HoeDown Films
presents
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A 6-part series, Trails of Rosin Dust is a musical road trip across the US. From the Appalachian Mountains to the Pacific Shores, we retrace the fiddle's 300-year epic journey as the jukebox of the American frontier. We'll make five pit stops along the way to regions key to development of this living tradition and the understanding the role it played in shaping American music and culture.
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Video: David Morrison
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Pit Stop No. 1 - First Encounters
Our first stop is in Appalachia where our fiddle trail begins with the arrival of the Scot-Irish to the Appalachia Mountains in the late 1700s. Sheltered beneath the canopies of smokey mist and verdant forests of spruce and maple, Scot- Irish tunes transform as they intertwine with Native American rhythms and dance styles laying the foundation for a new tradition.
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Map: Elizabeth Hubbell
Pit Stop #2 -Rivers Crossing
Our next stop is the Bluegrass Region where Tunes flowed into along the many rivers and railroads crossing the lowlands of Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Alabama, and Mississippi allowing African melodic half-tones, rhythms, and improvised solos to blend with Tunes from Appalachia.We meet up with today's top bluegrass fiddlers and musicians to explore crossovers between blues and bluegrass.
Pit Stop 3 - Trading Posts
In the Ozarks, we explore the area once known as the Louisiana Territory by the French and later mapped as Indian Territory - Moving along rust belts and yellow brick roads through the treacheries of Trail of Tears and Underground Railroads, we shine the spotlight on the musical imprint left by early French settlers as they converged with the syncopated rhythms and distinctive tonalities of Native and African Americans and how they lay at the core of early country, ragtime, and jazz.
Pit Stop 4 - Cattle & Cowfolk
As we turn south, we explore the areas once part of Spain then Mexico - Spanish and Mexican cultures inhabiting the Southwest introduced more than cowboy hats, ponchos, and intricately embroidered Nudie suits. The choir of rhythm guitars and harmonizing fiddles of the Mexican Mariachi tradition forged a new rhythmic era of country music, fiery breakdowns, two step dancing, and western swings. Between dominos and rodeos, fiddle contests get heated.
Pit Stops 5 & 6: West Meets East
Our last two stops, we settle in the Wild West. While it may appear we’ve reached the end of our musical trail; we actually stand at the brink of a new era for fiddle tunes. In the West, things get wild when Asian and East Indian traditions add new spices to that which came before bringing an explosion of flavor with freeform styles of dawg and dead-head jams. Our 6th and final film culminates in the final play off as top fiddlers from each of our regions square off against one another for the top National Champion title.
