Clifftop Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Us & Them: Larry Bellorín’s Unwritten Song

Larry Bellorín is a musician from Venezuela, who is seeking asylum in the U.S. He thought his musical career was in the past until he met Joe Troop, a GRAMMY-nominated musician and North Carolina native who introduced Larry to the folk music and traditions of Appalachia, which seemed quite similar to the joropo he played in Venezuela. Their duo, Larry & Joe, is the realization of a dream for both musicians. It’s also a reminder for Larry of what — and who — he had to leave behind.

Larry Bellorín began making his living as a musician and music teacher when he was a teenager in Venezuela. His career was interrupted abruptly in 2013 when Venezuela’s state-run economy crashed and socialist President Nicholas Maduro cracked down on opponents and folks like Larry, who refused to choose sides. He and his family fled to Raleigh, North Carolina and have added their names to a huge backlog of asylum applicants.

Larry worked construction and thought his musical career was behind him until he met Joe Troop, a GRAMMY-nominated musician and North Carolina native who introduced him to the folk music and traditions of Appalachia, which Larry found eerily similar to the joropo he played in Venezuela.

Their duo, Larry & Joe, is the realization of a dream for both musicians. It’s also a reminder for Larry of what – and who – he had to leave behind.

Us & Them host Trey Kay tells the story of Larry Bellorín’s musical beginnings, his “magical” kinship and duo with Joe Troop and the song he can’t yet bring himself to sing.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.

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Larry Bellorín is a musical prodigy who said he’s been making his living performing and teaching music since he was a 13-year-old kid.

Larry grew up in a little country town in the eastern state of Monagas, Venezuela. To make money, he’d head into the nearby city of Punta de Mata and shine shoes, singing while he worked.

“I was about ten or 11 years old, and I would go to where people were playing billiards. I’d go to the plaza where people already knew me,” Larry said. Larry speaks only Spanish and Joe Troop, who performs with Larry as Larry & Joe, translated with *Us & Them* host Trey Kay.

*Credit: Amy Eddings*

When Larry Bellorín and his family settled in Raleigh, North Carolina, he quickly found work in construction. It was hard on his body, especially his hands and Larry wondered whether he’d ever play music again.

Enter Joe Troop, who introduced Larry to Bluegrass.

“He didn’t even realize where he was in the United States. He thought that this music was played in the ‘Wild, Wild West,’” Troop explained to *Us & Them* host Trey Kay. “He imagined it was played in Texas because since he was in the United States, all he had done was lift cinder blocks and work, and work and work and work. He had never been off a construction site. And I was like, ‘I cannot wait to show him he’s in the heart of string band country! He’s a string musician!’ And then, I was just like, ‘I know this is gonna blow his mind.’”

*Credit: Billie Wheeler*

Larry Bellorín and Athaís Cipriani on their wedding day, Aug. 20, 2011.

*Credit: Gustavo Rattia*

Larry Bellorín says he never considered himself a political person. However, after the “revolution” of self-proclaimed socialist Hugo Chávez, Venezuelans quickly became divided into two camps: chavistas, supporters of Hugo Chávez, and escualidos, a word Chávez used to belittle his opponents. It means “scrawny.” Bellorín was neither, and it got him into trouble with local chavistas who wanted to know where he stood.

In this video clip, Bellorín explains how everything — even culture — became politicized under Chávez and his successor Nicholás Maduro.

Credit: Amy Eddings

Trace Carter is 27 years old and is a big fan of “Old-time” Appalachian music. She has been going to the Appalachian String Band Music Festival in Clifftop, West Virginia for most of her life. That’s because her dad, Will Carter, helped start the festival in 1990, several years before she was born.

“I’ve seen trumpets and saxophones and keyboards and cellos and electric guitars and steel guitars. I mean, just everything mixed in with ‘Old-time.’ Why not the maracas and the harp?” Trace Carter pondered this while reflecting on *Larry & Joe*‘s performance at the Clifftop Festival in the summer of 2022. “I mean, why haven’t we seen these before? And it was such a wonderful addition… Everyone was in awe of their music. No one wanted them to stop. If they had played all night long, I don’t think anyone would have left.”

*Credit: Mauro Ruiz*

To better understand the challenges that Larry Bellorín and his family face, *Us & Them* host Trey Kay reached out to immigration attorney Ruby Powers. Her law firm, Powers Law Group, is based in Houston and represents many asylum seekers.

*Credit: Ruby Lichte Powers*

*Us & Them* host Trey Kay saw Larry & Joe perform in January 2023 at the Public Library in Port Washington, New York.

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

*Us & Them* host Trey Kay perched in the front row with a shotgun microphone at a *Larry & Joe* concert in January 2023 at the Public Library in Port Washington, New York.

