"Texas Style" takes you to the competition culture of small-town Texas: where there are parades, armadillo and frog jumping races, tobacco-spitting, cow chip throwing, steer lassoing and hog calling contests. In between sampling the Barbecue and Chili cook-offs, visits to the local domino parlor and barbershop, we get to hear some of Texas' most remarkable fiddlers compete to the foot-stomping delight of their audience,
"Texas Style" is an intimate look at rural Texas culture and the traditional fiddle music played on its back roads. With spirited rhythms and guitar accompaniment, Texas fiddling is a crowd-pleaser that has influenced western swing and folk music across the country. "Texas Style" centers on three generations of Westmorelnd family fiddlers. From the elder H.D. Westmoreland to his grandson Wes III, already a state champion, we see the evolution of Texas fiddling. The difference between H.D.'s rhythmic Appalachian style and the intricately fingered, rhythmically varied interpretations of grandson Wes marks a transition in the tradition of fiddling.
Early Texas fiddling evolved at country dances, using the repetitious rhythms and limited fingering movements suitable for dance music. But when the dances began to lose popularity, a new audience developed. Famed Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson and his contemporaries elaborated the technique of fiddle playing by emphasizing the downward bow action and using the entire register of the fiddle. The contemporary style of fiddling practiced by their followers is hand-clapping, toe-tapping listening music, heard at fiddle contests and community gathering places.
Major Awards: CINE
Golden Eagle; London Film Festival; Sinking Creek. TV: US (Discovery
Channel)
ISBN # : 1-891813-51-X
UPC: 736899374938
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