Alleghenies and the Springs Festival.

Each year, three awards are presented in the categories of people, place and tradition. Recipients are selected based on their demonstration of the highest standards of excellence in such areas as research, documentation, presentation, entrepreneurship, artistry, stewardship and community impact; places honored are those that specially serve to keep traditions alive and that are meaningful and effective gathering places or sites for carrying on living or endangered traditions; and traditions recognized are those that connect communities to cultural heritage in ways that exemplify Maryland’s dynamic spirit and may include events, occupations, knowledge, cultural scenes and organizations.

2012 ALTA AWARD RECIPIENTS

MIKE AULDRIDGE was born in Kensington, Maryland (Montgomery County) in 1938 and grew up listening to the steel guitar playing of his Uncle Ellsworth Cozzens, who performed with Jimmie “The Singing Brakeman” Rodgers in the 1920s. He bought his first resophonic guitar (or “Dobro”) from Uncle Josh Graves, of Flatt & Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Boys and was a founding member of the now legendary bluegrass band the Seldom Scene in 1971. Under the leadership of ex-Country Gentleman John Duffey, the Seldom Scene adhered to a philosophy of holding down day jobs — Mike’s trade was in graphic design — and they were fiercely local, playing at the Red Fox Inn in Bethesda for six years before moving to the Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria. Their signature humor, a repertoire that went well beyond traditional bluegrass, and Mike’s innovative Dobro style made them pioneers of “Newgrass.” Mike remained with the Scene for 24 years — influencing a new generation of Dobro players like Jerry Douglass — until moving on to other projects, including stints with Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett. With the Beard Guitar Company of Hagerstown, Mike has developed his own signature line of resophonic guitars.

About the NEA National Heritage Fellowships

The National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowships were launched in 1982 under the guidance of Bess Lomax Hawes, then director of the Folk Arts Program at the NEA, to pay tribute to the nation’s foremost practitioners of traditional arts. Nominated by individual citizens and selected by a panel of cultural specialists, fellows receive a one-time award of $25,000. The NEA National Heritage Fellowships are the most prestigious honor in the folk and traditional arts in the US. Today, over 350 tradition bearers have been recognized for their commitment to their art form and communities — sometimes facing great obstacles — and for their interest in furthering the traditional arts. The Bess Lomax Hawes Award was introduced as part of the Heritage Fellowships in 2000, and is given annually to individuals “whose contributions, primarily through teaching, advocacy, and organizing and preserving important repertoires” have greatly benefited their artistic tradition or enhanced the public visibility of folklife.

Maryland Recipients of the NEA National Heritage Fellowship

2012 Mike Auldridge | Dobro player Silver Spring, MD 2011 Warner Williams | Piedmont Blues Songster Gaithersburg, MD 2009 Mike Seeger | Musician, Cultural Scholar and Advocate Baltimore & Silver Spring/Lexington, VA*2007 Roland Freeman | Photo Documentarian, Author and Exhibit Curator Baltimore/DC*2005 Chuck Brown | African-American Musical Innovator (Go-Go) Brandywine, MD2004 Chum Ngek | Cambodian Musician and Teacher Gaithersburg, MD*2001 Hazel Dickens | Appalachian Singer-Songwriter Baltimore/WV/DC2001 Joe Wilson | Folklorist, Advocate and Presenter Silver Spring, MD/Trade, TN*1998 Apsara Ensemble | Cambodian Traditional Dancers and Musicians Fort Washington, MD1998 Harilaos Papapostolou | Greek Byzantine Chanter Potomac, MD1986 Khatna Peou | Cambodian Court Dancer/Choreographer Silver Spring, MD1986 Ola Belle Reed | Appalachian Banjo Picker/Singer Rising Sun, MD1983 Lem Ward | Decoy Carver/Painter Crisfield, MD

*Bess Lomax Hawes Award recipient

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PERSON Rich Smoker is a master decoy carver who lives in Marion, Maryland (Somerset County) and grew up on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. He developed an interest in waterfowl at an early age and began carving hunting decoys with his father.

PLACE Patterson Bowling Center Duckpin Bowling Lanes is the oldest duckpin bowling alley in the world and Baltimore’s sole remaining duckpin-only alley. Located near Patterson Park, it was founded in 1927.

