Mountain Grove, VA, Square Dance
Bob Dalsemer collected live recordings of this dance. The featured talent was Rodney Chestnut, caller, with The Rebels Band.
Dalsemer described the series in this way: "Mountain Grove, Virginia is just across the Virginia-West Virginia state line from Pocahontas County, West Virginia, The “big circle” style of square dancing was practically identical to the style at Dunmore, West Virginia which I documented in my book West Virginia Square Dances. The band played mostly round (couple) dances with a few square dances interspersed and was perhaps notable for not having a fiddler. All the square dance tunes were led on electric guitar. The tunes for these three dances are Cindy, John Henry and Bile Them Cabbage Down. Because the band was highly amplified with drums, the caller had his own amplification and these recordings were made from the caller’s PA. The Mountain Grove dance was in many ways typical of rural square dances of that time: live music, no teaching, a well-defined local style of square dancing and a mix of round and square dances."
Subjects: Southern / Appalachian / Big sets
Tags: big circle, big set, Mountain Grove, Rodney Chestnut, Virginia
Item Relations
| This Item | is related to | Item: Carcassonne big set, #1 |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Square dance, Helvetia, WV - 1974 |
| This Item | is related to | Item: John Bill Allen - Big set, Berea, 1975 |
| This Item | is related to | Item: "Southern Appalachian"- overview of structure |
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Bob Dalsemer collected live recordings of this dance. The featured talent was Rodney Chestnut, caller, with The Rebels Band.
Dalsemer described the series in this way: "Mountain Grove, Virginia is just across the Virginia-West Virginia state line from Pocahontas County, West Virginia, The “big circle” style of square dancing was practically identical to the style at Dunmore, West Virginia which I documented in my book West Virginia Square Dances. The band played mostly round (couple) dances with a few square dances interspersed and was perhaps notable for not having a fiddler. All the square dance tunes were led on electric guitar. The tunes for these three dances are Cindy, John Henry and Bile Them Cabbage Down. Because the band was highly amplified with drums, the caller had his own amplification and these recordings were made from the caller’s PA. The Mountain Grove dance was in many ways typical of rural square dances of that time: live music, no teaching, a well-defined local style of square dancing and a mix of round and square dances."