*Credit: Amy Eddings*

Larry Bellorín says he has found the Appalachian folk music festivals to be incredibly welcoming — “Todo con todos” or “Everyone with everyone.” He says the experience isn’t so much about one’s musical prowess, but rather more about harmonizing with the community. Mostly, he says that he can feel the warmth of the people and that they invite him into their circle to play music without judging him as Hispanic.

However, in this video clip, Bellorín recalls a time when his immersion into Appalachia’s Bluegrass and Old-time scene wasn’t so easy or pleasant. The Venezuelan immigrant does stand out at festivals, which are overwhelmingly white. And there are traditionalists who aren’t as thrilled to hear Latin American instruments playing alongside fiddles and banjos.

Credit: Amy Eddings

*Larry & Joe*’s first album, “Nuevo South Train,” dropped in March 2023. They’re touring this year and have concert dates in California, New England and Arizona this summer.

Click here for a list of upcoming concert dates.

Click here to hear their single, “Nuevo South Train.”

*Credit: Tommy Coyote*

Editor’s note, June 8, 2023: The initial version of this story incorrectly stated the ages of Larry Bellorin and Joe Troop. That error has been corrected.

Old-Time Music Connects Wales And Appalachia Despite Thousands Of Miles

As part of our Inside Appalachia folkways project, we have been exploring Appalachia’s unique connection to Wales. Both regions mountainous landscapes, a history of coal extraction, folktales and it turns out, music.

There is a growing community of musicians from both Wales and Appalachia who share an interest in the culture that binds them together.

Wales And Appalachian Old-Time

Ben McManus is a musician who lives in Aberystwyth, Wales. He grew up playing instruments, but as a teenager, he was instantly captivated when he heard music, from Appalachia.

“I came back from high school one day, and the gardener’s were playing bluegrass, like really loudly out of a boombox,” McManus said. “And I was just like, ‘wow, what is this music?’”

He was hooked. McManus searched for similar music, and that led him to Appalachian old-time, which is older than bluegrass. In fact, the string music played here in Appalachia has cultural roots from all over northern Africa, Europe and the British Isles — including Wales.

Clifftop is an old-time music festival in southern West Virginia.

McManus fell in love with Appalachian string music so much, he eventually traveled to West Virginia to learn more from the musicians here. He took fiddle classes at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins and played at the Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival, a world-renowned old-time music celebration in southern West Virginia, which has been going on for 30 years.

Two Festivals 3,665 Miles Away

In Wales, there is another music festival, called Fire in the Mountain, named after an Appalachian fiddle tune. It includes a growing group of musicians in Wales who are also interested in the music of Appalachia.

McManus said it is the closest thing to Clifftop that he has found.

“A river runs right through the middle of it, so just a lot of chilling out, and just music everywhere, folk music everywhere,” he said. “It’s just a big four day party on a beautiful farm in the middle of Wales.”

benbanjoWEB.mp3

Listen to Ben McManus play banjo.

Appalachians In Wales

And this music exchange goes both ways.

Musicians Carl Jones and Erynn Marshall live in Galax, Virginia. They travel the world teaching and performing old-time music. But their favorite place to go is Wales.

“You might hear bluegrass and old-time and then you might hear somebody sing a Welsh song, you might hear somebody do an old-time or bluegrass song and sing it in Welsh,” Marshall said.

Marshall added that she and Jones were going to attend Fire in the Mountain this year, but it was cancelled because of the pandemic.

wv_medleyweb.mp3

Listen to Erynn Marshall and Carl Jones play a medley of West Virginia old-time tunes.

Jones is from Georgia, but on one of his first music trips to Wales, he was surprised to find he shared a lot of similarities with the Welsh people he met.

“We met a lot of singing farmers and they looked a lot like me. I was kind of shocked,” he said. “I said, ‘Wow, this guy looks sort of like I look.’ They are really good singers. I’m not saying I’m a good singer, but I did really feel an affinity to the geography and the location felt very comfortable to me and I love going to Wales.”

Jones recently took a DNA test, and discovered that many of his ancestors came from Great Britain. He said he would like to believe that many of them were from Wales.

A view of the seaside in Wales in December, 2019.

Marshall is originally from Canada, but she said she fell in love with Appalachia about 25 years ago. She devoted years to learning old time music from the people in the region. She said she wants to ensure that their music lives on.

“You know, we’re all links in the rope of tradition, you know strands in that rope,” Marshall said. “And it’s really important for me to share what those musicians shared with me; they were very generous.”

The Roots Of Old-Time

Musical traditions evolve as they pass to different cultures and continents, but there are many elements of this music that have not changed, for centuries, even after traveling thousands of miles.

One of Marshall’s favorite songs is a beautiful ballad she plays on the fiddle, called “Love Nancy.” It is an Appalachian song, but it actually originated from an older song from the British Isles.

“It came to West Virginia and other people learned it like myself, as well — it’s beautiful, many of the words long forgotten, but the tune still lives,” Marshall said.

