ReString Appalachia is an initiative from American Songcatcher supported by over 200 musicians, instrument makers, nonprofits, venues, visual artists, actors, and media outlets, dedicated to getting quality instruments back in the hands of those who lost them due to Hurricane Helene, and Hurricane Milton.
Want to get involved? Click. Fill out the simple form. You will be contacted.
*Your financial contribution helps us pay for shipping, supplies, strings, tuners, picks and capos, instrument and gear acquisition, travel costs, and administrative operations.*
“Music is a mechanism that we use to understand ourselves, understand our surroundings. Imagine the most traumatic event of your life happening, and you can't do that."
Founder and Director Nicholas Edward Williams
- WCNC (Charlotte, NC NPR News) -
Our Mission
To deliver FREE quality instruments directly to people throughout Appalachia who were affected by Hurricane Helene, using a "donor match" program, where we pledge to give instruments of the same or comparable quality that were lost.
Supporting Musicians
Norman and Nancy Blake • Gillian Welch • Sierra Ferrell • Béla Fleck • Steep Canyon Rangers • Robert Randolph • Woody Platt • Langhorn Slim • The Brothers Comatose • The Infamous Stringdusters • Cat Power • Sierra Hull • Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band • Nick Shoulders • Ketch Secor • Rising Appalachia • Michael Cleveland • G. Love • Charlie Hunter • Grace Bowers • Town Mountain • Chris Eldridge • The Travelin' McCoury's • Trey Hensely • Valerie June • Darrell Scott • Sista Strings • Dom Flemons • Willie Watson • Vincent Neil Emerson • Jake Blount • Jason Carter • John Craigie • Lindsay Lou • Jerron Paxton • Della Mae • Jon Stickley • Wyatt Ellis • Mipso • Andy Thorn • Kyle Tuttle • Local Honeys • Kaia Kater • Chatham County Line • JP Harris • Ron Artest • Rainbow Girls • Palmyra • Nat Myers • Bella White • Taylor Ashton • Hillary Klug • Songs from the Road Band • Sparrow Smith • Emi Sunshine • Resonant Rogues • Lady Moon Cries • Caleb Caudle • Rachel Baiman • Sam Grisman • Annie Bartholomew • Jack Barksdale • Lisa Bella Donna • Jay Cobb • Luke Winslow King • Charlie Biggs • Starling Arrow • Abe Partridge • Kyle Tuttle • Lonnie Holley • Sam Doores • Two Runner • Hannah Read • Maya De Vitry • Larry and Joe • Holy River • Tall Tall Trees • Sophie Mae Wellington • Joseph Decosimo • Joshua Starkman • Brenna MacMillan • Cristina Vane • The Bones of Jr. Jones • Adeem the Artist • Mason Via • Jackson Pines • Meredith Moon • Hannah Mayree • Tyler Grant • Justin Golden • Luke Brindley • IV Son of iii • Sean Dietrich • Dan Blakeslee • Rachel Sumner • Golden Shoals • Abigail Dowd • Admiral Radio and more...
All Inquiries:
ReStringAppalachia@gmail.com
Why We're Here
Influence of Appalachian Culture
Since the 1600's, Appalachia has been fertile ground for a confluence of musical cultures, harboring Traditions from the British Isles, European, African American, and Indigenous heritages. It has kept centuries old folk songs alive, having a firm hand in creating Old-Time, Mountain, Bluegrass, varieties of Blues, Early Country, Western Swing, Contemporary Folk, Soul, Rock and even Pop music.
Old time music was played during community celebrations and events in the early days of settlement in the Western North Carolina mountains. More than any other instrument common at the time of settlement was the fiddle. A descendant from a 8th century Middle Eastern fretless two stringed instrument called a “Rebab”, over time different versions of the fiddle traveled through Europe, North Africa, and ultimately America as the basic violin/fiddle that we have today. Because it traveled easily, migrants from the British Isles and Western Europe looking for a better life in America carried it, along with their culture. In addition to the oral song tradition of person to person sharing, several fiddle tunes with lyrics also came to Appalachia via printed broadside sheets, which were very popular throughout the British Empire in the eighteenth century.
English and Scottish ballads, which were essentially unaccompanied narratives, and dance music, such as reels, like the one you’re hearing now, were often accompanied by a fiddle. These styles of song and dance are the foundation to traditions in Appalachia like the square dance, clogging, forms of couple and group dances, flat footing, buck dancing and contra dance. All of those styles however, aside from couple and group dance, are the result of combined traditions and heavy influence from African American and Native American dances, reflecting the cultural and ethnic diversity of America, as well as the whitewashing of these styles as they’re known today.
When African people were initially brought to the American colonies; instruments such as drums were banned, for fear that they would be used to secretly exchange messages without their knowledge. Although the fiddle was brought over from Africa as well, it was viewed differently, and was well liked among most Europeans.
Oftentimes, slave captors would have enslaved persons play the fiddle at their social events, as early as 1690 at plantation balls in Virginia. This led many enslaved people to adopt the violin, as it positioned them for a better place in life. Black fiddlers left a lasting legacy, one that influenced Southern music styles, with syncopated bowing, rhythms, slides, and hundreds of songs. Several Black musicians are known to have mentored white fiddlers, banjo players, singers and guitarists from 1755 up through 1996.
Appalachian music includes many instruments, styles and sounds, and a host of cultures melding together has had a huge impact on American music as a whole. Western North Carolina has nurtured a variety of mountain music traditions: Native American instrumentation and dance, sacred music, old-time, African American song and dance, bluegrass, and ballad singing. These represent a powerful blend of musical elements from multiple continents, some of which remain quite popular, while others are carried on by a dedicated few.