East Tennessean

Issue date: 9/15/08 Section: News

This photomural depicting ETSU's bluegrass and country music history will be dedicated on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 12:30 p.m. in front of Memorial Hall. [Click to enlarge]

"The ETSU Walls of Time: A Bluegrass, Old-Time and Country Music Photomural" will be dedicated at East Tennessee State University on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
A formal ceremony will be held at 12:30 p.m. in front of Memorial Hall. Speakers will include ETSU President Dr. Paul E. Stanton Jr., and music will be provided by students in the university's popular Bluegrass, Old-Time and Country Music Program. The ceremony will move indoors to the main (second) floor in the event of rain.
Following the dedication, participants will be invited to the third floor to view the photomural, which consists of 10 panels spaced along the length of the building.
Most panels are eight feet high, with the exception of 14-foot end panels at both stairwells.
This artful collage of 222 large and small photographs portrays more than 600 individuals. Identifying plaques provide names and other information keyed to figures showcased on the walls outside the Jack Tottle Bluegrass Suite which houses the musical program's office and rehearsal areas.
The photomural, named for "The Walls of Time," a song by Bill Monroe and Peter Rowan, has two major components, according to professor emeritus Jack Tottle, the ETSU program's retired founding director.
The first component is a photographic history of the "brilliant first generation" of bluegrass musicians, as well as old-time and early commercial country musicians. These include such legends as Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, the A.P. Carter Family, Benny Martin, Scott Stoneman and many others whose careers began in the 1940s and '50s, like Uncle Dave Macon and regional favorites Curly King and the Tennessee Hilltoppers, and Bonnie Lou and Buster Moore.
"The photos portray literally hundreds of men and women - both well-known and obscure - whose musical gifts and sustained commitments to excellence underlie the entire field of bluegrass music," Tottle said.

Continued...

Page 1 of 3 next >

Article Tools