NancyWEB.mp3

Listen to Erynn Marshall play 'Love Nancy' on fiddle.

This interconnection between Welsh immigrants and Appalachian string music has long fascinated folklorist Gerry Milnes.

“I don’t know of any culture who came here who didn’t bring some music with them,” he said.

Milnes is the former folk arts coordinator at the Augusta Heritage Center.

Over the years in his interviews with people in Appalachia, he has discovered hints of Welsh influence in our culture.

“There’s a whole list of towns with really Welsh sounding names,” he said. “Certainly for one thing, there’s an awful lot of Welsh surnames that are involved currently and in the past with old-time traditional music in West Virginia.”

Many Welsh people immigrated to Appalachia in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Although there is not a lot of written history about this group of immigrants, Milnes said he has a hunch that there are more cultural connections with Wales than we realize.

Ben McManus, the Welsh musician who fell in love with Appalachian old-time, agrees.

He has been digging into the history of music that the people of Wales would have been playing in the late 1600s — just before so many of them immigrated to Appalachia. He said there is very little recorded history of the music and culture from that time, adding that is perhaps because the British invasion and oppression of the country wiped out much of that history.

A lot of the Welsh folk music of today had to be rewritten in the following centuries. McManus said he recognizes the importance of keeping traditional music alive, which includes Appalachian old-time.

“Obviously being like a Welsh guy on the other side of the world, like, it’s kind of not wanting to take someone else’s tradition, but it’s like, learning their style,” he said”

The modern day cross cultural exchange of Appalachian old-time music is on hold this year, at least in person. Virginia-based musicians Erynn Marshall and Carl Jones have their sights set on Fire in the Mountain next year. So does McManus. In fact, he is planning to be in West Virginia too — playing old-time music across the Mountain State when it is hopefully safe in 2021.

This story is part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts, and culture.

World Renowned Old-Time Music Festival Canceled

The Appalachian String Band Music Festival, held each year in southern West Virginia, has been canceled this year because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

The West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History made the announcement today.

“We must all do our part to lessen the effect of the current worldwide health crisis, and at this time this decision is one we feel is in everyone’s best interest,” according to the department’s press release.

The five-day mountaintop gathering of musicians was slated for late July into early August at Camp Washington-Carver in Clifftop, Fayette County. On an average year, at least 3,000 people attend the event, which draws people from across the U.S. and the world.

The event features string instrument musicians who come out to celebrate the traditional old-time music that has been played for almost 300 years in the Appalachian Mountains. The music is influenced by songs from the British Isles, Europe and North Africa.

The event has been rescheduled for summer 2021.

July 26, 1942: Camp Washington Carver Dedicated

Camp Washington-Carver was dedicated as West Virginia’s black 4-H camp on July 26, 1942. Named for Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver, the camp is located at Clifftop in Fayette County.

It was the first 4-H camp for African-Americans in the country, and its Great Chestnut Lodge is the largest log structure in West Virginia and one of the largest in the nation.

The camp was built under two New Deal programs: the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps. It originally included the lodge, a guest cottage, a water tank, a pond, two dormitories, a swimming pool, and a bathhouse.

During the years of racial segregation, Camp Washington-Carver sponsored summer 4-H camps, Boys and Girls State, Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps, mining and home economics camps, and church camps for African-Americans. It also served as an off-campus learning center for West Virginia State College (now University) until 1979.

Since 1979, Camp Washington-Carver was has been managed by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, which hosts various reunions throughout the summer as well as the popular Appalachian String Band Music Festival.

June 27, 1961: Honey in the Rock Debuts at Cliffside

On June 27, 1961, the play Honey in the Rock debuted at the newly constructed Cliffside Amphitheater at Grandview in Raleigh County. The play, written by Kermit Hunter, tells of West Virginia’s founding through the experiences of a fictitious family, with some historical figures like “Stonewall” Jackson and the state’s first governor, Arthur Boreman.

The play’s alumni include Academy Award nominee Chris Sarandon and actor, director, and playwright David Selby.

Honey in the Rock was produced by the West Virginia Historical Drama Association, with support from the Women’s Club of Beckley. The association included many Beckley leaders—among them former governor Okey Patteson and future governor Hulett Smith. In 1970, the group added the play Hatfields & McCoys to the lineup and in the mid-70s changed its name to Theatre West Virginia, a repertory company that performed each summer at Grandview and toured schools and rural communities of West Virginia and surrounding states in the off season.

Honey in the Rock was performed annually at Grandview until 2013, when Theatre West Virginia was dissolved. Supporters have since revived Theatre West Virginia, which plans a busy season this year.

Camp Washington Carver Dedicated: July 26, 1942

It was the first 4-H camp for African-Americans in the country, and its Great Chestnut Lodge is the largest log structure in West Virginia and one of the largest in the nation.