Friday, June 16, 2006

It's time for some hollerin'!

If there is one sure way to get some air time with David Letterman, it's to win the National Hollerin' Contest, held each June in Spivey's Corner, N.C.

This year's contest, the 38th annual, will be held Saturday, June 17th at the Spivey's Corner Fire Department. The festivities begin at 11 a.m. The hollerin'? Well, that gets started at 4 p.m.

The last few years, Roseboro native Larry Jackson has crushed the competition [writes the Fayetteville Observer]. He won his sixth title last year, and he picked up three consecutive victories in the contest from 2001 to 2003.

Jackson is a good example of what the National Hollerin’ Contest is all about. Like many of the participants in the contest — there were about 20 last year — Jackson learned hollerin’ from his grandfather. It’s an art that only exists today because of those who passed it on future generations, said Wayne Edwards, an organizer.

“It was something to do out in the fields for some people,” Edwards said. “You might not be able to sing, but you could holler.”

So hollerin’ became an informal form of communication or entertainment in portions of the rural South.

It’s evolved over time, and newer generations of hollerers add their own special touches to their hollers. But Edwards and other organizers of the National Hollerin’ Contest prefer what they call “old timey hollerin’,” the original incarnation of the form.

“We even let judges hear examples of it before the contest so they know what to listen for,” Edwards said.

Read more here.

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