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311 KEEPING THE FLAMES BURNING AND PASSING THEM ON: HOOTS AT TFS MEETINGS by Kenneth W. Davis  Probably long before recorded history our ancestors gathered on various occasions for communal singing about various events— significant or insignificant. Near the turn of the twentieth century, Professor Francis Barton Gummere of Harvard hypothesized in The Beginnings of Poetry1 that narrative poetry and story telling began as tribal chants when warriors returned from a hunt for necessary food and stood around chanting about highlights of the day. Gummere suggested a hunter would step now and then forward to inject a colorful detail that would be repeated by the circle of hunters and the assembled villagers. In a short time, a narrative of the hunt with its high points would be imbedded in the memories of the tribe. Among the folk for millennia following the times of hunters who provided food, getting together for listening to singers and for communal singing has been common. Folklorists and anthropologists from all over the world have collected many songs, poems, and favorite narratives from whatever sources are available. In Texas, from the time of the earliest colonists people have delighted in gathering in homes for singing events, usually done with fiddle or guitar accompaniment on verandas or under sturdy oak trees. This customary activity flourished in Central and West Texas during World War II when gasoline and tire rationing made trips into town just for fun out of the question. In Salado, the Norwood family hosted each Sunday night on their capacious east porch what were called “musicales.” The descriptive terms “hoot” and “hootenanny” were not used then. The family had a well-tuned upright piano. There were usually guitarists and fiddlers present. At these events, their children and friends sang popular songs from what is now called the country and western tradition as well as songs by Bing Crosby and his peers.2 In O’Donnell , at the home of Dan Blocker (best known as Hoss Cartright from TV’s Bonanza), musicians gathered on Sunday afternoons to sing mostly gospel hymns but also to do some folk tunes. At these events, there were usually brief narratives recounted of local history and/or of current events. The folk do like a good story. In the hootenannies that are so popular a feature of Texas Folklore Society annual meetings, there are abundant survivals of the ancient characteristics of gatherings of the folk for singing and telling stories in verse or prose narration. The TFS “hoots” are true exemplars of the living folk traditions that have been with humans for countless centuries. A typical TFS hoot is a splendidly seamless production. The laid back informality of these events adds to their abiding popularity . The hoot begins with someone standing up at the front to give a brief welcome and perhaps to lead a few songs, as Ab Abernethy did for so many years. The unwritten but usually closely observed code is that each succeeding performer will limit his or her presentation to three songs or the equivalent. As time permits, a performer may do an additional stint. The person in charge asks for volunteers to succeed each presenter. Sometimes, specific individuals are called upon. The singing of songs is usually done to the accompaniment of a string band but may be done a cappella. A singer may also do a solo, accompanying himself or herself with a guitar, and then act as song leader for other songs. The members have come to expect certain songs from specific individuals. “Customary repetition” is one of the phrases used by folklorists to describe transmission of lore. Many members of the Society will recall with delight Martha Emmons’ spirited renditions of a temperance song perhaps titled “Down with the Demon Rum, by Gum” and John West’s vigorous continuation of that tradition after Miss Martha went on to the Glory Land where she is now surely in charge of the Celestial Collections of folk songs and tales. Familiar also is Lee Haile’s singing the glories of “Fried Green Tomatoes.” For many years Hermes Nye entertained the audience with his somewhat raunchy and irreverent “Good God, How the 312 Meetings, Memories, and More Money Rolls In.” This song and others appear in Nye’s book about how to be a folk singer. There are, of course, far too many songs transmitted to the TFS members’ collective memories by Ab Abernethy to mention all of them. But no one who heard these songs at...

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