Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 29, 1995 TAG: 9510300033
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FERRUM LENGTH: Long
Orville Hicks makes his living telling stories.
He stays on the road most of the time, traveling to festivals, schools, colleges and recording studios. He has appeared on a television show with country singer Tom T. Hall. He has made one tape of tales and has another in the works.
Hicks, a hefty, bearded man who wears overalls and a cap, specializes in Jack tales - stories about a poor, mountain boy who is somewhat of a trickster and overcomes obstacles, often with a little luck.
Hicks, 44, grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina. He was the youngest of 11 children in a family in which storytelling was a tradition.
He learned the tales from his parents and his cousin, Ray Hicks, a 73-year-old nationally recognized storyteller who has been the subject of a documentary film.
For years, Orville Hicks was too shy to tell stories in public, but he loved telling them. So he would go to Ray Hicks' house and practice. Ray Hicks finally persuaded him to go public. So he's been doing it for a dozen years.
Now, Orville Hicks can tell tales about Jack and the varmints with the best of the storytellers. His pocket-watch chain jiggles, and his arms wave as he gets deep into a story.
On Saturday, Orville and Ray Hicks were two of the featured storytellers at the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival, which attracted thousands to Ferrum College on the sunny autumn day.
Festival goers came to see historic crafts, old-time farm equipment, tractors, quilt exhibits, antique autos, and coon dog and horse competitions.
The festival also featured traditional styles of mountain music - ballads, string, country blues and old-time songs. Seven bands and balladeers performed under a large tent throughout the day.
In the Vaughn Chapel, quartets and bands played traditional gospel and sacred music for seven hours.
The music variety for the day ranged from the foot-stomping "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," picked by banjo player Tim Lewis, to "Amazing Grace," sung by the Rev. Robert Akers and the Full Gospel Holiness Singers.
There were children's games, marbles and checkers contests, molasses and apple-butter making, sawmilling demonstrations and pie-eating contests. And there were demonstrations by artisans - from dulcimer making to blacksmithing.
And what would a festival be without food?
There were all kinds - barbecued chicken, Brunswick stew, hot dogs, pork rinds, ham biscuits, spare ribs and fried chitterling sandwiches.
The festival, which celebrates community traditions and folk heritage, always has featured traditional styles of music.
But organizers put more emphasis on storytelling this year because they said that both music and storytelling were important features of Blue Ridge history that they hope to preserve.
Ferrum College's Jack Tale Players, who performed Saturday, are among America's best-known storytelling troupes.
Ray and Orville Hicks regaled the audience with their tales. Ray Hicks, a tall and slender man who wears overalls and a hat on stage, had the crowd laughing with a long story about soldier Jack, who comes home after 30 years in the wars, and plays poker with the devil and wins.
There were a dozen traditional storytellers, including some of the most famous from the Southeast and one from Scotland.
Norman Kennedy, a native of Scotland who lives in Vermont, told British folk tales and sang Scottish ballads, switching between the storytelling and music stages during the day.
Kennedy, who has long, white hair tied in a ponytail, spoke with a strong Scottish accent and entertained the audience with his occasional use of Gaelic. Some of Kennedy's stories and songs are found in the Blue Ridge tradition. Scots brought the tales and music with them when they settled the Blue Ridge region.
Bobby McMillon, a storyteller who grew up in the North Carolina mountains, and Daniel Womack, a 90-year-old black gospel singer who was born in Pittyslvania County, also spun some yarns.
The stories also included reminiscences about the early days of Virginia stock-car racing. The car-racing storytellers included longtime drivers Paul Radford of Ferrum, Sonny Ray Hatcher of Floyd and Melvin Smith of Newport; and track announcer Joe Kelly of Richmond. Racing promoter Morris Stephenson was the moderator and kept the drivers talking about early racing, race personalities and events on and off the track.
Radford, who has retired after 41 years on the track, recounted wrecks, including one that left him blind briefly. Smith, 69, is still racing and recalled his early days at the old Pulaski County Speedway.
by CNB