The Charlotte Folk Society celebrates its 25th anniversary next weekend with a potluck dinner reunion, workshops and demonstrations, and a concert featuring more than 25 acts. Classically trained pianist-turned avid square dancer and folk musician Marilyn Meacham Price founded the folk society in 1982. After years of playing with bands, she decided to spread her love of folk music, talked Spirit Square into giving her and her pickin' friends a meeting place, and the society was born.
One-hundred people came out for their meeting. A quarter-century later, the 76-year-old musician, writer, historian, wife and mother spoke to the Observer about how the society spreads folk traditions and welcomes newcomers. Price will perform Friday with the Mallard Creek String Band and lead a percussion workshop Saturday.
Q. What's the most important goal for the Charlotte Folk Society 25 years into its existence? It's probably the preservation and continuation of the music.
Most music teachers, for instance, are schooled in the European method of classical music. They were never taught the folk tunes of those (European) countries or their origins or the importance of that (music) to the people themselves. My background was in classical piano.
I was not raised with this heritage. I just fell in love with string band music. (She met her furture husband, Jim, at a square dance and decided to learn to play stringed instruments.
) Q. As a teacher, how important were your jam classes at CPCC? It was Sundays from 6 to 9 p.
m. At 9 they didn't want to go home. We had some old-timers who came very shyly who had only played in their living rooms by themselves for 30 years.
Some of them ...
sat in the back row. They formed The Back Row Gang and actually went out and got paying jobs. Q.
What advice do you offer to a new player who might be too timid to join a jam? I ran into that problem when I was teaching at CPCC. I could look out and see people peeping around the door.
They would sometimes come in and hide their instrument behind their chair. They were too intimidated to try to play a tune they'd never heard of. But when we have jam sessions or gatherings, at the end we'll have a slow jam for beginners and tell them which chords to play.
We welcome people who don't play at all. Q. What if someone's not sure which instrument to pick up?
We have a lending library with instruments that people have donated -- mandolin, banjo, fiddle ...
People can borrow them for a few weeks and see if it's something they'd like to invest in. Q. The folk society encompasses more than just music.
What else does the society focus on? The music is part of it, as well as the folklore and the oral tradition of passing down stories. .
..From the beginning I've found if you were good in music you may also be good as an artist.
I used to teach traditional crafts, chair caning, and do a lot of crafts like weaving and pottery. Q. What are your other interests outside of folk music?
I'm a historian. I'm a bookworm. My favorite book is "Gone with the Wind.
" It really got me interested in Southern history. I've got at least 10,000 books. I collect paper dolls.
I played with them when I was young. Q. What is your hope for the folk society in the next 25 years?
I wish we had the money to have a home of our own or an old church somebody wanted to give us. If I could just win the lottery. Charlotte Folk Society Celebrates 25 Years Friday potluck dinner and reunion: 5:30-10 p.
m., Broach Hall, St. John's Baptist Church, 300 Hawthorne Lane.
Bring a dish to share or $5. Details: Wanda Hubicki at 704-563-7090 or www.folksociety.
org Saturday workshops and demonstrations: 10 a.m.-4 p.
m., Levine Museum of the New South, 200 E. Seventh St.
Free with museum admission ($6 adult, $5 seniors and youths 6-18, $17 family, free for children under 6). Details: Levine Museum: 704-333-1887 Saturday 25th Anniversary Concert: More than 25 acts, including 2007 NEA Heritage Award Winner Joe Thompson, Wayne Erbsen, The Circuit Riders and Carolina Gator Gumbo. 7 p.
m. Halton Theater, Central Piedmont Community College, 1206 Elizabeth Ave. $12, $10 for seniors, $6 for children ages 15 and under.
Details: Halton box office at 704-330-6534.
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