Adirondacks storyteller Bill Smith will speak at Hamilton on Wednesday, April 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Fillius Events Barn. The lecture/performances is sponsored by Sophomore Seminar 220: The Adirondacks, and is free and open to the public.
From "Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore," Vol. 27 (Fall/Winter
2001): "For many today, Bill Smith has become as much an icon of life in
the Adirondack Mountains as the guideboat, the lean-to shelter, the ash
splint pack basket (which he happens to make with great skill), or the
slat-back chair that bears the region's name. His fame and his
celebration of the many traditions of life in his homeplace in the
northern foothills—have spread to many places in the past 30 years
of his life, ever since he gave up distant construction jobs for a life
with his family in the woods he loves.
Bill Smith still takes his greatest pleasure in swapping stories with
old friends around home. His is such a deep well of tales that you can
always hear a new one, or an old one with a new twist. Storytelling is
one of those timeless arts. It's how news was spread, how people were
entertained, how family histories and community histories were passed
from generation to generation. Modern storytellers use movies,
television, books and websites to communicate with audiences, but as
Lamar Bliss found out for Voices of New York Traditions, some people,
like Bill Smith, prefer to do it the old-fashioned way.
He has concentrated on retelling traditional stories and creating new
ones. He has been written about in numerous articles and books,
including his own 1994 collection of stories called Tales from the
Featherbed and has produced six cassette recordings of his stories and
songs.
Websites:
http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/upnorth/masters/smith/smith.php