TRADITION The Singing & Praying Bands of Maryland (Eastern and Western Shore) are an African-American devotional/musical tradition that is unique to the Delmarva. With origins in West African religion, Christianity, and African-American ring shout traditions, Singing & Praying Bands developed during slavery.

PEOPLE The descendants of Nathaniel “Uncle Nace” Hopkins (pictured) hold the annual Emancipation Day celebrations in Trappe (Talbot County) since 1867. Hopkins was born into slavery, served in the Union Army during the Civil War and founded the Emancipation Day parade.

PLACE Globe Poster opened in Baltimore in 1927 to produce show posters for vaudeville acts, carnivals, burlesque and movie theaters. It has defined the regional and international visual aesthetic of R&B, Soul and Funk for over 60 years, as well as electoral campaigns, carnivals and festivals.

TRADITION Jousting is one of the oldest rural traditions of the mid-Atlantic region. Maryland is home to two ring jousting tournaments that have run annually since before the Civil War. Jousting is Maryland’s official state sport.

PERSON George Wunderlich of Hagerstown (Washington County) is an acclaimed builder of minstrel era (mid-1800s) Wunder banjos and a

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leading public cultural historian of the banjo and its Baltimore-based commercial roots.

PLACE Blob’s Park & Bavarian Bier Garten in Jessup (Anne Arundel County) was opened by Max Blob in 1933 and is the home for social gatherings, homecomings, and anyone interested in great polka music and German fare.

TRADITION Swan Meadow School of Oakland (Garrett County) aims to educate students on the musical, culinary, literary and storytelling traditions of the Amish and Mennonite communities of Western Maryland.

PEOPLE The United Methodist Women of Smith Island have perpetuated traditions, stories, songs and everyday lifeways for generations. They have become known for Smith Island Layer Cake, anointed in 2008 as our official State Dessert.

PLACE J. Patrick’s, located in Baltimore City’s Locust Point, is the home for social gatherings of musicians, dancers and anyone interested in Irish music and culture.

TRADITION The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival fills the Howard County Fairgrounds with sheep breeders, cooks, textile artists and every aspect of sheep fancying. It is considered the finest and largest sheep and wool event in the nation.

PERSON Anna Holmes of North Brentwood (Prince George’s County) is an educator, quilter, family historian and community activist whose work on behalf of her family and her hometown has ensured that their stories will be preserved.

PLACE Penn Alps & Spruce Forest Artisan Village in Grantsville (Garrett County) continues to preserve and showcase Appalachian culture for all who venture onto the National Road.

TRADITION The National Outdoor Show has presented the culture of Dorchester County’s marshes since 1938 and is the home of the International Muskrat Skinning contest.

NCTA

Martin O’MalleyGovernor

Anthony G. BrownLieutenant Governor

Christian S. JohanssonSecretary, Department of Business

and Economic Development

For more information on Maryland Traditions visit: www.marylandtraditions.org

Department of Business & Economic Development www.ChooseMaryland.org

Maryland State Arts Council www.msac.org | 175 West Ostend Street, Suite E | Baltimore, MD 21230 T E LE PH O N E: 410-767-6555 | M D R E L AY T T Y: 1-800-735-2258 or 711

If you need assistance using this publication, please contact the MSAC office. T E LE PH O N E: 410-767-6555 or T T Y: 1-800-735-2258 or 711 for individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Individuals who do not use conventional print may contact the Maryland State Arts Council office to obtain this publication in an alternate format. T E LE PH O N E: 410-767-6555 | E M AI L: msac@msac.org

T H AN K S TO: MSAC staff, The National Endowment for the Arts, Maryland Traditions Partners, Cathy Kerst, William R. Hale, Jr., Deborah Rudacille, William Barry, Meg Dibley, Edwin Remsberg, Julia Evins, Tom Riford, Roger Keller, H. G. Roebuck & Son, the Washington County Historical Society, Aaron Henkin, Shane Carpenter and Bill Shewbridge and the New Media Studio at UMBC.

ALTA Photos by Edwin Remsberg.

The ALTA Awards Ceremony and Concert is produced by the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA). A Maryland Traditions partner based in Silver Spring, the NCTA is a private, not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the presentation and documentation of folk and traditional arts in the United States. Founded in 1933, it is the oldest folk arts organization in the nation.